Railpen, the investment manager for the £34bn UK Railways pension scheme, has promoted Lewis Vanstone (pictured) to the role of head of infrastructure.

The firm said Vanstone, who joined Railpen in 2019, has played a “a central role in expanding Railpen’s infrastructure portfolio” across renewable energy, energy storage, waste collection, hospitals and other essential infrastructure projects.

Read more: ICG hires Oaktree’s Richard Young to lead UK institutional business

It said that the appointment reflects the organisation’s commitment to delivering long-term, sustainable returns for the 350,000 members of the railways pension schemes.

“We are delighted to appoint Lewis, whose leadership and deep industry expertise will be invaluable as we continue to grow and diversify our infrastructure portfolio. This appointment reflects our belief in the importance of the asset class – not only in delivering secure and sustainable outcomes for our members – but with wider-reaching environmental, societal and economic benefits,” said Anna Rule, director of real assets and private markets.

Read more: RLAM names private assets head as new CIO

“It is a privilege to take on this role at such an exciting time for Railpen’s infrastructure strategy. The opportunities within the asset class are broad and reach beyond Railpen’s current asset mix, considering waste, zero-emission transport and digital infrastructure, as well as renewable energy and social infrastructure,” Vanstone added.

“My aims within this role are to build upon our well-established infrastructure capability, diversify our infrastructure holdings, further develop our co-investment approach, and ultimately deliver resilient infrastructure returns to secure our members’ future.”

Read more: Art Capital hires ex-JP Morgan exec to lead new European CRE back leverage unit