Real estate firm relaunches Environmental Services team with two key appointments
Global commercial real estate firm Avison Young has relaunched its successful Environmental Services team with the appointment of industry-leading experts working within the newly created Environmental, Flood Risk and Drainage Team.
The Environmental, Flood Risk and Drainage team will provide a multidisciplinary service to a range of clients across the UK, from transaction due diligence, planning, climate change resilience and risk assessment, to the design and review of flooding and drainage infrastructure.
This is a unique service offering for Avison Young, with very few commercial real estate practices operating a function of this kind in-house.
The Environmental, Flood Risk and Drainage team will support the wider business to provide a fully integrated offering to a broad client base.
The team will be led by David Hoppe (director, Flood Risk), with Geraldine Horner (associate director) heading up the Drainage Consultancy. New starter Dr Catriona Woods (director) will lead the Environmental Consultancy, bringing with her over 24 years’ experience in contaminated land risk assessment, business development and project management.
Prior to arriving at Avison Young, Catriona was an associate director at WSP, leading the Birmingham team and delivering complex multi-disciplinary schemes including HS2 (Curzon Street Station) and East West Rail, as well as providing support to projects in the environmental, development and energy sectors.
Joining Catriona is Dr Thomas Vincent as a senior environmental consultant. Thomas, who holds a PhD in Environmental Studies, also joins from WSP, where he spent three years.
Thomas is experienced in contaminated land risk assessment and geoenvironmental modelling. During his time at WSP, he was involved in projects ranging from bespoke geoenvironmental and spatial assessment to large multidisciplinary infrastructure schemes.
Avison Young’s Environmental, Flood Risk and Drainage team also includes dedicated, in-house CAD and GIS specialists, who create high-quality plans and designs to accompany reporting. Its GIS mapping services are also expanding to include the preparation of constraints plans, volumetric calculations, and fully integrated land-use drawings.
David Hoppe, director and head of Environmental, Flood Risk and Drainage at Avison Young UK, said: “With two new team members joining us, I’m very pleased to be relaunching the Environmental, Flood Risk and Drainage team here at Avison Young, repositioning our offering to the market and expanding our range of services to support the diverse needs of our clients across the UK.
“Our focus remains on the delivery of high-quality work for those clients and the expansion of our project portfolio to meet growing demand. We have ambitious plans for growth in both the short and long term and we’ll be continuing to recruit top-tier talent to enable that.”
Dr. Catriona Woods, director at Avison Young UK, added: “I’m delighted to be joining Avison Young at a very exciting time for the business. With a skilled team in place and a number of significant public and private sector projects underway, I’m looking forward to working closely with my colleagues across Drainage and Flood Risk to provide timely, expert advice across a diverse range of schemes across the UK.
“Alongside this, I’ll be driving forward the expansion of our Environmental Consultancy services, seeking to develop into new sectors while strengthening our presence in the planning, EIA, development and regeneration markets.”
