New Chief Property Officer appointed

03 Dec 2024

Barra Mac Ruairí to join from the University of Bristol.

Our University has appointed Barra Mac Ruairí as the new Chief Property Officer to lead our Estates and Facilities Directorate, joining early in 2025.

Barra is currently the Chief Property Officer at the University of Bristol where he leads the campus division. He is the joint institutional lead for sustainability and works on this as one of the University’s strategic priorities, alongside delivering a world-class physical and digital campus. He has also played a significant role in major projects such as the Temple Quarter Enterprise Campus, a new city centre campus currently in development.

Barra is a Chartered Architect and Chartered Planner by profession. Before joining the HE sector, he spent a decade in local government, firstly as the Strategic Director of Place at Bradford and then Bristol. He was Head of the Urban Renaissance at the Yorkshire Regional Development Agency having worked extensively in the property development and consultancy sectors in various cities. He has previously also worked in Manchester for Urban Splash.

Barra said: “The work of the Estates and Facilities Team underpins so much of the delivery of a University’s strategic ambition and day-to-day activities, so I’m incredibly excited to be joining Manchester at this time. The new strategic direction of the University and major projects like the residences programme, Sister and the zero carbon masterplan are going to be so important for our future and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues on them.”

Registrar, Secretary and Chief Operating Officer, Patrick Hackett, said: “Barra’s creativity, leadership and experience is going to be a great asset for the strategic ambitions we have as a University to deliver the best possible environment for our colleagues and students. I’d like to welcome him to Manchester.

“I’d also like to reiterate my thanks to Steve Jordan who has been acting CPO, and will be moving to the University of Birmingham in the new year. Steve has been instrumental in advancing our campus development projects and enhancing our facilities management and I’d like to wish him all the best for the next stage in his career.”