Trio of senior level promotions at GVA highlights strong market

The Midlands office of leading commercial property adviser, GVA, has marked a successful year with a trio of senior staff promotions.

David Willmer, from the Industrial team, Charles Toogood from the Offices team and Craig Alsbury from Planning, Development and Regeneration (PDR) have all been promoted to Senior Director level.

David joined GVA in 1981 and has developed his extensive experience in the industrial and logistics sectors, specialising in high-profile acquisition and disposal agency and development consultancy. His key clients include corporate occupiers, investors and developers such as JCB, The Co-Operative Group, Eddie Stobart, DHL, Legal & General, I M Properties and Staples.

Charles has been with GVA since 2003, focussing on city centre office agency and development consultancy work for both landlords and occupiers. This work covers a diverse mix of disciplines, including site acquisition, asset management, development strategy, leasing and disposals, marketing and building acquisition.

A well-known figure in the Birmingham commercial property sector, Charles’s key clients include Brindeyplace owners Hines and Moorfield; West Register; M&G RE; AXA Reim; Nurton Developments; Birmingham and Coventry City Councils; Miller Developments; Argent and Opus Land.

Craig is a member of GVA’s 27 strong Planning, Development and Regeneration team and has been with the firm since 1999. He is currently advising on major projects in the housing, retail, commercial and education sectors and on several CPO and land compensation matters. Craig regularly appears as an expert witness in hearings and inquiries and acts as lead consultant for his clients, heading multi-disciplinary teams.

These are three of the 100 promotions that GVA has made across its network of offices, ten of which are to Senior Director level.

Ian Stringer, Senior Regional Director, GVA, said: “With all of the activity that we’ve seen over the past year, there is no better time for us to reward our top performers. Naturally I am exceedingly pleased that we have been able to recognise the hard work that David, Charles and Craig have brought to GVA over their time with us.

“That these promotions represent such a broad cross-section of our business units is a genuine representation of the market upswing that we have seen since the start of the year.”

The promotions follow a busy few months for the company, which has seen its best end of year results since before the economic downturn and has announced its new strategic partner in global engineering, management and real estate giant, Bilfinger.

Ian Stringer continued: “While we are now facing a rapidly improving market situation, it is vital that we ensure that our core team is ready to face the demands of the future. These promotions are a prime example of the way in which GVA is positioning itself to ensure that we remain responsive, agile and able to meet our clients’ needs and exceed their expectations.”