Simon Smith was involved in the setting up of the joint venture between M&G Real Estate and Berkeley Homes. The new company was called St Edward Homes and Simon sat on its Board. The residential development sites in the St Edward JV included 375 Kensington High Street, 190 The Strand and Stanmore Place.

Westmount advised a Singapore based private investor on the acquisition of this 154,144 sq ft office and retail building from Land Securities. The property is located in the heart of the Midtown district right by Chancery Lane underground station and five minutes from Farringdon Crossrail station, which opens in 2018. The multi-let building is arranged over sub-basement, basement, ground and first to ninth floors. Tenants in the building include Nat West Bank, Gant, Lacoste, Regus, Hogg Robinson, Caffe Nero and Taylor St Baristas.

Westmount has been retained as asset manager to execute the business plan.

Westmount advised a US based private equity group on the acquisition of this 175,000 sq ft office building from CBRE Global Investors . The building, set in 20 acres of landscaped grounds, situated on Peterborough Business Park, is partly let to Bauer Media with circa 90,000 sq ft vacant.

Westmount, as retained asset manager, executed the business plan by completing a comprehensive refurbishment of circa 112,000 sq ft, letting it to Thomas Cook Group plc as their UK HQ on a 15 year term and re-gearing the Bauer Media lease by removing a break option.

Acting in partnership with Credit Suisse, Westmount has acquired this 480,000 sq ft high-specification distribution warehouse and manufacturing facility. The property is let on a new lease to Symphony Group plc for 25 years with index linked rental uplifts.

Symphony is the UK’s largest privately-owned manufacturer of fitted kitchen, bedroom and bathroom furniture with a turnover in excess of £100m and over 800 employees.

Westmount advised Gatehouse on the purchase of Greyhound Retail Park Phase II from Land Securities.

Greyhound Retail Park Phase II forms the dominant element of the 74,322 sq m (800,000 sq ft) regional retail offer at Sealand Road, around 3.2 km (2 miles ) to the west of the City Centre.

The developed part of the subject property extends to 16,369 sq m (176,198 sq ft) and comprises three distinct physical elements arranged around forecourt parking, with occupiers including destination tenants such as Asda, John Lewis at Home, Sofology, DFS, Pets at Home, Halfords, Tapi and Wren Kitchens.

Westmount has been retained to implement several value-add asset management initiatives.

Funded the speculative development of a 750,000 sq ft distribution warehouse which was leased prior to practical completion for 10 years to MFI with a guarantee from Exel Logistics (DHL).

DHL inherited the lease when MFI went into receivership – the team subsequently agreed a surrender for a substantial premium payment from DHL and simultaneously relet the building to a national retailer for 20 years. The resulting investment was sold for a return nearly 100% ahead of business plan target.

Westmount advised Sports Direct Property on the purchase of De Mandeville Gate Retail Park from Aviva Investors.

The Park is situated within the main retail warehousing hub of Enfield. It benefits from an Open A1 (except for food, fashion, clothing and chemist goods) planning consent and consists of four purpose-built retail units comprising a total of 55,173 sq ft. The park is fully let and occupied by Argos, Harveys, Oak Furnitureland and Currys/ PC World.

Westmount advised a client of Kleinwort Hambros on the acquisition of this 178,816 sq ft office building from clients of Aberdeen Asset Management for £71m.

The property is located in the heart of Edinburgh’s Exchange district opposite the castle. The multi-let building is arranged over lower ground, ground and five upper floors. Tenants in the building include KPMG, CMS, Deloitte and Martin Currie Investment Management.

Westmount advised Frogmore on the off market purchase of this Open A1 retail park from PBN Holdings.

The park comprises 15 units totalling 151,515 sq ft, built in 2001, in an ‘L-Shaped’ format with approximately 1,000 car parking spaces. Existing retailers include The Range, Next, WH Smith, Subway and McDonalds.

Westmount has been retained to implement a number of value-add asset management initiatives.

Westmount advised a Family Office client of Kleinwort Hambros on the off-market acquisition of this 58,000 sq ft office building from Nuveen real Estate for £97m.

The property is located in the heart of the Spitalfields district a short distance from the new Elizabeth line station at Liverpool Street. The multi-let building is arranged over lower ground, ground and six upper floors. Tenants in the building include Third Bridge, Bacardi, Cos, Hotel Chocolat and Anthropologie.