Approaching Two Years at Vickery Holman
I’m coming up to two years now at Vickery Holman’s Bristol office, having joined in September 2024 straight out of my Real Estate degree at UWE.
Building Independence in Valuation
A year on, the biggest change has been in how independently I’m now able to work. Where I started out shadowing colleagues and supporting on instructions, I’m now regularly carrying out valuations from start to finish—organising inspections myself, drafting the full report, and taking ownership of the reasoning behind the figure before it goes to review.
One instruction that captures this well was a 15-property residential investment portfolio across South Wales, spanning Blaenavon, Pontypool, Newport, and Cwmbran. I planned the inspection routes across the sites, then worked through each property’s location and building description, tenancy position, and Market Rent and Market Value narratives, alongside the comparable evidence supporting them. Handling an instruction of that scale gave me a much better sense of how to manage a large workload methodically, while still keeping the analysis for each individual property properly considered.
Gaining a New Perspective in Development
Having spent the past year building that independence in valuation work, the most significant shift for me recently has been starting a rotation in the Development team, to build experience towards my Development Appraisals competency. It’s a noticeably different way of thinking about a site.
Rather than assessing an existing property’s worth, the work centres on residual valuations—establishing land value by working back from the completed scheme, factoring in build costs, professional fees, finance, and developer’s profit—alongside GDV appraisals to test what a scheme could realistically achieve on completion. Coming from a valuation background, it’s been useful to see how much a residual’s outcome depends on the assumptions feeding into it, and how closely that ties back to the same Market Value and comparable evidence work I’ve been doing on the valuation side.
Preparing for My APC
Alongside this, my APC preparation has moved into a more focused phase. My case study centres on a loan security valuation of a mixed-use freehold in Pontypool, which I inspected and reported on myself before it went through review with my supervisor. Working through it in detail, alongside my Summary of Experience, has been a useful exercise in itself—it’s one thing to reach the right figure, and another to be able to properly justify each step of the reasoning behind it, which is ultimately what the final assessment comes down to.
Building My Professional Network
Outside of the day-to-day instructions, I’ve also valued the chance to get involved in networking events and activities with other surveyors and solicitors across Bristol and South Wales. They’re a good opportunity to get to know fellow graduates, and to hear how other firms are approaching similar issues—usually followed by a pint or two in town afterwards.
Looking Ahead to Chartership
With two years now behind me, I’m feeling in a good position heading into the final stretch of my APC, with my assessment on track for Spring 2027. Between the independence I’ve gained in valuation, the new perspective from development, and the network I’m building along the way, I feel well placed for what’s still to come and to achieve my goal of chartership within the profession.
