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The group has welcomed a former director and head of valuations over at Cushman & Wakefield into the fold.
David Castles has joined the Urbis economics and property team, with the firm stating that he will “lead the transformation of our national valuations practice”.
According to their statement, Mr Castles will be focused on “unlocking and enhancing the depth of our national valuations offer and team”, which consists of Marcus Conabere, Matthew Cleary, Sara Pratt and Roger Miller.
Mr Castles himself stated: “I’ll be focused on amplifying and realigning our valuations offer in the market at all levels – people, product, processes and perception.”
“It’s exciting to join Urbis at a time where there is genuine commitment to investments in their brand, technology and data, and culture.”
According to director, Ms Pratt: “David will complement our already strong statutory valuation and litigation services by providing leadership into new markets, elevating our status as a formidable presence and leading player in the valuation sector.”
Mr Conabere, group director of economics and property, said that “securing a candidate with the quality and skills David brings is a testament to our new real estate advisory offer and the opportunity for our clients”.
He concluded: “David’s experience will add value by enhancing our valuations and strategic advisory service, in turn creating real opportunities for growth across our entire project life cycle and the broader Urbis multi-disciplinary team.”
Arising out of IPS
The latest appointment follows Urbis’ reveal of Integrated Property Solutions (IPS) earlier this year.
That new specialist advisory service looks to “transform how property is managed in Australia”, with the prospect of an efficient and tailored end-to-end service for clients.
At that time, Urbis CEO Benjamin Pollack called the solution “a natural extension of our Urbis service offering”.
The creation of IPS followed a merger between the business’s economics and property businesses in early 2023.
Ms Pratt and Mr Conabere are leading the outfit and hold the responsibility for setting the new group’s strategy and vision.
Mr Conabere explained that the strategy behind the merger “was to unlock client and project synergies across the two groups noting their expertise and insights are intrinsically linked”.
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