Jim Bishop has stepped down as property director of the 19-strong Barburrito to launch his own property consultancy firm, MCA has learnt.
Bishop joined the then 11-strong brand, which has openings in Paddington Station and Sheffield’s Meadowhall scheme for the first half of the year, in March 2015 from Sainsbury’s where he was head of property business development.
He previously worked as national acquisitions manager for Barracuda Bar Group and acquisitions manager at both Burtonwood Brewery and Scottish & Newcastle brewers.
He has launched his own company: James Property Consulting. The practice offers acquisition and disposal management, strategic property advice and outsourced property services.
Bishop told MCA: “having worked in-house for the past 24 years for major brands such as Chef & Brewer, Barracuda Group and Sainsbury’s and latterly with the small, but rapidly expanding Mexican themed chain, Barburrito I felt there was a gap in the market to offer a property service that can deal with all aspects of acquisition, disposal and strategic property management. Having spent the majority of my career on the occupier side I feel I can offer expanding companies the experience that they would normally be seeking from an in-house Property Director but with the flexibility of an external consultant. There are a lot of companies out there wishing to grow that do not wish to commit to a full time property director but who need that experience.
“The market is currently seeing a number of new entrants and there is a lot of demand for the right space. As a consequence rents have risen in the prime towns and cities and especially in shopping centres. The rating revaluation has further increased occupational costs and the capital required for a new store means that it is more important than ever to get the right space at the right cost to enable management and investors to see a return on their capital. As well as managing the acquisition process through from site finding to store launch I can put companies in touch with various consultants that can provide design, planning, project management, licensing and conveyancing and everything in between so that expanding companies can have the whole process managed for them. I can also manage disposals and advise on the strategy for their property assets.”
Bishop can be contacted via the website: www.jamespropertyconsulting.co.uk.
