CBRE announces third GVA planning hire

CBRE has appointed James Sheppard as associate director in the Manchester office, joining former GVA colleagues Chris Argent and Iain Jenkinson.

Argent joined the planning consultancy team as director in January, while senior director Jenkinson is due to join the team later this year.

Sheppard will primarily focus on large mixed-use commercial schemes having worked on a number of city centre developments in Manchester, Chester and Stoke-on-Trent as well as the Omega site in Warrington.

He was an associate at GVA, and moved to the company in 2011 from JLL.

CBRE has also promoted Bernadette McQuillan to planning director.

CBRE said the appointments are part of an ambitious expansion to position CBRE as the leading commercial planning and development team across the North.

Sheppard said: "It is a move which provides me with greater exposure to a wide variety of institutional funds, investors and developers. The client first focus provides a perfect platform to deliver high profile schemes in an increasingly confident market."