Appointments: Brewster Bye, PwC, WSB

Architecture firm Brewster Bye has appointed a managing director, Chris Austin.

Mr Austin is taking over the role at the 23 year-old firm from founding partner Keith Brewster.

Mr Brewster will take up a new position as a consultant in the business and continue to support the board of directors as well as overseeing a wide range of projects in the residential and community sectors.

Mr Austin will work alongside fellow directors and shareholders Mark Henderson and Nathan Wilkinson to continue growing the firm, which is based in Headingley and employs 23 staff.

He said: “It’s a privilege to accept this new role and I will be continuing to work closely with Keith and the rest of the team to grow our business. It’s a very exciting time for us as the improving economy presents a wide range of opportunities across all sectors, with both new and existing clients.”

Brewster Bye, which has seen consecutive year-on-year growth in a range of sectors including the residential and commercial property markets, education, health, community enterprise and the arts, as well as the sports and leisure industries, is currently managing numerous prestigious projects.

The firm is working on the luxury residential conversion of St. Leonard’s Place in York for Rushbond PLC, the redevelopment of the Leeds Girls High School site in Headingley for Stonebridge Homes and three regeneration sites in Doncaster of over 300 houses for Muse Developments.

Other clients include The Abbeyfield Society where Brewster Bye is responsible for the £10.5m extra care and dementia care housing scheme in Bingley and Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association’s residential apartment development at Hanover Square in Leeds.

Mr Brewster said: “Since founding the business with David Bye in 1992, our team of directors have ensured that Brewster Bye has earned an enviable reputation in both the public and private sectors for delivering visually striking and highly functional quality projects that are managed to the highest level.

“I am really looking forward to my new position and seeing the business continue to thrive under Chris’ leadership.”

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The Northern real estate team at PwC has been boosted after the appointment of Anna Fairclough and Paul Holcroft who are joining the firm’s advisory team this month.

They will work across the firm’s Leeds and Manchester offices, providing real estate advice to corporates based in the region.

Paul Holcroft is a chartered surveyor and joins from Hansteen in Yorkshire where he specialised in the asset management of industrial property across the region.

Ms Fairclough is also a chartered surveyor and joins from JLL in Amsterdam where she has spent the last 12 months as a European account manager for a global technology company, focusing on large HQ consolidations and relocations.

Previous to that she worked for JLL’s corporate real estate team in London, managing transactions for EMEA portfolios on global corporate accounts in industries including pharmaceuticals and data management.

Toby Underwood, advisory partner at PwC in Leeds, said: “The appointments of Anna and Paul, two experienced surveyors, will complement our northern real estate team, and enable us to deliver a comprehensive service, across real estate structuring, advisory and tax.

“With the improving property market in the region, we are seeing investors being much savvier in how they approach transactions to remain competitive, either when bidding or to achieve the best sale price.

“By therefore investing in our real estate team, with the right specialists, we can continue to help out clients be successful.”

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Property consultants WSB have appointed John Reid as associate partner.

Mr Reid began his career working for Colliers as a Surveyor within the Retail Agency Department focusing on UK High Street and shopping centre locations

He then relocated to Dubai and became a Real Estate Manager for M.H Alshaya Co LLC .

Most recently working as head of leasing and property acquisitions for Emirates Groups’ Food and Beverage Division in Dubai, Mr Reid was responsible for the portfolio of over 140 stores across the Middle East including Costa Coffee, Giraffe and a host of other branded bars and restaurants.

He will be working along side WSB Partner Adam Mobley within the Retail and Leisure team. Mr Mobley commented: “John joins the team with a wealth of Retail and Leisure knowledge and has worked with some high profile names within the industry. We feel he will be a great addition to our growing team.”