The Scottish Property Federation has appointed Miller Mathieson, managing director of CBRE in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as its new chairman.
Robin Blacklock, managing director of Dowbrae Property Consultancy, will be the new vice-chairman.
Mathieson succeeds outgoing chairman Andrew Sutherland, who is the joint managing director of Miller Developments.
He will use the chairman role to champion progress in three key areas:
- to make the case that Scotland needs to do more to attract investment into the real estate sector, which in turn creates jobs and wealth for the Scottish economy;
- to further develop the positive relationships that the SPF has at a local and national level with policymakers on key issues affecting the property industry; and
- to encourage greater diversity in the industry, building on the work already started by the SPF over the past year.
David Melhuish, director of the SPF, said: “I’ve worked very closely with Miller for many years and he is certainly someone knows every inch of Scotland’s real estate sector, from the challenges to the opportunities.
“Scottish real estate remains attractive to overseas investors, but longer-term political and economic uncertainty has the potential to impact investor appetite.
“We must act to counter any such loss of confidence, through retaining positive and stable legal and tax systems that support the sector as an attractive asset class in global terms.
“The SPF continues to bang the drum for the need to attract greater investment into Scotland’s real estate sector and there will be no greater champion for this than Miller Mathieson.”
Mathieson said: “The positive relationships that the SPF has, both at a national and local level, is something that the whole industry values and I want to continue that as we go forward on key issues such as business rates.
“Earlier this year the SPF, in conjunction with the Fraser of Allander Institute, determined that Scotland’s commercial real estate industry contributes almost £4.8bn to the Scottish economy and supports more than 92,000 jobs.
“Therefore, it’s vital that policymakers continue to recognise the value of Scotland’s real estate, and the need to attract further investment to allow the industry to go on providing this economic boost, as well as the places to live, work and enjoy.
“Under my chairmanship, the SPF will continue to press for joined up thinking across both the public and private sectors. Everyone in the real estate industry has a stake in ensuring that decision-making at every level is based on a solid understanding of the both the opportunities and potential risks that businesses face.”
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