Bashir was most recently president and chief operating officer at real estate investment firm, Round Hill Capital.

In his new role, Bashir will lead the expansion of Harrison Street’s strategies which focus on investments in student housing, build-to-rent (BTR) and healthcare real estate. He will be based in London and report to Robert Mathias, partner and head of Harrison Street’s international business.

Mathias said: 'We are thrilled to welcome an executive of Paul’s calibre to Harrison Street as we continue to scale our growing European platform, expand our world-class team and drive attractive investment opportunities for our global investors.

'Paul is a proven leader whose diverse skill set, investing acumen, network of industry relationships and deep understanding of Harrison Street’s core sectors, make him the ideal fit to lead the day-to-day growth and execution of our European strategy.'

Bashir brings over 20 years of experience in private equity real estate, operations and corporate finance to Harrison Street across a wide array of real estate asset sectors including retail, commercial, residential and student housing. Prior to Round Hill, he served as a partner at Aggmore Group, and was previously chief operating officer at North Bridge Capital Partners.

Christopher Merrill, Harrison Street’s chairman and CEO, added, 'Amid these unprecedented times, Harrison Street is committed to its objective of generating exceptional risk-adjusted performance across cycles globally by investing in needs-based asset classes that it believes are resilient and backed by strong demographics.

'We continue to see strong demand for high quality student housing, build-to-rent and life sciences assets in Europe, which are needed now more than ever. Paul is a seasoned and talented investor who shares our values, has a deep understanding of market environments and highly complex situations, and will meaningfully bolster our European capabilities.'

Since establishing its European platform in 2015, Harrison Street has invested approximately €2.4 bn in the student housing and private rented sectors and most recently entered the European life sciences sector with the acquisition of five life sciences and innovation properties, the largest portfolio of its kind in the UK.

In May 2019, Harrison Street announced it raised €700 mln for its second European closed-end fund. Harrison Street currently manages 11,579 student housing beds, 1,321 build-to-rent units and 1.6 million ft2 of life sciences real estate in Europe.