Savills, the international property consultancy based in Belfast has today announced its first Investment Director in Northern Ireland – Ben Turtle.

Ben has extensive experience in handling property investment and development transactions across all commercial sectors and joins the rapidly expanding team. Ben has 12 years’ experience in the London and UK property markets and was previously a director of Capital Markets based in London.

The high profile appointment comes after the amalgamation of the Savills and Myles Danker team under the Savills brand. The announcement now brings the Savills staff number to 14 in the Belfast office.

The appointment marks a solid year for the company which posted a good first half performance in 2011 which it is on course to maintain until the end of the year.

Commenting on the appointment, Director at Savills, Anne Marie Lonergan said today:

“This is an exciting time for Savills as we increase our service offering in Northern Ireland. We now have increased capacity and the senior leadership in place to bring the business to a new level. Ben’s appointment to the newly created position of Investment Director is the culmination of a significant year for the business and with his strong industry contacts and experience we now have the senior leaders in place to offer a bespoke range of property services across the full spectrum of valuation and consultancy from sites through to trading entities and investments”.

Ben Turtle, Savills Investment Director, added:

“Savills is a strong global brand with a significant footprint and solid reputation across the island of Ireland. This is a great time to be joining the business and adding to the already successful Belfast office”.

“I am looking forward to adding value to our current client base, developing new business leads and contributing heavily to the research and thought leadership at Savills as the industry moves towards a more sustainable position”.