Brendas awards net £32,000 for charity

BIRMINGHAM’S property professionals raised more than £32,000 for charity at an annual spoof property awards lunch.

The Brenda Awards, now in its 13th year, is the annual tongue-in-cheek awards event when Birmingham’s commercial property sector joins forces to raise funds for disadvantaged children across the West Midlands.

This year’s event, staged at the Burlington Hotel and attended by more than 370 influential property professionals, collected £32,158 for Property for Kids. The main charity this year is Teenage Cancer Trust, and in light of the terrorist atrocity in Manchester, a donation was also made to support the families and victims affected.

The theme this year bore resemblance to a popular reality TV series in which opinionated TV viewers give their views on television shows. The show was hosted by Jilly Cosgrove, of Barques Design, Lucy Hansell, of Estilo Interiors, Rupert Young, of Nurton Developments, and Simon Marks, of Arcadis.

Winners included Rob Watts, of GVA; Rob Valentine, of Bruntwood; Lorna Devane-Porter, of CBRE; Emel Ahmet, of Colliers; Andrew Franck-Steier, of FranckSteier Price; Julia Court, of Claremont ; and Justin Quibell, of Cushman & Wakefield, who truly stole the show.

A final award was given for Services to Industry to Terry Corns, Julian Shellard and Peter Burford, whose VT could have played on throughout the entire lunch. Peter is a Brendas veteran and was involved in the early days of the event.