Against an ever-changing background and an increasingly complex market, owning land and property often requires a fresh view and some innovative thinking. The Ceres Property team provides rural property management and consultancy advice on strategic land and land ownership issues.
To contact the team, email land@ceresproperty.co.uk, or to speak to a specific consultant, please click the relevant person below to find their details.
Peter Cole has been giving our farming partnership strategic and valuation advice on the impact of the Lower Thames Crossing – the biggest highways project since the M25. It is having a life changing impact on our diverse farming business and Peter has been vital in advising us on the development consent order process and negotiating compensation claims. We really appreciate all he has done for us.
From time to time, our experienced employees take a moment to reflect on recent work, policy news or industry trends. Read what they have to say below and don’t forget, if you’d like to receive updates from us, including new blog posts, recent media coverage, business updates, and more, subscribe to our newsletter.
Ceres Property has offices in Saffron Walden, Chelmsford, Oxford, Shrewsbury and Norwich. From our offices we cover a large area of the south and east of England and the midlands, so please do not hesitate to contact us if you are not local to one of these addresses.
Boris specialises in identifying and advising on development and planning opportunities throughout Essex and the southeast. With expertise spanning the entire development process, he provides guidance on a wide range of scenarios to unlock both strategic and short-term prospects for landowners. His experience includes projects ranging from modest farmyards to extensive greenfield urban extensions, encompassing both residential and commercial developments.
Born and bred in rural Essex, Boris graduated from Reading University in 2013 with a degree in Real Estate and became a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2016.
In his free time, Boris enjoys country pursuits, snowsports, and has a keen interest (or growing obsession) in World War II history.
Matt is an Associate in the Development team, bringing experience in brokering immediate and strategic land deals across the Eastern Region, as well as offering development consultancy advice. He also has a background working for a national housebuilder, where he gained experience in immediate land acquisition, development management and larger strategic projects.
Matt studied Real Estate at the University of Reading, began his career in 2017, and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2019. He took a year off to travel in Central and South America before joining Ceres in 2024.
Outside of work, Matt is an avid sportsman, enjoying football, golf, and racket sports.
Peter specialises in farms and estates brokerage, helping clients predominantly in the eastern region, but working across the UK. Peter joined Ceres Property having been a Director of a large farm business in West Norfolk.
Peter completed a degree in Agricultural Business Management at the University of Reading in 2014, and gained an MSc in Rural Estate Management in 2017. Peter then started his surveying career in Chelmsford, Essex.
Following completing his MRICS and CAAV qualifications in 2019, Peter undertook the Worshipful Company of Farmers “Challenge for Rural Leadership” course in 2022. He is also a member of the Institute of Agricultural Business Management and sits on the Norfolk GWCT Committee.
Peter lives on his family farm in Norfolk. He is a keen sportsman, playing lots of tennis, squash and football – albeit his proudest sporting moments were winning the plate at the Surveyors Rugby Sevens tournament and winning an “Ultra White Collar” Boxing Match.
David is a Partner in the planning team. He has over 18 years' experience working as a town planner in East Anglia. For the majority of David's career, he has provided expert consultancy to the private sector.
David has a diverse workstream, covering major residential, educational and transport schemes, as well as minerals and waste projects. His varied client base includes housebuilders, landowners, contractors, local authorities, promoters and care operators.
David has successfully helped clients secure consent on a range of complicated planning applications. He has led promotion of strategic land as part of various local plans, and acted as an expert witness at planning appeals.
Prior to joining Ceres Property David headed the Eastern Region for a national consultancy. He is a chartered town planner and a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
Outside of work David enjoys spending time with his family and playing tennis.
Katie is the first point of contact for our clients and is enjoying the challenge of organising the Chelmsford office.
Katie loves spending time with her family and two young boys, who keep her busy most of the time.
She has a keen interest in classic car shows, skiing, paddle boarding.
Kelly has spent the last 7 years working for a Pharmaceutical company as PA/Office Manager and administrative support.
In her spare time Kelly loves spending time with her family (including two teenagers, two dogs and one husband!)
Much of her time is taken up with her sons’ football, rugby and cricket sporting fixtures and providing an on-call taxi service.
Adam is an Associate Partner in the planning team with over 25 years planning experience in both the public and private sector. He joined Ceres Property in September 2023 having spent the previous eight years based in Cambridge, providing professional consultancy advice to a range of landowners, developers, promoters, estates, trusts and public sector clients.
Having originally worked in local government, Adam has a comprehensive understanding of planning law and process, and a strong appreciation of the political aspects of the planning system, which allows him to work effectively with planning officers and statutory consultees to deliver the best outcomes for his clients.
He has a track record of working on an extensive range and scale of projects, from the promotion of a new garden village, down to single dwellings. His recent experience includes working on major residential developments, rural diversification projects, commercial schemes, school developments, renewable projects, as well as heritage schemes.
His spare time is mainly spent relaxing with his family and two dogs. He enjoys gardening and likes to swim to keep fit.
Michael has over 40 years' experience specialising in the purchase, sale and valuation of farms, estates and rural property, as well as providing strategic advice to rural clients. His work takes him all over the UK. His career started in London before moving to live in East Anglia some 25 years ago. His clients include Private Individuals, Trusts, Charities and Companies.
He is a Trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society of England and The Childwick Trust, as well as a number of family trusts.
Michael lives in Suffolk and his spare time is spent playing golf, tennis and sailing on the River Stour as well as trying to keep up with his 5 children and 3 grandchildren.
Anna is an Associate within the Development team. She has experience in the brokerage of immediate and strategic development land across the Eastern Region, ranging from 4 to 1000 units, as well as providing development consultancy advice.
Anna studied Geography at the University of Hull, before completing a Masters degree in International Real Estate and Planning at University College London. She qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2021 and joined Ceres Property in 2023, having worked in a development consultancy team in a national property firm for four years.
Away from work, Anna loves to get outdoors as much as possible. In particular, she enjoys hiking, and she is currently trying to improve her golf handicap. Travel plans are never far from her thoughts, with the next trip always on the horizon!
Susan has spent the bulk of her career in Land Management looking after the teams and clients, before she worked as a secretary in the banking sector.
Susan loves spending time with family and friends and taking plenty of walkies with her furry friend. She enjoys having friends round and cooking a meal or just watching a movie. She enjoys going to the theatre. She is a bit of a homebody and enjoys her home and garden.
Michael has been a chartered rural surveyor for over 15 years, cutting his teeth in Scotland and honing his commercial approach to land agency in Essex since 2009.
He specialises in providing minerals and waste advice to landowners and operators through all stages of the quarrying life cycle – from concept and options, through to restoration and aftercare. As a qualified land agent, Michael understands the wider impact of quarrying and waste opportunities for landowners’ properties and can provide tailored advice to their wider rural business strategies.
He currently manages and provides advise on over 35 million tonnes of existing and potential mineral reserve in East Anglia, and provides expert witness opinion on mineral values for court proceedings. Michael is also exploring the concept of energy from quarrying during and post works, as well as looking at diversified restored uses to add further value to a quarry operation.
Michael's home time is spent trying to keep up with his busy family life and all the football, rugby, dancing and music commitments that comes with four high school aged children!
Lucy joined Ceres Property as a graduate surveyor, having graduated from the University of Reading with a degree in Real Estate in 2023. She is working towards her RICS and CAAV qualifications and looks to apply her knowledge and gain experience in a variety of areas to find her specialism.
Outside of the office Lucy is a keen sportswomen, playing both golf and hockey. She also enjoys helping out on her family farm on the Cambridge/Hertfordshire boarder as well as spending time with her friends and family on the weekends.
Sam has spent her entire career working for property consultancies, looking after both the teams and clients. She is incredibly personable and always happy to help.
She has extensive experience managing teams and coordinating day-to-day office management. Sam specialises in providing support within development and planning services.
When not at work, Sam can be found spending time with her family and husband, as well her two, completely adored French Bulldogs!
Joe has built up a strong reputation within the development land markets, across the eastern region, having orchestrated the sale of a number of high profile residential and mixed use schemes. He acts as a trusted advisor for a range of clients, including private landowners, house builders, housing associations, local authorities and institutions.
Whilst Joe primarily focuses on brokerage activities, he has extensive experience with strategic land, advising private landowners and institutions on how best to bring land forward in the short, medium or long term, with or without a development partner.
Aside from brokerage and strategic land, Joe offers a range of consultancy services to assist clients with every step of the process, from inception through to sale. He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
Outside work, Joe is a keen sportsman, either competing in golf tournaments, playing 5aside football, at the local tennis club or running.
James is a Partner of Ceres Property, leading Planning work and supporting clients on a varied range of planning and development projects. He has extensive experience in planning consultancy, having worked in the field since 2013 advising a range of clients. He has been Head of Planning at two national planning consultancies in Essex previously, as well as having roles at local authorities, covering development management and planning policy.
James manages residential, commercial and mixed-use developments on a range of sites, including regeneration, brownfield sites and greenfield urban extensions. The sectors of his work have included: residential and affordable housing, commercial (offices, retail, industrial, logistics), public sector, student housing, hotels, retirement, educations, infrastructure, minerals, and farm diversification and tourism.
James specialises in developing planning strategy with clients and working to achieve planning permission on challenging sites.
James is a chartered town planner and member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
Outside of work James spends time with his wife and two children, with interests including motorsports and cycling.
Rory is an Associate Partner within the planning team. Rory has considerable experience advising public and private sector clients in London and across East Anglia. Rory has led multi-disciplinary teams, securing strategic allocation through Local Plan promotion, as well securing consents for residential, commercial, and mixed-use schemes of varying scales and complexities.
Rory advises on a range of projects on behalf of landowners, developers and house builders, helping clients to navigate the complex planning system in an expert manner, with a strong skillset in project management and negotiation.
Rory is a chartered town planner and member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).
Outside of work, Rory enjoys cooking in the kitchen, or a good BBQ with friends and family. He has a keen interest in tennis and dance music.
Iain advises clients on the identification and the options for taking forward development opportunities, from the very early stages of project inception and planning strategy through to exit options when planning has been secured.
He has experience acting for a range of private, corporate and institutional landowners providing development consultancy and brokerage advice and now acts as a trusted advisor providing high level strategic advice for private landowners and corporate clients.
His workload deals with an increasingly complex and changing planning and development process, requiring the ability to think proactively and manage a series of different stakeholders, with problem solving and brokering solutions often the key to unlocking the development potential of land.
Iain’s spare time is spent with his family, on DIY projects and increasingly as an on-call taxi service for his two sons.
Paul has 40 years of experience as a Land Agent specialising as a Development Surveyor for the past 25 years. His key focus is on strategic land, particularly working with owners of greenfields in interesting locations. He helps bring forward residential and commercial development schemes through options and promotion agreements and works directly with planning consultants.
He is an experienced end of option valuer and broker of development land, principally operating in the eastern region.
Paul is a Chartered Surveyor and Fellow of the Association of Agricultural Valuers.
His spare time is spent with his wife, playing cricket, hiking, shooting, skiing and generally not sitting still.
John has over 23 years of experience providing planning consultancy advice to a range of landowners and the wider development sector. He specialises in strategic consultancy to individual landowners and developers who need upfront professional planning advice.
John is a qualified Town Planner and Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI). John acts for a wide variety of clients including landowners, estates, trusts, charities, corporate bodies, investors, land promoters, developers and house builders.
He has worked on a series of garden village schemes, significant urban extensions, commercial business parks, as well as a range of rural diversification proposals for traditional landowners.
Spare time is family orientated with his wife and daughter. Most of the early morning swims are dedicated to his daughter's ambitions of making the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Kathryn specialises in estate management and professional consultancy from landlord and tenant matters to valuation advice. Kathryn provides advice to clients with a range of rural assets, from bare land to commercial units and large mixed portfolios. As well as day-to-day estate management, Kathryn provides technical advice and strategic insight to clients in order to add value, improve the environment, or future proof their property.
From a farming background in Essex, Kathryn obtained her degree in Rural Land Management at the Royal Agricultural University. Following her degree, she passed the APC in 2018 and became a Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers in 2019. Outside of work, Kathryn helps with the running of the family farm and often spends weekends tackling DIY jobs that should probably be left to a professional.
Christopher is an agricultural consultant providing discrete, independent business and strategic advice to farmers and landowners.
He has 40 years of experience with Strutt & Parker in eastern England. Initially managing farms in hand, then setting up Contract Farming arrangements and joint ventures. Recently he has been advising farmers and landowners on matters of compensation due from A14 and A428 infrastructure projects.
He is a qualified chartered surveyor, registered agricultural valuer, and has a degree in Agricultural Economics and a diploma in farm management from Seale Hayne college.
Christopher retains an interest in Devon with his smallholding in Dartmoor National Park and enjoys swimming and sailing in Cornwall.
Peter is a qualified Chartered Surveyor, RICS Registered Valuer and RICS Registered Expert Witness. He is a specialist in energy development since 2015 having acted for landowners with over 1GW of schemes over England and has over 3GW of schemes in the pipeline. A number of these schemes are national infrastructure schemes requiring compulsory purchase powers. He has been involved in a number of different types of developments including solar, battery, gas and EV charging.
Peter also specialises in compulsory purchase and compensation having acted for businesses, farmers and property owners on a wide range of national infrastructure schemes including recently The Lower Thames Crossing, A12 Widening and South Lincs Reservoir.
Peter is a keen hockey player although he is currently out of action due to injury. These days the most exercise he gets is walking his wire haired dachshund puppy.
Shaun specialises in financial management, operational systems and their
digital transformation. He has held a variety of senior posts across finance, IT, project management, and in accountancy practices. His projects include the complete re-engineering of a client accounting department, and moving a business entirely to the cloud.
Shaun is a Chartered Accountant and holds an MBA from Cranfield University School of Management. He was a previous Chair of the Property IT Directors’ Forum.
He enjoys history, politics and economics.
Jason specialises in the management of farms, the formation of contract farming and joint venture agreements. He further advises on compulsory purchase schemes and landlord and tenant matters.
Jason is a qualified Chartered Surveyor, RICS Registered Valuer and agricultural valuer. He graduated from Harper Adams with a degree in Rural Enterprise and Land Management.
Jason is a Parish Councillor, Trustee and sits on the steering committee of the Norfolk Young Farmers association.
Jason is a keen follower of national hunt racing and enjoys spending time driving his Ford 7810 tractor particularly during harvest helping friends.
