Birmingham property firm eyeing growth after office move

(L-R): MK2 directors Paul Rixon, Mark Johnson, Ian Wilton, Mark Rooke, and Marcello Della Croce.

A Birmingham-based niche property consultancy is targeting significant growth following a move to new offices in the city centre.

MK2 Real Estate, which specialises in investment, property management, building consultancy and landlord and tenant work, has ambitions to be a £4.5 million turnover business, employing 30 people, in the next five years. The company currently turns over circa £1.5 million with 11 staff.

Previously based at Maddox House on Edmund Street, MK2 has doubled its office space with a move to 172 Edmund Street, taking 1,439 sq ft on the fourth floor of the building on a five-year lease, to accommodate planned growth.

The move to bigger offices comes after a successful 12 months for the firm, in which it recorded its best year’s trading, with 17 investment deals completed across the UK, with a total value of £95 million. These include the £26.55 million sale of the Premier Inn on Waterloo Street to Standard Life Assurance and the £8.1 million acquisition of an Aldi store in Sale, Greater Manchester, for a charitable trust.

Other deals include the sale of One Cranmore Drive, Solihull, the funding of an MKM Builders Merchants in Mansfield and the acquisition of 3QR, a prime office building in Reading.

The firm’s property management team has also had a good year. Since joining MK2 in September 2017, Marcello Della Croce has built the five-strong team, which now manages a national property portfolio with a total value of £350 million.

Mark Rooke, director and co-founder of MK2 Real Estate, said: “Property management is a big growth area for the business and a key part of our niche service offering as we seek to help clients maximise the value of their assets.

“However, we are seeing continued growth across all our core services, including landlord and tenant and building consultancy, with work being won not just in Birmingham but across the whole of the UK.

“We founded MK2 in 2012, during the recession, and since then we have seen year-on-year growth. If it continues, we fully expect to be a £4.5million turnover business within five years.

“The new office provides us with the room to expand and take on more staff to service the extra workload as the company grows.”

MK2’s clients include IM Properties, Nottingham City Council, Downing, Legal & General, Lasalle Investment Management, Hortons’ Estate Limited and David Samuel Properties.