ANDREW GENT, 41, RUPERT VISICK, 38

JOINT DIRECTORS, GENT VISICK, LEEDS

The selfproclaimed shed kings of Leeds, in October 2003 Gent and Visick walked away from lucrative jobs as director of Jones Lang LaSalle (Visick) and associate director of DTZ (Gent) to set up Yorkshire’s only dedicated industrial property agency.

“We knew we were the experts in our field and wanted to offer that expertise to clients in its most undiluted form,” says Visick. To that end the pair do not employ anyone other than support staff so that clients can always be assured
of dealing with the partners directly.

With the first year of business under their belts, Gent and Visick can boast that they are market leaders in their field. The firm advised on the region’s largest letting of 2004 – a lease of 35,000 sq. ft. to PBL Logistics at Radial Park, Leeds. It also let another 200,000 sq. ft. to Geest at Normanton and is about to complete on a 330,000 sq. ft. purchase of the former Magnet factory in Keighley.

“We won’t be looking to expand outside of the county just yet.” says Visick. “We need to stick to what we know and Yorkshire’s a huge marketplace.”