CBRE’s Planning & Development team has named Hannah Blunstone as its new director to join the Northern business, in an internal move to focus on the team’s alternative use capabilities.
Hannah has been with CBRE for more than a decade and was previously a director in the London and South East team. She brings more than 15 years’ experience as a chartered town planner across a range of sectors, most recently focusing on life sciences, higher education and student accommodation, film studios, healthcare and mixed use development.
Hannah will be based out of both Manchester and Leeds, with a focus on identified growth sectors across the region.
In CBRE’s recently issued research report, ‘Which City? Which Sector? – Real Estates prospects over the next decade’ – that identifies the top 10 growth cities for different sectors, Manchester takes the top spot as the UK’s leading growth city across multiple sectors including all residential classes (including student accommodation) and a top 3 destination for Life Sciences.
The research report also identified positive signs for other northern core cities with Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle and Liverpool named amongst the top 10 growth locations for all use class sectors covered by the report. Hannah’s appointment is timely to support these growth sectors.
Iain Jenkinson, executive director, CBRE Planning & Development, said: “We are delighted to welcome Hannah into the northern team. She brings a wealth of experience from London and the South East in many of the growth areas we are seeing right now and will add depth to our strategic advice and the project management of major planning applications in these sectors. We look forward to Hannah joining us.”
Hannah Blunstone, director, CBRE Planning & Development, said: “With the government’s focus on the regeneration of northern towns and cities and many transformational projects identified, it is an exciting time to be joining the growing Northern Planning & Development team. I am looking forward to utilising my recent experience in some of the alternative use classes which are key to many large scale regeneration projects.”