After spending my placement year in the Retail and Leisure Team at FHP in 2019, I graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a 2:1 BSc (Hons) in Real Estate with my Dissertation focused on whether the Nottingham student accommodation market was going to become over supplied. After graduating I did a Ski season in Canada to become an instructor and then spent a year in the Student Lettings and Management Team at FHP Student Living. I also gained experience at Sladen Estates in their development department.

At FHP I undertake a diverse range of work with the central theme being development and investment.  Land, properties for conversion to alternative uses, investments requiring active asset management and everything in between.  Retail, family home residential, affordable housing, city living, private rented sector and student housing are all areas that float my boat…!

My work ranges over the wider Midlands area to include Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire, Northamptonshire and Yorkshire. 

Originally from the South, I relocated to Nottingham in 2003. My background includes being a West End Office Agent, City of London Leasing Agent, Development Director for a Midlands property company and working at a senior level in Local Government.

I have wide experience in all property sectors from both a professional and Agency/Development perspective.

Maybe a bit Jack of all Trades but I think I can claim to master some of them!

I am predominantly involved in the office and industrial occupier and investment sectors advising in the leasing, sale and acquisition of property across the East Midlands and more specifically Nottinghamshire. I also advise on industrial developments and office to residential conversion opportunities.

Without doubt, FHP is the dominant agent in the Industrial/Warehouse market throughout the East Midlands and I’m proud of the fact that the strength of this domination has been mirrored by my rise through the ranks at FHP.

Whilst still keeping my hand in with Office deals (both acquisitions and disposal) my time is spent mainly advising ‘big shed’ occupiers, landlords and developers, but still taking care of owner occupiers in both corporate and family-run businesses.

Always changing, always needing to think on your feet and respond, the property world is no different to any other strand of business. I’m proud of my involvement in the development of any number of new Industrial and Warehouse schemes during the heady days of 2007. But looking back, I am as equally proud now of deals completed during the recession and the very tough times we all faced, when smaller scale clients say a big ‘thank you’ for finding them an occupier for their pension-fund-owned unit.

Now with the market returning there is a real buzz in the sector again, design and build deals are being done, developers are talking, but as yet not acting upon, their desire to speculatively develop and I am shifting more ‘big sheds’ than ever. It seems for the next year or two lack of stock rather than lack of demand will be our key problem to solve.

I set up FHP back in 1990 alongside John and Brian, and I head up the Retail and Leisure Team who are one of the most dominant retail agency teams in within the East Midlands, and certainly the most active.

I went on to establish FHP Living, which is now one of the pre-eminant residential agencies in Nottingham, covering Land, Sales, Lettings, Management and Development. Our commercial and a residential companies now work seamlessly alongside each other, meaning we’ve been involved with some of the most forward thinking developments in Nottingham from the initial stages right through to sales and completion, including Trent Basin.

Prior to setting up FHP, I was the Director of Nottingham Development Enterprise Limited, a public/private sector organisation, and prior to that was a Governor of Nottingham High School and was Chairman of the Trustees at St Joseph’s School. Having graduated from Nottingham Trent Polytechnic in 1984, I previously acted as member of the Alumni Board at Nottingham Trent University, and was schooled and grew up in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Having the privilege of a strong Admin and Back Up Team means that whilst I am responsible for the strategic thinking of the business, I still spend the majority of my time doing what I love, which is property deals.

The team mentality of FHP and strength in depth and quality of the people that we have in each of the individual teams means that whilst I do not handle all of the day to day instructions I know that our Client’s properties are in good hands.  I am still in touch with what’s happening through our team meetings every week and by sitting in amongst the agency teams on a day to day basis.

We have retained our entrepreneurial skills and whilst our teams are sectorally based we encourage a broad depth of knowledge – this has been fundamental to FHP’s continued organic growth through the worst recession that I have personally experienced.

Somewhat perversely I was personally involved in some of my largest deals during the recessionary period.  We are now seeing a greater cross spread of activity and demand across all sectors and I sincerely hope that the global / European economic uncertainty does not hold us back from continuing to achieve steady growth.

I do see however a current challenge as to how the market can provide the range and breadth of new business space development that the regional markets require to meet the emerging demand from the indigenous markets.