North East industrial property firm HTA Real Estate has expanded its team with the appointment of property investment specialist Douglas Cranston.
Cranston joins the Newcastle-based property consultancy as investment director, bringing more than 20 years of industry experience following senior roles with firms including MCM, Knight Frank and JLL.
He will lead the firm’s investment department, handling acquisitions and disposals on behalf of pension funds, property companies and private individuals. The recruit will also provide strategic asset management advice to property investors to help them enhance portfolio performance.
Cranston will concentrate primarily on the North East region but has previously brokered investment deals in Yorkshire, North West, the Midlands and Scotland. According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked in Knight Frank's Newcastle office in the capital markets team between 2014 to 2020.
HTA was launched in 2013 by directors Nick Atkinson, Simon Hill and Russell Taylor. The firm says it has played a key role in the success of some of the region’s most significant industrial development schemes over the last decade.
It has transacted circa 11.5 million square feet of deals since 2013, including lettings to Energizer and Tor Coatings at Follingsby Park in Gateshead, as well as a 265,000-square-foot letting to Coveris at Drum Industrial Estate. It also sold the 340-acre former Alcan site in Northumberland.