Long-time Avison Young employee Carl Potter has left the firm to lead CBRE's Midlands and South development team.
Potter moves after 39 years at Avison Young during which he had stints as national head of office agency, managing director of the Birmingham office and chair of the UK executive committee.
CBRE said the recruit has advised clients across the Midlands on transactions relating to some of the region’s highest profile developments.
They include the Birmingham Health and Innovation Campus on behalf of the University of Birmingham and the Peddimore industrial development on behalf of Birmingham City Council.
He also acted as project director at Arden Cross, the £3.2 billion regeneration project and HS2 Interchange hub near Birmingham Airport, concluding the development agreement with Muse in December 2024.
At Avison Young he also led the company’s higher education, science park and life sciences initiatives, providing development and transactional advice to universities and across the majority of the region’s science parks.
Potter will join Laura Loftus and James Carey, who are both former colleagues at Avison Young, Jack Jones and Jess Tovey in CBRE’s Birmingham development team.
He said: "At Avison Young we built a highly skilled team and an enviable track record of advising clients across many high growth sectors, particularly focusing on joint venture development, delivery strategies and regeneration projects.
"The opportunity to elevate this through CBRE’s existing capabilities and international network provided a compelling rationale for the move."
Potter has also chaired the Midlands British Council for Offices committee and judging panel, and sits on the Urban Land Institute Midlands committee.
He has also advised The Symphony Hall and Birmingham Repertory Theatre on capital projects, on a pro bono basis.
Will Ventham, head of CBRE’s Birmingham office, added: "Carl has an enviable track record and his move here is a massive coup. We are hugely excited by the prospect of building further upon our leading advisory and consultancy teams locally.
"Carl shares CBRE’s ambition to act as the enabler for strategic real estate partnerships, particularly between the public, private and higher education sectors, leveraging the generational opportunity for growth we are seeing across the Midlands region."
Earlier this week another long-serving member of a top four agency, Ashley Hudson, left Knight Frank to lead a new investment vehicle launched by Nurton Developments. He was previously head of the Birmingham office for Knight Frank.