Nick Walkley, principal and UK president of Avison Young, is set to leave the firm, the latest big-name departure at the top of UK real estate.
Avison Young confirmed this morning that Walkley was departing to "pursue other interests", with Mark Rose, chair and chief executive, and Martin Dockrill, chief operating officer, leading the UK business in the meantime.
The global property consultancy said a new leader for its UK would be "appointed in due course".
"I would like to thank Nick for his time at Avison Young," Rose said in a statement. "We are excited about the future and next chapter of Avison Young’s business in the UK, where we will continue to focus on core clients globally as well as investing in the growth of all transaction and consultative businesses including capital markets, leasing and tenant representation."
Walkley joined Avison Young as principal and president UK strategic advisory in 2021, having been CEO of Homes England for four years. He stepped up to his current role in June 2022.
He becomes the latest UK head of a global property consultancy to depart their firm after a number of high-profile exits this year, including former JLL chief executive Stephanie Hyde and CBRE's Ciaran Bird, who will leave his chief executive, United Kingdom and Ireland advisory business, role at the end of the year.
The parent company for the UK and Europe arms, Avison Young Holdings, made a regulatory filing to Companies House for the year to 31 December 2024, which showed total revenue of £212.6 million, up slightly on 2023, and a pretax loss of £101.1 million, the same figure as the prior year.
Avison Young, which is headquartered in Toronto, said the figures had been driven by difficult economic conditions in the UK which had resulted in slow growth. It was also hit with an impairment of goodwill in the year of £70 million following a review of expected future cashflow which has been "derisked in line with UK economic growth estimates".
Mark Rose spoke to CoStar News and Business Immo at this year's Mipim Conference, during which he talked up the UK office market.
