Planning and property advisory group UrbisJHD has snared Coles Group?s retail property analyst Chris Abery.
Abery has been appointed as the new director of retail in UrbisJHD’s property economics division in Melbourne.
He will take up the position in March.
Abery has been responsible for location analysis and sales forecasting for CGL in Australia and New Zealand. He achieved best-practice forecasting accuracy for more than 300 major store openings benchmarked against other international retailers.
UrbisJHD’s national director of property economics Simon Rumbold said Abery would be a significant appointment.
“In his new role at UrbisJHD, his extensive expertise will be invaluable to our major shopping centre clients in the property, retail and government sectors,” Rumbold added.
“There are major challenges out there for shopping centre owners and developers, including the fact that it is increasingly difficult to source new sites and obtain planning approvals,” Abery said.
Australian Property Journal