Kate Freer will take over in autumn after Rick de Blaby’s departure 

Get Living has announced the appointment of Kate Freer as its new chief executive.

Get Living, Elephant aerial image

The Elephant, Get Living’s landmark scheme in south London

Freer will take up the position from the autumn, succeeding long-standing CEO Rick de Blaby, who announced at the end of last year that he would stand down to pursue a non-executive career.

Freer most recently worked at real estate investment firm Realstar for more than 11 years. Prior to this, she spent 10 years at Blackstone.

Build-to-rent specialist Get Living has a portfolio of more than 6,200 homes across seven neighbourhoods in England.

Gertjan van der Baan, a former CEO of a real estate investment firm who has been worked as a senior advisor to Get Living since the start of the year, will be interim chief executive between de Blaby’s departure at the end of May and the beginning of Freer’s tenure in the autumn.