Property specialist on lookout for new opportunities in region

Newly appointed development director, David Travis, will increase the firm’s development pipeline across the region to build on its existing teams in the North East and Scotland.

Mr Travis will be based in a new Leeds office, which is set to open later in the year, and will target both strategic land and immediate development opportunities across a wide variety of potential uses.

Hargreaves Land is already on site at its strategically important 618 acre Unity regeneration scheme in Doncaster, where it is delivering twomillion sq ft of employment space and over 3,000 new homes with joint venture partner Waystone. The joint venture recently opened a new 2.4km link road, providing direct access to the scheme from Junction 5 of the M18 and completing the first phase of major enabling works on site.

In December, the firm also started construction of a new £9.5m retail warehouse scheme in Bridlington. The joint venture between Hargreaves Land and Fintry Estates will deliver 44,000 sq ft of floor space in a development agreement with East Riding of Yorkshire Council. The scheme, which has already secured pre-lets with major retailers, Lidl and B&M Retail, is due for completion this summer.

David Anderson, group property director at Hargreaves Land, said: “Establishing our new Central team in Leeds is a natural progression to continue the rapid evolution of our business and builds on the substantial investment we have already put into the wider region over the last couple of years.”

“David is a very important appointment for us as we look to focus our growth and acquire new sites to add to our development portfolio in what is a significant geographical area.

"He has a strong track record in successfully identifying and transacting viable opportunities and, in turn, spearheading the completion of a number of high-profile schemes across several different markets. We’re delighted to have him on board.”

Prior to joining Hargreaves Land, Mr Travis spent five years at Harworth Group as director of the firm’s businessspace division, delivering over one million sq ft of newly constructed space across schemes such as the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Rotherham, Gateway36 in Barnsley, Gateway45 in Leeds and Logistics North in Bolton.

His career includes recent roles with Gent Visick, Town Centre Securities and HS2.

Mr Travis said: “This is a very exciting time to be joining Hargreaves Land as the business accelerates its continued growth and the role is ideally suited to my expertise and experience.

"I very much look forward to working alongside the existing team on Unity and our other schemes in the wider region; whilst focusing in the main on securing new opportunities for the portfolio and ultimately progressing these right through to completion.”