Committee

Richard Dawtrey

Richard is Head of Investment for Vail Williams LLP, a national leading property advisors with eight offices based throughout the south-east and midlands. With over 17 years’ experience, Richard has been involved in excess of 500 transactions ranging from sale and leasebacks of distribution warehousing to forwarding funding advice relating to town centre regeneration projects. He is responsible for the acquisition and disposal of commercial property investments in the UK, providing advice to a variety of clients ranging from private investors to institutional funds. Prior to Richard joining the firm in 2014, he worked for Chancerygate a high quality industrial/ distribution developer and property investor.

Vail Williams LLP is a multi-discipline property consultancy currently employing 146 people. The firm has a long and successful track record of advising property owners on all aspects of property in order to generate the maximum returns from the assets. We act for a wide range of clients including private individuals, significant land owners, business occupiers, developers, schools, charities, institutional funds and public bodies including Local Authorities and housing associations.

Visit www.vailwilliams.com for more information.

Tim Baker

Tim is responsible for the Investment Strategy for the Milton Group. Having joined in 2007, Tim is responsible for sourcing, selecting and coordinating the Group’s purchases and sales, covering both development and investment transactions. Tim’s background includes nearly 10 years’ experience in the UK investment market, with high profile references including Jones Lang LaSalle where he spent 9 years working in the Capital Markets, Investment Management and Corporate Finance teams, finishing his time there focusing on the UK investment and development market where he worked with a variety of international investors and developers.

Established in 1989, The Milton Group have since raised a successful profile as one of the UK’s most reputable industrial commercial investors in London and the South East.  The Group has established a refreshing reputation in the market place for reliability and performance which along with a knowledgeable specialist management team, offers a sound platform from which the Group anticipates future growth.

Whilst The Milton Group predominantly act as an investor, they have an ongoing development and refurbishment programme and are continually seeking new opportunities to expand the portfolio.

Visit www.miltongroup.com for more information

Nicola Forgette

Nicola has been involved in the commercial interiors industry for twenty years as a director of Gifford Grant since 2000, and as managing director since 2005, and has seen the company go from strength to strength.  In addition to her management role, Nicola’s focusses her time on establishing relationships with new clients, pursuing new business as well as building on her strong relationships with existing clients which ensures all their commercial interior needs are met.

Gifford Grant delivers quality office refurbishment and office fit-out projects across London and the South. Their focus is on design led projects whilst maximising available budgets and space which over the years has earned them an enviable reputation within the industry. Gifford Grant takes a practical approach and offers a professional, friendly attitude, making clients feel at ease throughout the entire duration of their project.

Visit www.gifford-grant.com for more information

Matthew Brown

Matt works at Lewis Ellis one of the leading niche investment practices. Matt joined Lewis Ellis as a Partner in 2010 and became an Equity Partner in 2017. He primarily deals with commercial property outside of central London and is well known for both portfolio investment transactions and his knowledge of the regional office markets.

Lewis Ellis provide sales, purchase, development and asset management advice to a focused client base including institutions, property companies, private investors, family offices, banks and developers. Since its formation in 1993, the Partnership has transacted in excess of £18bn of property across all sectors.

Prior to Lewis Ellis Matt worked in the National Investment department at JLL and has over 20 years’ experience in the industry. Portfolio investment highlights include the off market acquisition of the Clifford Portfolio (£90m) for Threadneedle, sale of Project Brace (£170m) for BAM Properties and the sale of Brunel Portfolio (£216m) for Alony Hetz. Office investment highlights include the acquisition of Enterprises House, Uxbridge (£52.25m) for M&G Real Estate and the acquisition of 75 King William Street, London EC4 (£67m) for Aberdeen Standard.

Key clients include Columbia Threadneedle, Aberdeen Standard and M&G Real Estate.

Visit www.lewisellis.co.uk for more information.

Mark S Eshelby

Mark originally qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2000 and has since moved on to become Director and stake holder of Latchmere Properties Ltd following a two year stint as a Surveyor for Stiles Harold Williams. His current role involvement covers everything from initial land acquisition, planning and construction process to new home sales co-ordination.

In the past Mark has been Chairman of both the RICS Surrey branch and The 100 Property Club and has also sat on the RICS South East Board.

Latchmere Properties has become one of the leading developers of fine homes in Surrey. Outstanding architecture, exceptional design and luxurious, contemporary specification are all hallmarks of the individual homes created by the company. Their continued success has been driven by the creation of traditional homes constructed from high quality materials and by displaying careful attention to detail in every project they take on. They are regularly recognised for their high-quality work across a range of sectors by the judging panels of numerous prestigious property awards.

Visit www.latchmere-properties.co.uk for more information

Peter Wild

Peter started his career in 2008 at a niche city office agency practice before joining Colliers International. At Colliers he continued to specialise in office agency and advised corporate clients on development strategies, acquisitions and disposals within the City of London market.

In 2012 Peter moved to Coldunell Group, a privately owned property investment firm with a diversified portfolio located across London and the South East. Peter led the asset management team whilst overseeing development and refurbishment projects, purchases/sales as well as sustainability initiatives.

In 2024 Peter joined QinetiQ in a corporate real estate role. He is responsible for asset managing and project developing the firms substantial UK property holdings which include industrial, offices, data centres, lab space, development land and open storage yards.

Jo Farr

Jo Farr is a Partner of specialist law firm Moore Barlow and heads up the Commercial Property team at Moore Barlows’ Guildford office.

Jo has worked as a property lawyer for over 15 years building up technical know-how and wide connections with property professionals both locally and further afield.  Her work usually involves one or more of the following: sales and acquisitions, commercial leases; development work and property finance.

Jo deals with a wide client base from local independent retailers to investment landlords and from property developers to banks, which means she is able to see transactions from various perspectives.

Jo prides herself on taking time to get to know her clients and their businesses so that she can understand their priorities and concerns.  Jo states “I don’t stand on ceremony and have always found that a no nonsense approach gets the best results!”

At home Jo enjoys all kinds of sport including rock climbing and triathlon.  She has a sense of adventure and likes to travel as often as she can. Otherwise she is kept busy with her lovely children.

Alex Lewis

Alex is a South West London Commercial Property specialist, acting for institutional and private clients.  Alex has over 15 years’ experience, including time with major property advisory practices DTZ and Donaldsons in their investment and occupational teams. Most recently, Alex founded Lewis & Co in 2017.

Lewis & Co are a niche commercial property agency, that specialises in all aspects of office, retail and industrial properties, in Wimbledon & South West London. The company offer a full range of property services and advice, including investment, leasehold acquisitions & disposals.

Visit www.lewisco.co.uk  for more information.

Tom Janson

Tom joined the team in January 2019 having enjoyed 3 years at Commercial property consultants and agents Bray Fox Smith where he worked in the West London and Thames Valley occupational and investment market. Previous to starting at Bray Fox Smith he completed a Masters degree in Real Estate at London Southbank University and obtained RICS Chartered Surveyor status in May 2018. Tom’s role at Jansons is to focus on acquisitions across all sectors and also undertaking asset management for schemes when required.

Jansons Property is a highly experienced property developer and investor with a diverse portfolio and a slew of versatile industry professionals in its ranks. Jansons established in 2003. The company prides itself on having skilled professionals with decades of multi-industry acumen to offer. The partnership consists of the tenacious and innovative approach of Andy Jansons with the financial might of William Pears Group.

80% of our projects are located in West London and Thames Valley, however, we do follow particular sectors further afield.

Visit www.jansonsproperty.com for more information.

Tom Kerins

Tom graduated from Nottingham Trent University in July 2013 with a BSc (Hons) degree in Real Estate.

He began his career at Lambert Smith Hampton in London where he gained extensive experience on the graduate scheme, rotating in various sectors such as agency, property management and valuation. He advised a range of clients during his time at LSH and qualified as a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2015. Subsequent to qualifying Tom worked in the Capital Markets team where he was involved with various acquisitions and disposals, advising a number of funds, property companies, developers and private individuals.

Visit www.finnandcompany.com for more information.

Paul Hosford

Paul graduated from Southampton University in 2004 with an MEng in Civil Engineering.

Since then he has worked for a number of structural consultancies, acquiring knowledge of a broad range of construction materials and methodologies, and meeting Paul and Adam during his time at Price & Myers.

Notable projects he has completed in his career include Wimbledon Tennis Club – Court 2 (£conf.); Kendrew Quad – award winning halls of residence for St John’s College, Oxford (£35M); St Edmund’s Terrace – residential new-build adjacent to Primrose Hill, London (£53M); Swindon Designer Outlet — part refurb, part new build project to extend and regenerate the retail venue (£23.5M).

Paul joined Constructure in 2011.

Visit www.constructure.co.uk for more information.