Knight Frank’s depth and strength of commercial property transactions across Yorkshire convinced judges to name the agency best large practice at the Yorkshire Property Awards 2017.
Knight Frank beat off competition from Savills and Colliers to take the title at the awards held at Ruddings Park in Harrogate, celebrating their 20th year, as well as helping to raise money for children’s charity Variety.
Judges highlighted the large practice category had showed off all three firms’ strong performance but that Knight Frank’s teams in Sheffield and Leeds had shown the greatest depth of transactions across the region and its strength of activity was manifest for all to see with the firm enjoying a brilliant year.
Peter Whiteley, head of office at the Sheffield office of Knight Frank, said: “This award confirms Knight Frank’s commanding presence in the region.
“It demonstrates the strength of the regional office, industrial and logistics team. The team has been involved in a substantial proportion of the key industrial and office property deals of the past 12 months.
“With offices in Sheffield and Leeds, Knight Frank offers genuine Yorkshire coverage. We know our market, and its various sectors, inside out allowing us to respond quickly and knowledgeably to enquiries and opportunities across all size ranges and uses in the region.”
Henrie Westlake, partner at Knight Frank in Leeds, added: “We were delighted to win this prestigious and coveted award especially as it was voted for by an expert committee of property professionals. It has been a very exciting year for the property industry in Yorkshire, as elsewhere, and we have managed to put together some significant deals in a growing market.”
This is the second award picked up by Knight Frank this year – in March it retained its top spot as the most active agency in the commercial property sector in Yorkshire in 2016 – being involved in 111 transactions.
The team completed more deals than anyone else across the whole of Yorkshire for the third year running in the national EGi Deals competition.
Nationally Knight Frank transacted more than 7.5m sq ft of property in the second half of 2016 – climbing to second place in a national league table of industrial agents
Deals concluded by the Yorkshire team include the letting of the former Carcraft facility at Sheffield Business Park to Motorpoint; the letting and subsequent sale of 190,000 sq ft at Wakefield Eurohub to Allied Glass; the pre-sale of a 65,000 sq ft warehouse and office development at the £15m Summit 24 Business Park at Lindley Moor in Huddersfield to leading UK spring suppliers Lesjofors Springs.
Office deals included three successful lettings at Concordia Works in Leeds; the sale of St Paul’s House in Leeds to EPIC UK for £23.7 million; and a hat-trick of deals at 12 Greek Street, Leeds, Swedish bank Handelsbanken’s and ARUP’s move into 3 St Paul’s Place in Sheffield and the multiple lettings at Meadowhall Business Park in Sheffield.
