PROVING

it’s never too late to go back to school, my congratulations to Bill Nowlan, the man behind the foundation of Hibernia Reit, who I hear has recently been awarded his PhD by the University of Ulster.

The mature student’s thesis looks at funding models for social and affordable housing, and why there are such low levels of institutional investment in affordable housing in Ireland. The research looked particularly at comparisons with markets such as the Netherlands and Germany.

Nowlan’s interest may not be entirely academic given that last year he cofounded a new investment vehicle — Urbeo Residential — that is looking to address the gap in the market that his research identifies.

Urbeo, headed by former Nama executive Felix McKenna, already has support from Isif for its maiden investment in a €33m apartment block in Tallaght and is reported to be actively canvassing further investment from international pension funds and institutional investors.