Specialist national property consultancy Hamer Associates has opened its first regional office in Bristol.
The Birmingham-headquartered firm acts for many of the UK’s leading housebuilders, including those active in the South West, as well as landowners affected by the new Hinkley Point C electricity connection between Bridgwater and the Seabank plant in Avonmouth.
Hamer Associates, which was established in 2000, specialises in providing compulsory purchase advice and overcoming utility constraints on development sites.
The firm has agreed a five-year lease on offices in Royal London Buildings, Baldwin Street.
Senior director Charles Hamer said the decision to open a Bristol base reflected confidence that work would continue to grow in the region
“Bristol and the South West has always been a major source of the specialist work we undertake for a wide range of clients and we are confident that the requirement for our services will continue to increase,” he said.
“In order to meet the increasing demand we need a team based permanently in the area.
“With the Government continuing to increase new-build targets for housebuilders, we are seeing a growth in demand from developers for advice about how overhead lines and other utilities can be removed from sites or how compensation can be achieved.
“Housebuilders are urgently seeking advice around utilities apparatus to enable the removal or diversion of development constraints such as overhead lines and gas pipes to allow developments to happen and housing targets to be met.”
He said the huge Hinkley Point C Connection project fell exactly into the firm’s areas of expertise. The existing 132,000 volt overhead electricity will be removed and replaced with a new 400,000 volt connection, affecting a huge number of landowners.
“We have grown significantly in the last few years and doubled our turnover last year so we feel the time is right to put down permanent roots in the Bristol area,” Mr Hamer added.
“We are actively looking to recruit more staff from the local area as we look to establish a major presence in the Bristol property market.”
Pictured, from left: Hamer Associates’ Charles Hamer Jonathan Stott
