Record growth for Leicestershire commercial property firm

Wells McFarlane’s Directors (L-R) Trevor Wells, Andrew McFarlane Holt and Jason Hercock have recorded a record year for growth despite the pandemic.

Leicestershire Chartered Surveyor and Property Consultant, Wells McFarlane has reported a record year, achieving sustained growth despite the challenges posed by the pandemic.

The Lutterworth-based practice, recognised as specialists in commercial property management, rural estate management/diversification and development land planning, attributes this growth to some creative thinking, commitment from its team to be the best in its field and longstanding client relationships.

“There’s no denying that the last year has been tough for all businesses, facing unknown challenges and timeframes battling the pandemic,” said Andrew McFarlane Holt, Director and Co-Founder of Wells McFarlane. “Despite this, we have shown resilience and a willingness to adapt that has enabled us to perform far better than expected.

“From a deals perspective, we’ve completed on more commercial space than last year, helping new businesses with their first premises and existing companies relocate or expand. There was a lot of talk about the death of the office market, but regionally we found this was not the case. Demand for out-of-town and rural business parks remained equally high, especially in sectors such as logistics, technology and home improvement. We’ve also seen real ingenuity from our Landlords to reconfigure and even construct new space to suit the market, as well as working closely with business owners and Tenants to discuss mitigating risk but also how they might scale back up as recovery happens.

“Obviously this all formed a substantial part of our growth and gives us confidence that a similar volume of work can be achieved over the next 12 months. We have good quality office, warehouse and industrial space available now and transactions are still happening,” concluded Andrew.

Other highlights for Wells McFarlane in 2020 include Director, Jason Hercock being named Leicestershire’s Most Active Dealmaker for the second successive year in the annual Estates Gazette competition; two new members of staff being appointed to oversee the company’s accounts and communications functions; and a major land deal securing over three acres for German-owned supermarket chain, Aldi.

Trevor Wells, Director and Co-Founder, added: “Our achievements throughout 2020 were remarkable given the circumstances, and we’re exceptionally proud of our team, none of whom were furloughed and all have shown such enthusiasm and appetite to provide the best service for our clients. Together, we’re now working on a number of strategic sites to expand our work across Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire in the year ahead.”