Naismiths has box seat on Britain’s building boom as value of project monitoring work surges to £3.6bn
The national property consultancy Naismiths has expanded its monitoring division by 13% to assemble the largest team of qualified monitoring surveyors in Britain.
Founded six decades ago and with offices across the country, Naismiths saw demand soar in 2022 for its monitoring team, which works for banks and development lenders by serving as their ‘eyes and ears’ during both the due diligence and construction phases.
Over the year the team monitored £3.6bn of development in both residential and commercial property, up 29% on the £2.8bn it worked on in 2021. The average project size also rose by 43%, from £7m to £10m.
Official data from the ONS shows construction was the only sector of the UK economy to grow in the final quarter of 2022, and that construction output grew by 5.6% over the year. Industrial sector construction surged by a record 42.6% in 2022.
Naismiths’ monitoring specialists grew revenue by 17% across the UK in 2022, with the company’s teams in northern England proving exceptionally busy. Revenue from the Manchester office jumped by 14%, while the Leeds office grew by 37%.
John Lee, formerly an associate at Arcadis and Dalbergia, has been appointed associate director in Naismiths’ Leeds office, where he will lead the further expansion of the company’s monitoring operations in the North.
Naismiths has made further senior monitoring hires across the country, with Andrew Leo joining as an associate in London, Man To Ho becoming a senior surveyor in Manchester and Josh Fitzsimons coming onboard as a senior surveyor in the Birmingham office.
Marcus Higgins, national head of project monitoring at Naismiths, commented: “Despite the economic headwinds, construction is still powering ahead in much of the UK. But the combination of inflationary pressure and rising interest rates has made it more vital than ever for those financing property development to know how the funds are being spent.
“Naismiths has assembled a formidable team of surveyors who specialise in helping banks and development lenders make sense of the real estate market, make the right decisions about where to invest and keep tabs on project progress once construction begins.
“Our team of dedicated monitoring surveyors has grown by 13% in the past year alone and is now one of the largest in Britain, and together they are an engine of growth both for our company and for the lenders who power the UK’s real estate sector as a whole.”
