Savills : Expands Industrial & Business Services in QLD

Savills Industrial & Business Servicesservice line in Queensland has grown by two, welcoming Richard Petersin the role of Senior Executive, and Andrew Santoroas Executive.

Having recently relocated to Australia, Richard is a Chartered Surveyor with more than 12 years' commercial property experience in the UK market. During this period, he specialised in the acquisition, letting and disposal of commercial property, including Retail, Industrial, Office, Licenced and Leisure, and Development premises.

Richard began his career in 2004 with Dixon Webb, a regional practice in Chester, UK. He acted across several property sectors to undertake development appraisals and provide strategic development advice for a number of public bodies and UK developers, including Liverpool Football Club. In 2012, Dixon Webb was acquired by GVA Grimley, which led him to specialise in large-format retail. His most recent position was as head of UK commercial property consultancy 5050 Property, specialists in retail and industrial tenant representation.

Mr Peters said the thing that appealed most to him about working in Brisbane was the market sentiment.

'Post financial crisis the UK has been a challenging market to operate within due to low market confidence across all property sectors,' he said.

'This was self-perpetuating. Developers were burnt so they stopped building, banks were exposed so they stopped lending, and tenants were fearful of future economic uncertainty so they sought shorter lease terms or increased flexibility. We're incredibly fortunate not to have that uncertainty here and the number of tower cranes throughout the city is testament to this fact. A strong market is essential for business and I believe that is what we have here in Brisbane.'

'I'm excited to have joined the Industrial and Business Services division at Savills Brisbane and am looking forward to digging my heels into Brisbane's dynamic and thriving industrial market.'

Having started with Savills Industrial & Business Services as a Cadet in November 2015, Andrew Santoro's work ethic and notable dedication to the business have seen him rise quickly to the role of Executive within the division. Currently in the final stages of a Bachelor of Property Economics at QUT, Andrew previously worked in Property Management for Careers Australia.