ONE year on, the founding partners of TDB Real Estate with offices in Northampton, Milton Keynes and London, can look back on their first 12 months which has resulted in better-than-expected results in a commercial property market, that is becoming increasingly buoyant.

Mark Brown, Chris Drummond and Oliver Thompson launched the new Practice on 1^st  September last year, with the emphasis very much on providing a personal and dedicated service to clients.

With more than 60 years’ experience between them, the TDB directors’ aim from the start, with their unrivalled and in-depth understanding of the local and regional commercial property markets covering Northamptonshire (including Daventry and Wellingborough) and Milton Keynes, was to be actively pro active in responding quickly and accurately, not only to the market, but especially to client and applicant demands.

Mark Brown said:

“It has been an excellent first year, with figures showing that we’ve sold or let over 900,000 square feet of industrial space in the past 12 months and we’ve sold or acquired around £20m of investment property for private clients. That exceeds expectations and is a sign that the market has really turned around in the past year or so.

In fact, the biggest problem we face is the lack of available space/stock. We have had seven or eight years where there has been little or no new development, and so now we have a situation where companies are ready to look for new premises, and there is nothing in the market to accommodate them. There are signs that is changing, with  new development starting to appear, but whether it will happen quickly enough to avoid losing companies from the County, we are just not sure.”

Some of the deals that TDB have recently completed include the letting of a 350,000 square foot Distribution Centre at Prologis Park on Grange Park, which was built speculatively and let to Clipper Logistics before practical completion to accommodate a contract on behalf of Zara, the letting of a 75,000 square foot unit in Rugby to Britvic (jointly with Drake Commercial), and a 90,000 square foot building on Round Spinney Northampton, that is currently under offer on a leasehold basis.

Chris Drummond added:

“We are a niche Practice and set out specifically to be small enough that clients deal with one of the principals, rather than work being delegated down the line to more junior staff which can often be the case. This ensures that all of our clients benefit from the extensive expertise that we have gained over many years in the commercial property sector’’

Oliver Thompson added:

It has been a highly successful first year, building the development, investment and agency sides of the business and we are all proud that we played a vital role in a number of landmark transactions in and around the town and County during that period.”