Recovery Leaders: Day one
Introducing a week-long series featuring the property people nominated by readers to watch as the market emerges from the crash into a busier and more positive period. In association with Citypress.
Will Lewis / director / OBI Property
Office agent Lewis was one of the founding directors of OBI Property four years ago. Since then he has worked on some high-profile Manchester city centre deals, including the 17,000 sq ft pre-let to MediaCom at 1 Hardman Street for Allied London in summer 2013, and he is advising Slater & Gordon on its 100,000 sq ft move to 58 Mosley Street.
Euan Hall / chief executive / The Land Trust
In 2004, Hall established the national open space management charity the Land Trust, based in Warrington. The trust owns and manages £90m of investments across 50 sites around the UK including 19 in the North West. Hall and his team are currently working with BIFA on the 50-acre Bromborough Dock site in Wirral to create the Port Sunlight Country Park, in addition to developing a site next to the Countess of Chester Hospital to create a 'health park' to be used by patients. The Land Trust worked with Langtree and the North West Development Agency to restore part of the Liverpool Garden Festival to parkland, completed in 2012.
Adam Hall / managing director / Falconer Chester Hall
Hall has been managing director of architecture practice Falconer Chester Hall since 2004. A Liverpool School of Architecture grad, he has been a key driver behind many of FCH's projects across Liverpool. He is now leading on the £50m redevelopment of the Cains Brewery site in Liverpool which will see the development of a hotel, apartments, cinema, spa and markets.
Mark Hawthorn / director / Landmark Investment Group
Landmark Investment Group was founded by Hawthorn in 2000 when he was just 19. In the past year pre-tax profits have leapt by 162% to £1.2m, the value of the portfolio doubled to £15m, and the company completed its first commercial investment, a 42-acre site at Strangeways in Manchester. The goal for Hawthorn is now to push the portfolio value to £20m in the next year and the development of a new commercial ground rent model.
Michele Steel / director / Deloitte Real Estate
Steel took over from Simon Bedford as head of Deloitte Real Estate in the North West in March 2014. She has been with Deloitte Real Estate and its predecessor, Drivers Jonas, for over 14 years and played a key role in the integration of Drivers Jonas with Deloitte in 2010. Steel is Deloitte Real Estate's only female director in the North. She has worked extensively with Manchester City FC, Ask Developments, Lancashire County Cricket Club and Manchester City Council.
Jim Carter / deputy chairman / Eric Wright Group
Eric Wright Group, along with national contractor-developer Carillion, was picked 18 months ago as one of the partners to manage and develop surplus council stock across Lancashire, its heartland. Carter is a well-known figure in Lancashire regeneration circles; board member of the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership, chairman of Preston Vision, and chairman of the charitable Eric Wright Trust. Eric Wright employs more than 500 people, with diverse interests from civil engineering to contracting and development. Group sales and profits have grown consistently during the past five years, reaching £178m turnover and £6m pre-tax profit in the last available financial results, for 2012.
Phil Doyle / director / 5plus Architects
Doyle co-founded 5plus in October 2010 after the senior management team at HKR in Manchester decided to go it alone. In a short space of time they have amassed a client list which includes Manchester Airport, Argent, Ask, Peel, Royal London Asset Management, Aviva, Development Securities and Bruntwood. Current projects include the £25m student accommodation at Ask's First Street, as well as a 120-acre development in Oldham on behalf of Grasscroft and Seddon.
Matt Jones / relationship director / Santander
Santander's real estate team in the North West is in growth mode, Jones says, and active in investment and development finance, with no real sector restrictions. Since arriving from Barclays 12 months ago, Jones helped Santander join the Bruntwood banking syndicate in October 2013, and more recently completed the full banking refinances of regional developers PJ Livesey Group and the Hollins Murray Group.
Jonathan Conway / director / Hotel Land & Development
Conway founded Hotel Land & Development in mid-recession 2010 and has since been involved in delivering projects across Glasgow, Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool and York, encouraging new operators into the UK market including Melia and Tune. Key projects include Park Inn at Manchester Victoria. Conway previously headed the regional office of Rok Developments, which collapsed in 2008 at the start of the credit crisis. He began his career at Amec Developments, moved on to spend five years at Arrowcroft, followed by a spell as a director at Hurstwood before Rok.
Pete Swift / director / Planit Intelligent Environments
Swift and his fellow practice founders have emerged from the downturn having changed up a gear to larger and more geographically diverse projects. Today's drawing board includes Co-operative Group's NOMA in Manchester, Peel's Liverpool Waters, the former Woodford aerodrome in Stockport, masterplanning Manchester Airport City and the Etihad Campus in East Manchester; oh and Denmark's new National Arena in Copenhagen.
