Profile on GVA in Yorkshire
PROPERTY consultancy GVA in Yorkshire is looking forward to a busy 2012 following a successful 12 months trading despite the tough climate for the property industry.
GVA is one of the UK’s leading property consultants operating from 12 offices.
From its City Point base in Leeds, the team of 65 staff provide a comprehensive range of property services to UK and international owners, occupiers, investors, lenders and developers.
It has one of the strongest regional networks in the property sector and a number of specialist teams which collaborate to offer all the essential property-related services including: agency, planning, development and regeneration, rating, building consultancy, investment, management, valuation and corporate recovery.
It also offers specialist advice in areas such as finance, economic & social policy, telecomms, education, healthcare, hotels and leisure, retail, sustainability, contamination, plant and machinery and the automotive and roadside sectors.
Paul Manning, senior director at GVA, said: “As 2011 draws to a close, we consider the last 12 months to have been a successful period in which new records were set and a series of landmark, highly-prized instructions were won and deals secured.”
GVA was appointed on one of the largest ever Law of Property Act receivership assignments in Leeds, West Riding House, the landmark 150,000 sq ft mixed use development in the centre of the city. Its skilled teams worked together to actively asset manage the whole property, leading to the successful sale to Moorfield Group.
The property management team was also instructed to manage on Granary Wharf, the prestigious residential and retail scheme in Leeds city centre which recently won the 2011 Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Awards Regeneration category.
GVA can boast a run of other notable successes this year. The business rates team has advised on high-profile schemes for developers such as Highcross and Ripley Capital and is appointed sole advisor to 21 NHS Trusts in the region. Meanwhile, its investment team has transacted more than £90m worth of investment property in Yorkshire in the last 12 months and its sales include TDG in Birstall and Brightside Lane Sheffield.
Acquisitions included Exel at Normanton, while our industrial team has transacted approximately 1.85m sq ft of industrial space in the same period.
Mr Manning added: “With a weak economic and property market outlook and with development finance still severely constrained, it is unlikely that there will be much change in the amount of development activity over the next year or two.
“This is obviously a challenge for anyone operating in the property market, but we are always looking to use our many skill sets to our clients’ best advantage.
“Our rating team is continually being asked by building owners and tenants alike to find ways to reduce their business rates overheads, whilst our specialist leisure team, GVA Humberts Leisure, continues to secure deals for the sale of pubs, hotels and holiday parks across the UK, as well as marketing unique properties such as Brighton Pier.”
