Matt Kitson

The University has appointed Matt Kitson as the new Director of Estates, Facilities and Commercial Services.

With over 25 years’ experience within the commercial sector, Matt’s most recent roles have been within higher education, delivering a number of transformational estate strategies. Matt is joining from King’s College London where he is Director of Facilities and Operations, prior to which he was Chief Property and Infrastructure Officer at the University of Brighton. Matt will start his new role on 10 March 2025.

Having started his career as an engineer, Matt moved onto Heathrow airport to lead the facilities management teams across all the terminals, and was then part of the operational team tasked with opening Terminal 5. He then transitioned into the commercial side of facilities management, including for The Wellcome Trust, O2 Arena, Ernst & Young, London Metropolitan University, and more. 

Matt then joined the global research company, QinetiQ as the Group Property Director, overseeing an ambitious global property transformation and construction of world leading research, laboratories and corporate headquarters to help restructure the group under its new leadership. 

Matt is a Fellow of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management as well as a member of the Institute of Directors. He also sits on a number of external boards, advising on a wide range of estates and property-related issues. 

Matt said: “I am genuinely excited to be joining the estates team at the University of Sussex. I am really looking forward to meeting the Sussex community and building our estates strategic plan to help deliver the number of current workstreams and ensure we all support the new Sussex 2035 strategy.”

Professor Sasha Roseneil, Vice-Chancellor, said: “We are rightly proud of our beautiful green campus and our fabulous modernist estate here at Sussex, but many of our ageing buildings pose a range of maintenance and suitability-for-purpose challenges, and the financial context is very challenging. Adapting the campus to meet the needs of our academic and student community and making progress towards our net zero commitments are fundamental the University’s future success. Matt impressed the appointment panel with his broad ranging experience and the depth of his understanding of our context and challenges, and I look forward to welcoming him to Sussex in March.”

Emma Potts, Interim Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary said: “I am delighted that we have appointed Matt to this critical role, integral to delivering the University’s plans for the future. With so many key infrastructure projects rolling out over the coming years, not least West Slope, and our estate being so key to delivering the best student experience possible, Matt’s skills and experience will mean we are really well placed to manage and develop our estate and our commercial services.”