INTERNATIONAL property adviser DTZ has announced the promotions of Nicola Gilliead and Nick Atkinson to director status in the company's Newcastle office.

As head of the valuation team based in the Newcastle, Nicola specialises in shopping centre valuation and has been involved in a wide range of projects, including the valuation of Eldon Square, MetroCentre, The Mall, Middlesborough and The Lanes Shopping Centre, Carlisle.

Nicola also specialises in health related valuations.

Also based in Newcastle as part of the industrial agency and development team, Nick Atkinson's expertise is in industrial agency, which includes disposals, acquisitions, and pre-development advice.

His project experience includes providing marketing and pre-development advice on speculative schemes at the onemillion sq ft Follingsby Park on behalf of Evans Property Group and now REIT Asset Management.

His clients include UK Land Estates Ltd, Gladman, Industrious Asset Management Ltd, Rockpoint and Highbridge Properties plc.

Mike Mitchell, Northern Region managing director, said: "These promotions are not only well deserved, but they also demonstrate the strengths of the individuals and DTZ's commitment to rewarding and retaining key employees.

"The promotions come on the back of our recent DTZ and Donaldsons merger which brought together over 2000 UK staff, making DTZ the second largest commercial property agent by revenue in the country.

"The beauty of an enlarged company like DTZ is the ability to attract and retain the best people by offering them strong career paths and opportunities not always available in smaller companies.

These promotions demonstrate our commitment to developing the teams and building on our strong client relationships."