Scottish Property Federation will represent the Scottish commercial property industry

The Scottish Property Federation (SPF) has been established by a group of 25 of the country's leading companies, including Grosvenor, Forth Ports Plc, Land Securities, MacDonald Estates and Elphinstone.

The new body brings together the recently-formed Scottish Property Development Forum, established by Dan MacDonald, and the growing activity of the British Property Federation (BPF) in Scotland. At a meeting yesterday the two organisations agreed to join forces to create a body which will speak with a single voice for commercial property interests in Scotland.

While the Scottish Property Federation will be an integral part of the BPF, it will be a distinctive Scottish body and will have an office and permanent staff based in Edinburgh. BPF members from Scotland, or with Scottish interests, of whom there are currently over 60, will be represented by the SPF in lobbying Scottish politicians, ministers and government officials.

Initially the SPF will be chaired by David Hunter, managing director of Glasgow-based Hunter Advisers and a former BPF president. Dan Macdonald will initially act as the SPF's vice-chair, and will become chair at the end of the interim period.

The participating companies believe the decision to come together is in the best interests of the industry in Scotland, as it will pool the membership's expertise in the country and combine it with the BPF's presence in London, particularly on taxation matters, and its membership of the European Property Federation.

David Hunter, SPG chairman, said: "Following Dan's initiative in establishing the forum earlier this year, I am delighted we have decided to join forces and to have the honour of being the first chair of the Scottish Property Federation. I look forward to getting the SPF firmly established in the coming weeks."

"The SPF meets the desires of both BPF and Scottish Property Development Forum members to speak with a single voice on issues facing our industry. We aim to be a bridge from the commercial property industry to the public policy-making sector."

He added: "Put simply, this is about getting the collective views of the commercial property industry to the Scottish Executive in order to achieve the sustainable growth of the Scottish economy. We have the potential to be a powerful voice within Scotland as there is some £16.5bn of investment property in Scotland and the bulk of this is either invested in or owned by SPF members."

For further information, please contact:

David Hunter, Managing Director, Hunter Advisers   0141 204 4041
Andrew Teacher, BPF media manager   020 7802 0113