A director of national property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has been awarded the accolade of Leicestershire’s Most Active Dealmaker of the Year in a prestigious commercial property contest.
Geoff Gibson, head of office and industrial and logistics specialist in LSH’s Leicester office, has been recognised by the Estates Gazette’s online service – EGi – in their annual competition for the country’s most active agents. The Estate Gazette is regarded as the property sector “bible”.
The Estates Gazette EGi assessment team gathered information regarding deals transacted in 2011, covering all sectors of the market including industrial, office, retail and leisure.
Geoff Gibson, who has worked for LSH for 25 years, was involved in several ground-breaking deals including the 70,000 sq ft acquisition of the largest modern warehouse in Leicester for POS Direct, and an off-market letting of a 16,000 sq ft warehouse on Meridian Business Park in Leicester, acting on behalf of retained offshore clients.
The occupier, Tetenal UK Ltd, was looking for a quality unit and Geoff and the LSH team were aware of the company’s preference for Meridian as they had previously been located there. LSH used their knowledge of the fact that the current lease on the unit was expiring and that the sub-tenant in occupation only wished to have a short term renewal. LSH put a deal together in which Tetenal UK Ltd has taken a new 10 year lease of the premises.
Other deals that Geoff was involved in included a letting of 33,000 sq ft to a substantial tenant of the former Fedex building on Meridian Business Park within days of their lease expiring, so mitigating the void holding costs to the client.
Three units totalling 55,000 sq ft at Link 7 Interlink Bardon were let at rents of up to £5.25 per sq ft, which reflects the highest level for modern warehouses of the size in the county.
Geoff Gibson said: “The market is tough and competitive at the moment, so to get this accolade now is especially pleasing. We have a great team here who know the Leicestershire property market intimately and have the contacts and capabilities to get deals done. We also, through LSH’s network of offices nationwide, have the ability to take a national view when that is needed.”
LSH also scooped the EGi award for the Most Active Industrial Agent in the country.
