Property Focus: The Weekly Interview

John Reeves is chairman of privately owned property development and property investment company The Helmsley Group.

The York-based business has four main areas of activity. Through its syndicated property arm, Helmsley buys or develops commercial properties and

leases them to tenants. Individuals form a syndicate, becoming beneficial owners of part of one or more of the properties, subsequently receiving a share of the rental income and capital growth.

Helmsley also develops commercial property, has a secured loans arm, which provides finance for borrowers wanting to finance a construction project, and provides syndicated loans to its clients.

Current property developments include Heworth Green, a £12m mixed-use scheme in York; a number of townhouses in Helmsley; and the Eco Business Centre in York.

1. What are your views of the current state of the commercial property and property development markets?

“Tough and likely to get tougher in the short term both due to the credit crunch, rising costs for building and new government legislation ie empty rates tax changes all in the face of very low buyer and tenant demand.”

2. What key challenges and pieces of legislation do you think will most affect your sector over the coming months?

“Undoubtedly empty rates liabilities will affect speculative building. Lack of available monies at competitive prices to fund buyers. Lack of general confidence however is the big one.”

3. Why do you think Yorkshire is a good place to do business?

“Easy: quality of life and honest people in general.”

4. Which is your favourite building/development in Yorkshire and why?

“Has to be one of ours….Westgate apartments in York city centre but if I were to vote for someone else I would choose Claypenny Hospital in Easingwold as it recreates the feel and community that villages used to have.”

5. If you could improve anything in the region, what would it be?

“Our major roads – they must become less congested with fewer bottlenecks.”

6. What barriers have you had to overcome during your career and how have you overcome them?

“Many and varied. My lack of numeric skills is one and calculators were my saviour!”

7. What was your first job and how did you enter your current line of work?

“First job was with Taylor Woodrow at broken Scar sewage works in Darlington. You don’t want to know what I actually had to do!!

“Surveying was my chosen profession on leaving school. Actually I thought I was going to be an estate agent. I didn’t really know what a chartered surveyor was!”

8. What do you most enjoy about your job?

“The ability to make something from nothing that you know will be around for generations to come.”

9. What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

“Keep it shut until you have something really to say.”

10. And the worst?

“Get that Austin Allegro – it’s a great car!”