Aboria Capital unites an experienced European investment management team with Downing’s 35-year development and operational track record, which has seen the company deliver over £3bn in real estate development across the UK.
Initial focus on realising Downing’s £1.6bn pipeline, including 10 new projects planned to start on site at locations across the UK in 2025 and 2026, as well as Downing’s flagship co-living scheme, Square Gardens in Manchester, a £400m project, delivering over 2,500 beds on completion.
Jessica has worked in real estate investment for over 20 years – starting out her career at BNP Paribas, before joining Deutsche Bank’s real estate funds business in 2004. She enjoyed a successful, varied career with Deutsche Bank and DWS; first leading transaction teams culminating in €12bn of transactions, and subsequently running European fund management for international investors.
Jessica was a pioneer and trusted portfolio manager for the wave of inward capital flows from Asian institutional clients from 2011. She built a multi-billion assets under management (AuM) business for Deutsche Bank, utilising her skills in business building, leadership and investment solutions. In 2023, she became the CEO of DWS UK, overseeing 500 staff and over €200bn AuM across Global Alternatives and Passive public market strategies.
As CEO and Co-Founder of Aboria Capital, her ambition is to create an innovative, leading vertically integrated partner for investors in the European Living sector market.
In July 2024, Jessica became the President of the British Property Federation (BPF) and joined the board of INREV.
Bay leads the family office investments for the Downing Group, one of the UK’s largest and most successful privately owned property companies. Founded in 1987, Downing Group has delivered over £3.5 billion in residential and mixed-use developments and maintains a robust £1.65 billion development pipeline.
Bay serves as Investment Director, responsible for identifying and evaluating investment strategies and opportunities aligning with the Group’s objectives.
His extensive experience has built a deep understanding of the property landscape. This insight, together with the benefits of leveraging the Group’s development and operational track record, led him to found Aboria Capital – aiming to capitalise on current market opportunities and cyclical investment prospects, ensuring long generational value. This strategic initiative allows him to integrate Downing’s real estate expertise with global investment management, positioning Aboria to drive significant growth and innovation within the sector.
In addition to his role at Downing Group, Bay is committed to the advancement of the company’s ESG strategy. He serves as Director of On-Site Energy, a Downing Group Company, focused on supporting energy-intensive manufacturers achieve their sustainability objectives.
An entrepreneur and visionary, George has led the Group to become one of the largest privately owned property investment and development companies in the UK.
He’s driven Downing’s unique proposition as a vertically integrated real estate business, delivering all aspects of the investment profile from sourcing development opportunities, funding, securing planning, construction and property management.
George was one of the pioneers of the PBSA sector. Since launching the business more than 35 years ago, Downing has continued to go from strength to strength, delivering more than £3.5bn of real estate and maintaining a strong development pipeline that stands at more than £1.6bn today.
Paul has over 35 years’ experience delivering highly complex major urban regeneration schemes in the UK’s major cities. Development Director at Downing for over 20 years, he was previously Equity Partner at one of the UK’s largest project management / surveying practices.
He’s headed the development of over £1.7bn of Downing Group PBSA schemes and negotiated the delivery of over 500,000 sq ft of educational buildings for universities and continues to lead a team of highly skilled specialists in the delivery of the future development pipeline of £1.5bn, with a focus of cost certainty, programme certainty, managing risk and ensuring quality.
With a 100% track record of achieving planning approval and delivery, Paul holds particular expertise in sourcing major inner-city sites and steering them through the complex planning process.
CFO since 2008, Simon oversees all financial aspects of Group’s activities, from strategy and financing to ongoing asset management, with associated business planning and reporting.
Simon’s experience includes leading on financials, structuring and legals in the sourcing of equity through joint ventures, co-invest funds, as well as various property portfolio disposals. On the debt side, he’s organised over £1.5bn of development and investment funding with a wide range of bank and non-bank funders, whilst ensuring adequate financial hedging and relevant funding covenants are managed and reported.
Simon has built an institutional quality best practice finance team at Downing and provides the strategic template for growth of the Group through new project evaluation, financial planning, and forecasting of business performance.
Before joining Downing, Simon trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG in audit and corporate finance, before joining commercial finance roles in listed businesses and a national developer / housebuilder.
Lindsey holds specific responsibility for Group tax structuring and compliance, ensuring tax efficiency is consistently built into the structuring of acquisitions and planning for disposals. She also leads a robust tax compliance function within the business, focusing on due diligence and handover on transactions. Other key responsibilities include audit lead and oversight of all statutory accounts reporting.
Prior to joining Downing in 2016, Lindsey was a Director at KPMG, leading the North West Property Tax team. Her client base included REITs, listed property groups and a wide range of privately owned property developers, investors and construction businesses. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser during her time at KPMG.
An innovative and inspirational leader, Sally has been instrumental in the growth and development of Downing Group.
She’s seen over £3 billion of projects come to fruition, using her vast experience to ensure the Group maintains its market leading position – overseeing branding and design concepts and key commercial and international relationships to drive the business forward.
Internally she takes a leading role in all operational aspects, including Accounts and HR, continuously exploring the best available technology and business systems to stay ahead of the game.
Tariq joined Downing in July 2009, leading all aspects of residential operations and customer relations, ensuring asset management in line with strategic business plans.
With a keen eye for detail, he’s dedicated to optimising the resident experience and achieving exceptional business results – contributing to the mobilisation of significant residential communities, totalling over 20,000 beds.
A commercially minded leader with over 15 years’ experience in the residential for rent sector, Tariq holds proven experience in strategic leadership and operations management with deep understanding of growth strategy, business planning, and effective routes to market.
With a strong track record building and nurturing high-performing teams, he oversees the customer experience and day to day operations of Downing’s inhouse residential platforms, ensuring exceptional customer service delivery, demonstrating commitment to continuous improvement using customer insights to shape service and product.
This leadership approach contributed to winning the prestigious ‘Operator of the Year’ award at the Property Week Awards, underscoring our strategic approach and customer focus.
Jade is a distinguished marketing strategist with more than 15 years’ experience of driving brand growth and customer engagement to attract high-quality investments and customers alike.
Responsible for developing comprehensive marketing campaigns highlighting the unique value proposition of the Group’s residential living assets, her expertise in digital marketing, market analysis and consumer behaviour deliver marketing strategies optimising performance, revenue and ROI.
With over 35 years’ experience asset managing portfolios across the UK, John joined Downing in 2005 to build an in-house asset management team of multi-disciplined facility and asset management professionals.
Prior to this he managed the Corporate and Investment Property Estate at Liverpool City Council, specialising in landlord and tenant matters.
Whilst at Downing he has managed portfolios collectively valued in excess of £1bn, across the PBSA, commercial and residential sectors, with fresh assets continually being on-boarded.
John’s leads a versatile and pragmatic team, regularly solving new challenges, always with a clear focus on sustainability and energy performance management initiatives.
With over 18 years of experience in the PBSA sector and a proven track record of success across multiple industries, Michelle is an innovative strategist and accomplished manager. She excels in transforming operations, controlling commercial performance, developing effective teams, and driving sales and revenue growth across all business areas.
As a hands-on leader, Michelle is adept at achieving excellence from her team and delivering coherent market strategies that generate new opportunities. Her strengths span management, sales, strategy development, compliance, governance, and project management from inception to completion.
Downing assets will seed the first stage of a multi-year growth plan for Aboria Capital