Property consultants Bruton Knowles has appointed a key industry figure, to be based from its Manchester office, to head up a new Utility Team as it plans for major expansion into the sector over the next 12 months.
Chris Gaskell was Head of Estates and Wayleaves at Electricity North West for 20 years. He decided to take early retirement in January 2018 but was persuaded to return to the sector by James Bailey, Managing Partner at Bruton Knowles with an offer clearly too good to turn down.
“I was determined not to return unless the role and the business was just right, offered me new challenges and an opportunity to utilise my specialist knowledge within the utility sector. Bruton Knowles is one of the few firms with the ability to offer this”.
James Bailey has a clear vision for the Utility Team at Bruton Knowles: “This has been some time in the planning but key to its launch was finding the right person to spearhead the campaign and to expand our team with knowledgeable and industry respected individuals.
“The utility sector is a fast growing business area for Bruton Knowles, representing a large percentage of business income nationwide.
“Current clients, including some long-term relationships with Western Power Distribution, National Grid, Cadent Gas and Thames Water has brought a level of knowledge and experience of the sector to the business that is in great demand and certainly driving the need to source and establish a dedicated team.
“We are now actively recruiting with the intention of building a significant team around Chris. This will also impact on our annual graduate recruitment programme. Candidate intake will be influenced by the need to attract and build talent within the business.”
Chris Gaskell continued: ”The utility sector is a challenging market at the moment as it continues to change and evolve at pace.
“It is vital that utility companies are able to outsource the efficient and cost-effective acquisition of often complex land rights and planning and environmental consents for the development of new systems and networks, to firms like Bruton Knowles which has the resources and skills to support them in their plans.”
