Hollie Ruddle, a recent addition to Avison Young’s regional investment team, says there’s a positivity in the South West ahead of her and the wider national team’s visit to UKREiiF next week, after multiple big-ticket deals in Bristol.

According to the agency’s quarterly "Big Nine" report, the sales of the Halo, Programme and Imperial Brands offices meant a combined circa £140 million was traded in the city in Q1, making it the top performing regional market.

With 20 years’ real estate experience, spending time at Cushman & Wakefield and LSH, Ruddle joined AY as a regional investment director in its Bristol offices earlier this year. She says her immediate priorities centre around continuing the city's recent run of deals.

“For me, the main priority is getting some transactions completed. It is about getting deals through and matching requirements in the short term. With multi-disciplinary service lines across the Bristol office, our focus is on collaboration and how we can work together to achieve the best results for our client."

The appointment of Ruddle, who joined from Clifton Agency, follows another regional hire in the form of Chris Ward, who was brought in as an investment director in Manchester earlier this year.

Ruddle says the company’s ambition to recruit in Edinburgh and Leeds is, again, another positive sign. “There are other companies around the UK who are shrinking their regional presence, so AY’s recruitment ambition was one of the real draws for me… For a regional agent to hear a company is expanding across the UK, it is really encouraging.”

JTRE London has appointed former Knight Frank partner James Keegan as head of acquisitions. Keegan has 17 years of experience, most recently as a co-founder and director of sustainable development company AutumnHill.

Prior to this, he was a partner at Knight Frank for 15 years, overseeing the central London development team and working on major acquisitions and disposals, including the sale of Battersea Power Station, Southbank Place and ITV Centre South Bank. The appointment follows the recent hire of Seamus Porter as operations director.

Zenzic Capital, the real estate credit and special situations investment manager, has made two appointments at its London headquarters. Richard Clouston joins as vice-president of development finance, and brings almost 10 years’ real estate lending experience to the firm. Edward Barnes enters as a credit analyst and was previously at Westpac Banking Corporation in Melbourne, Australia. Both hires will report to Simon Brown, who joined the firm as head of real estate development finance lending at the end of last year.

Rob Bower, Montagu Evans' managing partner, will stand down at the end of next March, with the process underway to appoint his successor. He accepted the role nearly a decade ago and has been at the firm for nearly three decades in total.

Bower said the nominations process is underway for his replacement. An announcement is expected in the summer and the role will formally start on 1 April 2025, after a "structured transition period". He is recognised for helping the firm increase its emphasis on living, industrial and logistics and healthcare.

Strategic property consultancy Rapleys has hired Phillip Ankers as a partner and made him national head of project management and cost consultancy in the building consultancy division. Ankers joins from Pulse Consult and will be based in the Bristol office.

He brings with him more than 16 years' experience of working for Aecom, JLL and Deloitte Real Estate. He will be responsible for "leading and growing the project management and cost consultancy service nationally as part of the building consultancy division".

BNP Paribas Real Estate has doubled the size of its valuation team in Scotland, with Guy Dalziel joining as an associate director and Ashley Hare as a director and ESG valuation lead. Hare takes on the role following 12 years at Cushman & Wakefield, where he was a partner. Dalziel comes across from Colliers, where he was an associate for seven years. The firm's decision to expand in Scotland follows a series of client wins. The wider UK valuation team being led by Jim Crafford, who took over as head early last year.

Regeneration and property development specialist Hargreaves Land has expanded its team in Leeds with the appointment of a development surveyor, Brady Harrison. He qualified as a chartered surveyor in 2018 and joins the firm to support its development activity across Yorkshire, the North West and Midlands.

Harrison previously worked at Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, where he handled strategic acquisitions, disposals and was involved in the council’s ongoing land review programme. He was a senior surveyor at Savills for more than a year and a half.