Avison Young to review city’s property portfolio

REAL estate consultancy Avison Young has been appointed to lead a review of Birmingham City Council’s commercial property portfolio.

The brief will see the firm advise the council on opportunities for improvement within its portfolio which covers 5,500 property interests and generates £32 million per year for the authority.

The city council is also the largest landowner of property in Birmingham with around 26,000 acres of assets currently in its portfolio.

Following the review, Avison Young will advise the council on the opportunities for improvement, growth and change management over the next few years with the aim of maximising its income.

The appointment of Avison Young follows its recent work with Birmingham City Council to support its offmarket acquisition of a 26-acre site near Birmingham Airport from travel firm Holiday Extras.

The council’s Property Investment Strategy was launched last summer and aims to generate stronger income streams from its properties to be invested back into core services.

Carl Potter, managing director of Avison Young’s Birmingham office, said: “As the UK’s largest local authority and one of our key clients, Birmingham City Council has clear aims to continually improve and make its assets and investments deliver more for the people of the city.

“This is an important role to undertake on behalf of the council.”

City council leader Ian Ward said: “Birmingham City Council adopted a new Property Investment Strategy in July 2019 which sought to drive growth from its unique portfolio of assets and deliver across a range of priorities for the city and its residents.

“Birmingham has been experiencing a major revitalisation in its property market with growth across all sectors. The appointment of Avison Young and our ability to draw upon their asset-management capabilities to drive this growth will be an important step forward in advancing delivery of this initiative.”