Bruton Knowles Cardiff looks back on 2017 Future looks bright for Welsh property scene
THE Cardiff office of Bruton Knowles has capped off a successful 2017 with a host of new business wins, resulting in a number of new appointments to the team.
With what now is arguably one of the most experienced and wellestablished property consultancy teams in Wales, Adrian James, the newly appointed head at the Newport Road-based office, is looking forward to the year ahead where he plans to grow the Bruton Knowles profile and strengthen its proposition particularly to local authorities in respect of acquisitions, disposals, portfolio reviews and investment properties.
Included in the firm’s achievements was the sale of land in Pontprennau, to the east of Cardiff, for 50 new properties. This was closely followed by a deal which saw the firm sell an 8.61 acre parcel of land at St Edeyrn’s for 150 new properties. Both deals were on behalf of the Welsh Government.
The firm’s valuation team has also been kept busy providing advice in respect for acquisition and disposal on behalf of banks, landlords and those looking to invest in property across Wales.
With the Severn Bridge tolls set to Greater Bristol and the West of England, they are expecting many businesses to consider relocation, particularly as the bridge tolls were viewed as a huge barrier to movement.
In addition, house hunters will be crunching the numbers to work out whether to look for somewhere to live on the Welsh side of the River Severn.
The team believes that the south west of Wales also has significant prospects for improvement in the property market – with upwards of £1.3bn of investment promised as part of the Swansea Bay City Region Deal.
Even though plans to electrify the main rail line west of Cardiff were dropped by the UK government, increased levels of investment in Swansea city centre and plans to regenerate the St David’s retail area, recently given the green light by Swansea City Council, have given the city a bright future and form part of bigger redevelopment proposals across Swansea. The city’s burgeoning student population is also driving development with, for example, approval for a new 307-bedroom, 14-storey block at Kingsway.
The team is also scrutinising the implications the new Land Transaction Tax will have in Wales, when it comes into force in April 2018 and recently hosted a breakfast seminar on the subject, which attracted over 40 people from a range of businesses.
Adrian said: “While there has been some concern expressed about the possible future impact of the higher LTT rate for transactions over £1 million, Wales is very much open for business.
“A combination of factors makes this a very exciting time for the country and the team we now have in place will allow us to be at the forefront of bringing to fruition some significant projects, from both a commercial and residential property perspective.”