Leading property consultancy, FHP, has strengthened its business rates team by investing in the appointment of two new hires.
Business rates expert, Steve Bicknell joins the company as a specialist rating consultant, following a 31 year career with the Valuation Office Agency (VOA).
Steve will be based at FHP’s Nottingham office and will have responsibility for advising FHP’s portfolio of national shopping centre clients on how best to reduce their business rates liabilities, including empty rates mitigation and rateable value appeals.
He will also work with a number of fire and rescue authorities in relation to their business rates liabilities.
A vastly experienced property valuation specialist, Steve was formerly responsible for setting the basis of valuation for properties across the Midlands in his role with the VOA and has dealt with large volumes of appeals on all sorts of property, including complex valuations.
Reece Pritchard joins FHP as a business rates account manager and will deliver a range of services to the consultancy’s shopping centre clients, including bill management and forecasting, covering business rates and empty property rates liabilities.
Reece has specialised in business rates for more than seven years and was previously a rate account manager at Colliers International, servicing national clients including WeWork and The Restaurant Group. He will be based at FHP’s Colmore Row office in Birmingham city centre.
Steve Bicknell said: “When I was at the VOA, I always admired FHP because they were one of the few agents that would actually value the property rather than ‘chance’ the system as many did. Now that I am working in private practice, I believe that my knowledge and experience in setting and defending rateable values will stand me in good stead and help achieve results that others without this knowledge would not be able to. I’m excited to be part of the FHP team.”
Reece Pritchard said: “I am very pleased to have joined FHP and am excited to be part of a successful team. I feel that I have plenty to offer and that my skills are well suited to FHP.”
Alastair Fearn, Director FHP said: “We are very happy to have added Steve and Reece to our team. To have someone with Steve’s knowledge and experience from inside the VOA is invaluable. Reece brings a unique set of skills that we did not have previously in the business, which will enable us to offer a broader range of services to our clients and improve the rates forecasting work that we undertake.”
Andrew Chapman, FHP Director added: “Whenever we recruit we are always trying to attract people who can enhance our knowledge and offering. There is absolutely no doubt that with Steve and Reece joining us, we have achieved exactly that.”
FHP is one of the largest private commercial property consultancies in the Midlands, with three offices located in Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham. The firm has a strong track record of achieving exceptional business rate savings for a wide variety of clients, including The Linney Group, Sandicliffe, Nottingham Forest Football Club and Nissan.
