Celebrating the success of the North East commercial property sector

Throughout the North East there is an incredible amount of commercial property development under construction and planned for the near future. You only need to look across the city skylines to see high profile new developments under construction and despite wider ongoing economic challenges, the sector is demonstrating resilience and growth.

At Hay & Kilner, we’re proud to be part of such a vibrant sector and that’s why we’re sponsoring the Insider North East Insider awards

The Insider North East Property Awards are designed to recognise the talent, professionalism and sheer hard work of the region’s property sector and to reward those firms and individuals who have excelled throughout the last 12 months.

The event showcases the many outstanding developments, schemes and deals and the skilled agents, developers, investors and other property professionals based in the region. We’re proud to be part of such a vibrant sector and talented ecosystem of professionals.

Congratulations to the shortlisted firms in the Specialist Property Consultancy of the Year, which recognises teams in any discipline, which have made an impact on the industry across the region. To be shortlisted is an achievement in itself against stiff competition and we look forward to celebrating with you all on the 8 May:

• Lantern Building Consultancy
• Sewell advisory Stockton office
• Adept Building Consultancy
• Broadoak Asset Management
• Parker Knights

The Hay & Kilner commercial property law team

Our growing, well–regarded and highly successful Commercial Property law solicitors provide an end–to–end service, from finding an opportunity and acquiring it, building, fitting out and financing the project, right through to disposing of the property for investment purposes. Our team has built an impressive reputation for our sector expertise, commercial impact and unrivalled levels of client service.

We pride ourselves on our longstanding client relationships of over 40 years, which demonstrate our ability to deliver consistently high levels of advice and service for all areas within the commercial property law.

Over the last year we’ve been involved in a variety of transactions across a range of sectors including advising on the sale of long-standing client Wingrove Motor Company, the largest family-owned and operated motor company in the North East, to Arnold Clark. We acted on the acquisition of Raven Hall Country House Hotel for our long-standing client Apartment Group, representing an important step in geographical spread for Apartment Group, expanding their offering in Yorkshire following the acquisition of their first Yorkshire site in 2023. We also acted for the operators of the recently re-opened Gateshead Leisure Centre, which was previously closed due to local authority budget cuts, allowing the re-opening of the community facilities following months of campaigning by community interest groups.

These are great examples of the breadth of the work we do as a team. Raven Hall along with the acquisitions of Kensington House in Jesmond, the award-winning luxury hotel Yorebridge House, boutique guest house and campsite Colman’s of Aysgarth and The Dubliner Irish pub in York show destination projects that provide something out of the ordinary and give their patrons an extra reason to choose to spend their hard-earned disposable income in their locations. They also demonstrate that the demand for commercial property businesses in the hospitality and leisure sector remains buoyant despite the challenges around operating costs.

Outlook for the commercial property sector

Looking ahead, the North East's commercial property market is poised for continued growth. The region's strategic location, affordable property prices, and ongoing regeneration projects make it an attractive destination for investors and businesses seeking opportunities outside the overheated London market. With a focus on sustainability, innovation, and mixed-use developments, the North East is set to remain a key player in the UK's commercial property landscape.

We predict that the sector is poised for significant transformation over the coming year, swayed by increased environmental responsibility, changing work patterns and evolving business models. Our hope now is that, despite the ongoing economic challenges, the growing sense of optimism that we’re feeling within the regional commercial property sector will be sustained and strengthened to the benefit of everyone working in our community and the wider North East economy as we move towards the second half of the year. We’re working on a range of different projects across the region and have a strong pipeline in a variety of sectors.

Congratulations to everyone at Insider for putting on such an important awards initiative once again this year, and good luck to all the people and businesses that have been shortlisted for the Insider North East Insider Awards 2025 – we’ll look forward to celebrating with you all at the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead.