After spending my placement year in the office and industrial team, in FHP’s Derby office, enjoying the experience and improving my knowledge, I was delighted to be asked to return to FHP this summer after completing my BSc (Honours) Real Estate degree at Sheffield Hallam University. I’m excited to continue learning and developing my knowledge whilst hopefully completing some deals!

I originally joined FHP back in 2015 in the Derby office, and then rejoined in 2021.  My transfer back into private practice and the welcoming arms of FHP, means that I can do what I love the most, valuing properties around the Midlands, for a variety of clients.

The world has changed, but great property advice is still a fundamental part of the process for businesses and clients. Working back at FHP, has given me the opportunity to join a great team of people.

My previous experience within the public and private sectors, has seen me valuing property around the East Midlands since 2000.  Previously working for a major global property consultancy, I have dealt with a wide variety of commercial and residential properties, from small industrial units to large commercial development schemes. Acting for the major lending institutions, private individuals, property owners and companies, I have an in depth knowledge of the local market and valuation practices.

I am a Director within the FHP Professional Services Team, experienced with providing occupiers, landlords and developers across the UK with strategic Business Rates advice to proactively minimise their exposure to Business Rates. Such includes appeal work, empty rates mitigation strategies, advice during redevelopment works, challenging Completion Notices and rates account management.

In addition to the above, my role involves undertaking property valuations of single assets and portfolios of all commercial property types and residential developments for both major lending institutions and private individuals; and rent reviews and lease renewals for all commercial property types.

Within the Professional Services Department, my day-to-day role involves dealing principally in Property Valuations and Investment Acquisition. I’m also trained as a Level 4 EPC Energy Professor to add to the range of services we’re able to provide our customers.

I’ve been part of the Nottingham Property Market for many years and am also now actively involved in the Newark Retail Market. As such I have many contacts and have advised clients in Investment Acquisition and in the Letting and Investment sale of Fat Face on Middlegate in 2010.

I qualified as a Level 4 Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) Surveyor in 2008 and now undertake a range of assessments on all types of commercial buildings, ranging from a bar/restaurant complex to large and small industrial units, and a retail parade. My current role also includes bank Valuation Work, Investment Sales and advising in Property Litigation.

As a Director within FHP’s Professional Services Team my own work now focuses primarily on two areas. Business Rates to reduce liabilities whether a building is occupied or vacant and Lease Consultancy providing advice to both Landlords and Tenants at lease renewal, rent review and during lease re gear negotiations.

I am experienced in providing Expert Witness evidence at both Valuation Tribunal and during the course of dispute resolution regarding rent reviews and lease renewals.

I work across the Country for a wide variety of clients from institutional investors and pension funds to entrepreneurial businesses and developers.

I am also an APC Counsellor to a number of the FHP Graduates and I help co-ordinate in-house training sessions to support our APC candidates.

Valuation encompasses all aspects of professional work and it’s of paramount importance to have a broad depth of knowledge and experience in order to advise clients appropriately.

I provide extensive valuation advice, primarily within the East Midlands, for a variety of purposes. Key clients range from the majority of the major lending institutions to private individuals.

Within the Education sector, I am developing our work with Academy clients, where FHP Education has advised over 200 Academies since 2012.

Another key area of my work is in respect of Compensation and Compulsory Purchase, where in particular I have acted on behalf of a variety of claimants on schemes including the Nottingham Express Transit NET2 tram, A46 Newark to Widmerpool Trunk Road Improvement, Loughborough Inner Relief Road and the Nottingham Left Bank Flood Alleviation Scheme.

The property market is constantly changing and the economic events of recent years have clearly demonstrated the importance of open, analytical, market-informed appraisals which FHP prides itself on providing to our clients.

Looking back, I feel that I’ve learned considerably more in the last near decade or so that at any other time in my 46-year career. That’s because at FHP, I’m surrounded by surveyors who are highly intelligent, highly motivated and extremely knowledgeable.

I buy and sell commercial investments and now sell a number of residential investments, mainly within a 40 or 50 mile radius of Nottingham, although I have bought properties on the south coast and elsewhere. FHP has helped me broaden my investment knowledge in relation to other markets.

I have been able to advise certain wealthy individuals on a considerable amount of investment and development funding situations whereby we have provided the finance for small time developers to be involved in projects far greater than any bank would have allowed them. This has given us an unrivalled expertise in the funding and secondary market within the East Midlands area. A large number of those projects have been highly successful although, admittedly, during the present economic times one or two schemes have been “moth balled” but however other ones are ongoing and are, (despite the present market conditions), now letting out well. However we are now coming out of the recession and are looking at pre-letting these outstanding development sites.

We believe that the market is slowly improving and there are certain special opportunities where we are taking advantage of market conditions to be able to buy sites and go and carry out developments.

In more recent years we have confined the activities to purely selling and buying investments. During the last 12 months we have received a considerable number of instructions to sell investments and providing they are correctly priced they do sell readily well.

Throughout my 11 years at FHP I thoroughly enjoyed working here with the other Surveyors and have hopefully been able to add to the profile of FHP in terms of the investment market. Despite the present economic climate we probably do more investment work than any of the other agents in the Nottingham area.

Life changes through being in recession since August 2007 and recessions don’t go on forever. We are slowly coming out of recessions, there are lots more lettings albeit soft deals but soon the development cycle will start again even if it is some 12/24 months away and there are lots of opportunities. The current availability of all the main sectors i.e. retail, office and industrial is shrinking and this will consequently lead to an increase in hardening in rents, disappearing incentives as far as the tenants are concerned, which will lead to the development cycle starting again.

Jack Nicklaus once famously said that “Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s levels of aspiration … and expectation”; and so it has been with the development of the Professional Services Department at FHP.

Having grown from one to nine surveyors, the FHP Professional Services Team has a wealth of experience and now provides clients with services across the Professional Services spectrum, ranging from Valuations for a wide variety of purposes to advising upon business rates, compulsory purchase and Rent Review/Lease Renewals to name but a few.

Since my arrival at FHP in 1999, I’ve been privileged to work with not only great colleagues but also some great clients with wonderful senses of humour and incredible levels of humility, despite some truly remarkable success stories. Together they have made me laugh, kept me motivated and have picked me up when times have been tough.

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.