Avison Young expands transactional capabilities in Scotland with five new appointments

Douglas Wood and Ben Farrell, both previously with Montagu Evans, will form the Glasgow arm of the Avison Young investment capability as director and associate respectively.

Both Douglas and Ben bring extensive experience of advising high profile clients across a range of industries and transactions, which have included the sale of The Sauchiehall Building in Glasgow on behalf of KKR and Quadrant Estates for £55m, and the acquisition of the Point Retail & Trade Park in Glasgow on behalf of Kames Capital for £14.1m.

Their appointments reflect the ongoing growth of the firm’s Scottish presence and the expansion of its investment offer which echoes the increased levels of overseas investment into Scotland, as revealed in Avison Young’s latest Big Nine report.

Stuart Agnew, principal and managing director Edinburgh and head of the investment team in Scotland, said: “Through the strategic growth of our investment team, Avison Young continues to be expertly placed to advise in what has been a resilient market, despite the potential impact of Brexit. Glasgow is a large and important market and I am delighted we can now provide experienced and specialist investment capability to our clients here.”  

The third senior appointment sees Pete Harding, previously at Cushman & Wakefield, return in October to the business as Associate in the transactional team.

Leading on industrial and retail, Pete will apply his recent retail experience to the industrial sector. Pete began his career in the industrial team at James Barr which then became GVA, merging over 140 years of industrial heritage. His industrial and retail knowledge will be invaluable to Avison Young clients, as the typical high street retail model evolves to suit changes in consumer habits.

Three new graduate appointments have also been made with Alice Elder joining the business space team in Glasgow and Daniel Brown joining the investment team in Edinburgh. With the addition of Charlie Young in Telecoms, these three graduates are testament to Avison Young’s commitment to their graduate and apprenticeship programme.

Alison Taylor, principal and managing director Glasgow, said: “I am delighted that we have a full complement of transactional and consultancy professionals based in Glasgow providing innovative advice to clients during the entire property life cycle.

“Avison Young is committed to providing clients with the best possible service, and investing in and developing our teams is an integral part of that - particularly as we work towards our ambitious global growth goals to grow from a Canadian $1bn revenue business to a $2bn one in the next five years.”

Avison Young, who were earlier this year, awarded CoStar’s ‘Most Active Office Agent by Disposals’ for 2018, has advised on a number of significant deals recently.

In 2019, industrial activity has included advising JW Filshill’s on a pre-letting of a new 120,400 sq. ft distribution centre at Westway Park in Renfrew and the office team recently let 15,744 sq. ft at 2 West Regent Street to Gamma Telecom.