Property business targets fresh growth for its portfolio
Property and regeneration specialist Hargreaves Land is targeting new development opportunities with a particular focus on sites in Yorkshire, the North-West and Midlands.
It has launched a new “Central” region to sit alongside its existing UK regional network.
Newly appointed development director, David Travis, has been tasked with increasing the firm’s development pipeline across this wider region to build on its current portfolio and complement its existing teams in the North East and Scotland.
He will be joining the Central region’s operations from a new Leeds office, which is set to open later in the year, and will predominantly target both strategic land and immediate development opportunities across a wide variety of potential uses.
David Travis
Hargreaves Land is already on site at its strategically important 250-hectare (618-acre) Unity regeneration scheme in Doncaster, where it is delivering 2m sq ft of employment space and over 3,000 new homes alongside joint venture partner Waystone.
The joint venture recently celebrated the opening of its 2.4km link road, providing direct access to the scheme from Junction five of the M18 and completing the first phase of major enabling works on site.
In December, the firm also began construction of a £9.5m retail warehouse scheme in Bridlington.
The joint venture between Hargreaves Land and Fintry Estates will deliver 44,000 sq ft of floor space under a development agreement with East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
The scheme, which has already secured pre-lets with retailers Lidl and B&M Retail, is due for completion this summer.
David Anderson, group property director at Hargreaves Land, said: “Establishing our new Central team in Leeds is a natural progression to continue the rapid evolution of our business and builds on the substantial investment we have already put into the wider region over the last couple of years.
“David is a very important appointment for us as we look to focus our growth and acquire new sites to add to our development portfolio in what is a significant geographical area.
“He has a strong track record in successfully identifying and transacting viable opportunities and, in turn, spearheading the completion of a number of high-profile schemes across several different markets.”
Prior to joining Hargreaves Land, Travis spent five years at Harworth Group Plc as director of the firm’s Business Space Division; delivering over 1m sq ft of newly constructed space across schemes such as the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, Gateway36 in Barnsley, Gateway45 in Leeds and Logistics North in Bolton.
His career to date also includes other recent roles with Gent Visick, Town Centre Securities Plc & HS2 and he brings to the table specialist experience in strategic planning, development, commercial funding, and public-private partnerships.
Travis added: “This is a very exciting time to be joining Hargreaves Land as the business accelerates it’s continued growth and the role is ideally suited to my expertise and experience.
“I very much look forward to working alongside the existing team on Unity and our other schemes in the wider region; whilst focusing in the main on securing new opportunities for the portfolio and ultimately progressing these right through to completion.”
Hargreaves Land is the property and land division of Hargreaves Services plc, an AIM-listed business which employs more than 2,000 people and delivers key projects and services in the property and industrial sectors.
