In brief: Miller Homes, Zara Home, Berwin Solicitors

HOUSEBUILDER Miller Homes has grown its Yorkshire team.

Chris Jones has taken up the position of Senior Quantity Surveyor and Mark Whittaker, the post of production director.

“It’s very positive news that we can continue to employ new staff, a necessity to cope with the strong sales and prospective land acquisitions that we are working on,” commented Andy Davies, operations director Miller Homes Yorkshire. “We welcome them all to the team and look forward to continuing prosperity throughout 2016.”

The housebuilder currently has nine developments across the region with properties ranging from one bedroom apartments to five bedroom luxury homes.

Privas Court at Wetherby and Chene Hall at Harrogate will open in the first half of the year. Other developments are planned for later in the year.

“We run a very tight ship in the Yorkshire region and have a strong, knowledgeable and dedicated team who epitomise the core values of the business and the industry,” said Andy Davies. “We remain focused in building our homes in key areas of the region and tailor our developments to support the housing needs of that local community.

“Coupled with our ability to offer a range of ways to purchase such as Home Exchange and the Government scheme, Help to Buy, we can support buyers from all areas of the market to find a brand new home that suits them perfectly.”

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RETAILER Zara Home has signed a 10-year lease at a site on Briggate in Leeds.

Last November TheBusinessDesk.com reported that Zara would be moving its homeware division in at the central Leeds site, spending £850,000 on the outfit of the store.

They will install a new vertical circulation core including a lift and new staircases to provide 1650 sq ft sale area on the ground floor and a further 3,330 sq ft sale area over the basement and first floor.

The £350,000 a year site consists of 6,910 sq ft of space, which was formerly let to Monsoon and sub-let to Phones4U.

Lothbury Investment Management, on behalf of the Lothbury Property Trust (LPT), completed the letting of 56 – 57 Briggate

Zara Home will make full use of the property and trade from the basement, ground floor and first floor.

The new shop is scheduled to open for early March 2016.

Michael Toft, senior fund manager and executive director at Lothbury Investment Management, said: “We are pleased to have completed the letting of this key property in Leeds’ retail core to a high quality tenant. This asset, which has been in the LPT fund since its inception, forms part of our Core Portfolio of assets. The valuation of the property has increased by £500,000 to £6.2m to reflect the increased rental income. Following completion of works, valuation is expected to rise to £6.5m, reflecting an equivalent yield of 4.8%.”

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THE residential property team of Berwins Solicitors in Harrogate has been boosted with the appointment of two associate directors.

Michelle Crowhurst joins Berwins from LCF Barber Titleys, whilst Jo Randall joins the firm to support expansion of its residential department, having previously headed up a large conveyancing team in York.

Carolynn Peace, director and head of residential property, said: “The appointment of two new associate directors to our residential property department is an important strategic move that will position us for growth as we respond to a robust local housing market.

“Michelle and Jo have a huge amount of experience in the residential property sector and in-depth knowledge of the North Yorkshire property landscape.

“We anticipate strong performance of this side of the business in 2016 and these two senior appointments will enable us to respond effectively to the increase in demand.”