Cowiesburn enters regional market

Cowiesburn, an Edinburgh-based property management firm, has opened a Manchester office headed by Stuart McGill, formerly of Lambert Smith Hampton.

The firm said that the move has also been driven by demand for its cloud-based ‘live’ investment system that enables property owners to manage live information from anywhere in the world.

In the North West specifically, the firm has been given an expanded instruction from client Squarestone Growth, which has invested in The Lighthouse in Salford Quays, along with The Royals and Manchester Green – bought for £20.5m in May – in the South Manchester market, along with Central Park in Warrington. Squarestone last month secured a £125m facility with RBS and Barclays.

McGill, who previously worked for Lee Baron before spending four years with LSH as associate director, will head up the Manchester operation within WeWork at  One St Peter’s Square. He will initially work alongside a consultant Cowiesburn has been using in the region in what is the firm’s first base outside Scotland.

Donald Simpson, founder of Cowiesburn, said: “Stuart has been brought on board to help with our continued growth in the region but also to service Cowiesburn’s expanded instruction from Squarestone, who are looking to acquire additional high quality office investments in the region to add to their portfolio

“We focus 100% on property management and have developed a bespoke cloud-based management system. The bespoke system is attractive to international investors that see the UK as an attractive property investment market. The real power has shifted to the hands of the client, and Cowiesburn is now able to manage buildings in an unprecedented way.”