The Beginning – Tim Harries & Partners is Launched
The firm is launched by a trio of property professionals, headed by Tim Harries, each having up to 25 years’ experience across the UK’s commercial property markets gained from senior positions in global property consultancies, with a shared commitment to provide clients with first class commercially-led advice combined with a personal and trusted service
First Client Mandates – The team wins its first mandates from leading national and regional clients
Early supporters of the firm include exciting asset management mandates from major industry clients including CBRE Global Investors, BMO Real Estate Advisers, AXA Real Estate and Rowan Asset Management, as well as established regional Trusts and overseas wealth managers, underlining client confidence in the firm’s commitment to first class service provision.
Demonstrating Breadth of Service
The team wins new exciting instructions, demonstrating our wider capabilities and experience in areas such as corporate consultancy. New clients tapping into our technical expertise and knowledge of the regional market include both Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council, and leading charity The Woodland Trust. A demonstration of the value of our strength in consultancy included assisting newly-referred clients in the pharmaceutical sector to identify and acquire new warehouse and production facilities for expansion, and providing ongoing advice leading to the subsequent sale-and-leaseback of the created investment, generating a 150% profit for our clients within 24 months.
Rolling-out Investment Expertise Nationwide
The firm significantly increases its presence in the investment markets, advising clients on both the acquisition and disposal of a range of commercial investments throughout the UK, with each transaction managed at Partner level and underpinned by our focus on detail and deal delivery. We successfully acquire assets on behalf of a number of new high-net-worth investor clients with whom the firm continues to work closely on stock selection and the creation of asset management plans to maximise future performance.
Doing Deals
Clients increasingly seek advice from the firm to oversee or directly transact the leasing of space becoming vacant in their portfolios. In several instances, this involves appointing and working alongside specialist sector agents, where our hand-on approach and attention to detail, combined with our regional market knowledge, drive results. Where clients have limited time and available resources, they recognise the benefit from our role as their “eyes and ears” on the ground, maintaining constant focus on ensuring their property is marketed to achieve its maximum potential. We also achieve notable successes for clients left with vacant space where tenants fell into administration, particularly in the retail sector. Our expertise in dealing with administrators, coupled with our focus on the need to deliver quick results to clients left with costly voids, sees deals negotiated on several former Clintons and Dreams stores in particular, often on improved terms.
Delivering sound advice to clients throughout the property cycle
The firm’s ability to support clients throughout the whole property cycle is exemplified by our work on a large multi-let mixed-use building owned by one of our London-based property company clients where our success in lease renewal negotiations with the anchor tenant led to winning the mandate to arrange the successful sale of the investment off a £12 million guide price. In turn, our in-depth knowledge of the building led to us being retained by the overseas purchaser to act as their asset manager, and we are now overseeing the leasing campaign, the planned refurbishment and reconfiguration of the building, and addressing planning issues, all aimed at re-positioning the asset to drive future performance.
Growth in Landlord & Tenant Professional Services
The first positive signs of rental growth returning to the regional markets sparks a demand from existing and new clients for landlord and tenant services covering both lease renewals and, increasingly, rent reviews. This is an area of expertise in which Tim Harries & Partners have in-depth knowledge and expertise, having advised clients on often complex and high-level negotiations across all of the main property sectors, including experience of conducting cases through Arbitration and Independent Expert proceedings.
New Clients and new opportunities
Now in our eighth year, there was a positive start with a number of exciting mandates awarded by new clients to the firm, including our first instructions from a Friendly Society and county Church diocese, increasing our involvement with these custodians of often historic land and property assets.
A calm presence in a confused world
In a year of political and economic uncertainty, with global stock indices turning negative, the firm’s reputation as a provider of considered and reliable advice found even greater traction with clients managing the impact of wider forces on property markets.
Rising to the challenge of evolving innovation
The new year brings fresh opportunities on the back of client innovation reacting to rapidly evolving business and social changes led by the digital economy. An exciting, if challenging, time to be in business.
Year dominated by Covid 19
The year was dominated by the global impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of which was felt across all that we do.
Having invested in the THP business infrastructure some years earlier to operate in what we could see was an accelerating transformation towards a more flexible and proactive working model, backed by robust digital technology, we found ourselves well placed to maintain seamless services to our clients despite the wider challenges. The year ended having seen us forge even closer ties with our clients, tenants, and service providers, communicating in new ways, identifying and achieving common purposes and outcomes and, above all, maintaining professionalism, perspective, stability and empathy during times where the rules of the real estate world seemed to have been turned on their head.
