Sutton Coldfield-based commercial property consultancy and Chartered Surveyors Burley Browne has further strengthened its management team, by recruiting one of the leading lights of the property market, James Merrick.
He joins the agency at director level – after spending 18 years with the Birmingham chartered surveying practice Johnson Fellows – and specializes in Lease Advisory matters in the retail sector.
Merrick brings twenty years of experience in the property market and is an RICS appointed Arbitrator, RICS Accredited Expert Witness and member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators with expertise in the retail property sector.
Burley Browne director David Hemming was delighted to have recruited James who will work alongside fellow director Peter Browne in Lease Advisory, and the rest of the management team on business growth strategies.
“It’s quite a coup for us to have persuaded someone with James’s profile to switch agencies, because his vast experience will substantially strengthen the advice and service we can provide to our landlord and occupier clients,” he said.
“James has represented and advised national multiple retailers, institutional landlords, developers and investment funds, as well as local occupiers and private landlords, and he’ll be working not only across the wider West Midlands, but throughout the UK.”
For his part, Merrick admitted he’d been lured by the chance to help drive Burley Browne’s business strategy forward.
“I was very happy where I was, but having met David, Peter and the team here, I decided it was the right time to make a move. Mark Fitzpatrick saw the potential and came here two years ago, as the industrial and business space director and I believe there is equal opportunity for myself to help grow the business.”
Burley Browne has offices in both Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield, and is one of the largest independent firms operating in the local marketplace with a key focus on North Birmingham, Staffordshire and the surrounding West Midlands. The company also specialises in offices, retail, leisure and industrial markets.