Created: 17th November, 2025
Robert joined Barker in 2002 and is a Partner based in our Braintree office. A Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, he has over 20 years’ experience of all core building surveying services and provides strategic estates advice to key accounts in the education, commercial, ecclesiastical and public sectors.
An education specialist, he provides the following services: estates and energy strategy, asset management planning, project management and capital funding applications.
Robert works closely with clients to plan and implement energy efficiency and sustainability strategies to save money, reduce carbon emissions and meet ESG objectives.
As a RICS Certified Historic Buildings Professional he provides conservation consultancy for clients with listed and historic buildings.
Robert is an experienced APC Assessor and Chairman and is also an external examiner for Anglia Ruskin University
As a Partner Robert leads the Business Development and Marketing function at Barker, builds relationships with key sector bodies and helps steer the strategic growth of the company.
Email: rgould@barker-associates.co.uk
Tel: 01279 648057
The Government’s new £9 billion Defence Housing Strategy represents the biggest investment in UK military housing and service family accommodation for more than half a century. Over the next ten years, more than 40,000 homes are set to be refurbished or rebuilt, with around 14,000 replaced entirely.
A new Defence Housing Service will take responsibility for managing and maintaining the homes, while surplus Ministry of Defence (MoD) land will be released for the creation of over 100,000 new homes across the country.
This follows the MoD’s decision to buy back 36,000 properties from Annington Homes, bringing them back under public ownership. It’s a move that reflects a broader shift in government moving towards long-term stewardship, sustainable design, and smarter use of public assets.
For those of us working across the built environment, this is a significant moment. The programme is not only about improving military housing, but about setting a new standard for how the UK plans, builds, and maintains its public estate. It is a clear signal that modernisation, sustainability, and value for money are now inseparable goals.
A national investment on this scale has implications well beyond the defence estate. It will energise supply chains, create demand for skilled professionals and test the industry’s ability to deliver high-quality, low-carbon homes at pace and scale.
The strategy also arrives at a time when public and private clients alike are under pressure to decarbonise their buildings and demonstrate social value. The MoD’s plan mirrors that challenge, and in doing so, highlights several areas where innovation will be essential:
The release of MoD land could prove to be one of the most transformative aspects of the strategy. More than 100,000 new homes are expected to be delivered through surplus sites, many of them in areas that already have strong infrastructure and community roots.
Handled well, these developments can go far beyond meeting UK housing targets. They have the potential to support mixed-use regeneration, create local employment, and breathe new life into towns and cities. The challenge lies in ensuring that this is done responsibly and balancing commercial viability with environmental performance and long-term community benefit.
At Barker, we’ve helped public and private clients navigate similar challenges, from feasibility assessments and land appraisal to master planning and delivery. The principles are the same: understand the site, plan for the future, and create places that work for people as well as for policy.
The Defence Housing Strategy is also a reminder that sustainability isn’t a separate strand of estate management; it is the foundation of it. Energy-efficient, well-maintained homes reduce costs, improve well-being, and protect the environment.
Our teams work every day with clients who are rethinking their estates through this lens. Embedding low-carbon technologies, developing net-zero strategies or assessing lifecycle costs, the aim is the same: to create assets that perform better for longer. The government’s investment in defence housing is another step in that direction, and it will set expectations for the entire public sector.
The MoD’s £9 billion investment in military housing is a blueprint for sustainable public estate renewal across the UK that supports growth and long-term value. It’s a welcome sign of confidence in the power of the built environment to drive national progress and a reminder that the expertise, creativity and commitment of our industry will be critical to making it a success.
At Barker, we’ll continue working with clients across government, housing, and infrastructure to turn that ambition into reality.
Our experience and vision have shaped hundreds of projects across sectors, from energy and funding to architecture and design, helping bring ideas to life.
