North East entrepreneur Sir Tom Cowie OBE and Landid chief executive Trevor Silver have joined forces to set up a Leeds-based development venture run by Silver’s son.
James Silver, an associate at Knight Frank, and Ashley Griffiths, a senior surveyor at Strutt & Parker, have resigned from their posts to be directors of Aurora Property Developments.
APD aims to set up an office in Leeds in January. Trevor Silver and Cowie will provide funding for the initial business costs.
Griffiths said: “How much we will invest has yet to be decided. But we will definitely be looking for and using external finance.”
He added that Trevor Silver, who left Akeler in 2005 to set up property company Landid, will also be a director and supervise Aurora’s development activities.
“We will focus on offices. We have already looked at a number of city centre opportunities in Northern city centres, primarily Leeds,” said Griffiths.
The company has no projects in the pipeline, but Griffiths said: “The intention is to have a project under construction in the first year. The value will be under £10m, but we have an appetite for much more in the future.”
Silver knows Cowie the founder of Arriva Group from working in Sunderland, Cowie’s home town, on schemes such as Akeler’s 79-acre Doxford Business Park.
References: EGi News 20/11/06
