New director joins Bradford Estates

 Chris Hodson has joined the business, which holds a principal asset of 12,000-acre land holding on the Shropshire-Staffordshire borders, as Property Director following  the recent launch of a new investment drive. 

In his role Chris will draw upon his experience, which ranges from leading on property management for a major national infrastructure project to working as a regional director for leading property services specialist Savills, where he advised on residential, rural and commercial properties across the Midlands. 

With a history dating from 1066, Bradford Estates use its main landholding for regenerative farming, sustainable forestry, leisure, local housing and commercial use. Led by Managing Director Alexander Newport, Bradford Estates is looking to acquire multi-let industrial estates between £1m to £5m through its Bradford Industrial arm to further diversify its growth drive by expanding its portfolio by 50 per cent. 

Bradford Estates owns eight institutional grade estates across England and Wales, totalling 230,000 sq ft. Occupiers include popular brands Screwfix, Halfords, Crown Paints, Euro Car Parts and Plumbase. 

Chris, who was most recently Head of Property Management at HS2 Ltd, will be working closely with Alexander on investment opportunities and driving performance of the growing portfolio. 

As well as overseeing the expansion of Bradford Industrial, he will develop the on-estate ‘Business Villages’ portfolio which offers a diverse range of commercial properties to local businesses.

Chris, who lives close to the Bradford Estates office in Weston-under-Lizard, said: “Joining Bradford Estates had a strong appeal because of the mixture of work involved in the management of the current portfolio and also the opportunity to work alongside the existing senior team to grow the Bradford Industrial portfolio through the strategic acquisition of further industrial estates which offer ‘value add’ asset management opportunity.

“On the local estates, we have a mix of small to medium sized occupiers with different needs which makes the role varied. My aim is to add further rigour in the approach to properties’ asset management. There was a strong appeal in being able to work in the community where I live and I am enjoying being in a business which has such strong roots in the area. The energy of the senior leaders creates a fast paced and dynamic environment to work in with sleeves rolled up and exciting times ahead.”

Alexander Newport said: “We are pleased to add Chris to our senior team to draw upon his experience as we deliver an exciting estate management strategy in keeping with our role as an historic land and property steward with a heritage going back nearly 1000 years. We are excited to have Chris join us as Property Director to oversee the portfolio and play a leading role on new acquisitions as part of our long-term plan to realise our ambitions.”

On-estates surplus buildings are being converted into commercial units for local businesses under the Business Villages brand, with more than 150,000 sq ft in the current portfolio being used. 

Bradford Estates has long term plans for Weston, a mixed-use, net zero community near Junction 3 on the M54 Growth Corridor and less than a mile from Cosford train station.

Subject to formal allocation as a strategic settlement and subsequent planning permission, Weston would deliver 4m sq ft of employment space, 3,000 mixed-tenure homes plus a science and innovation campus with in principle interest from the University of Wolverhampton, a medical centre, schools and community buildings.