Planning and development consultancy Montagu Evans has appointed Vanessa Forster FRICS to its property management team.
Vanessa worked for many years at Hammerson plc, most recently as a UK Director Retail Asset Management. As a member of the senior team, she had responsibility for managing Hammerson’s shopping centre portfolio including 888 tenants across 584,000 sq m. Her tenure included managing high profile assets including Brent Cross, Bullring and WestQuay as well as being responsible for the management set-up of new developments. She started her career at Hillier Parker and became a Fellow of the RICS in 2005.
At Montagu Evans Vanessa is fulfilling an ambition to complete her expertise with flagship office assets, supporting the firm’s work with the Government Property Agency (GPA) and helping to provide a comprehensive property management foundation for effective asset management.
John Tinley, Head of Montagu Evans’ Property Management team, said: “The opportunity to recruit someone of Vanessa’s calibre was enormously attractive. Her ability to manage large, high profile portfolios has clear advantages for our work with the GPA. At the same time, her client-side experience and focus on commercial drivers to maximise income is especially valuable at the current time.”
Montagu Evans’ property management team oversees the management of 1,500 properties across the UK with over 4,000 tenancies. It manages over 2.6 million sq ft of office space across 27 office buildings as well as 6.5 million sq ft of UK retail and leisure accommodation. The team includes 83 surveyors, property accountants, credit controllers and FM staff, as well as 82 off-site employees.