Avison Young has welcomed Lesley Males as a Director in its Insight team, which provides data-driven consultancy and analysis of the latest trends in the real estate market and the wider economy.

Her new role will see Lesley develop the firm’s research capabilities in the retail sector and support the existing team’s track record of producing industry-leading analysis and insight.

Drawing on 25 years of cross-industry experience covering retail, technology, and business services, Lesley’s expertise lies in devising effective research strategies to support agency teams and clients with insight into the latest market trends.

Lesley joins Avison Young from Capita, where she was Head of Research since 2020. Prior to this she was Head of Research at Datscha UK, which she joined from CBRE in 2017.

Avison Young is actively investing in the growth of its Insight team, as part of a drive to produce highest level of market intelligence, which will be vital to inform investor and occupier decisions in a post-COVID economy.

Daryl Perry, Head of UK Insight, said:
“The retail landscape is evolving at pace - a perfect storm of Brexit, Covid and the pre-existing shift to e-commerce means investors and occupiers are relying more heavily than ever before on real-time, data-driven analysis to inform their real estate strategies.

The appointment of a high-calibre research professional like Lesley adds immeasurable value to agents and clients through the provision of thorough and innovative analysis and will further enhance the wider research offering at Avison Young.”

Lesley Males added:
“I am delighted to be joining Avison Young at a time when the Insight team is undergoing significant expansion. The retail sector is going through monumental changes, making it an exciting time to advise clients and agents with the latest industry insights.”

The Insight team has seen several appointments and promotions over the past months. James Roberts, most recently Chief Economist at Knight Frank, joined as Director in May, while August saw Graham Shone join as Associate Director, and Pearl Gillum and Alec Johnson as Senior Analysts. Kiran Patel was promoted to a global position as Senior Analyst, working alongside Avison Young’s Global Director of Insight, Nick Axford.