Avison Young launches real estate and infrastructure offering
Commercial real estate services firm Avison Young (AY) has launched a new real estate and infrastructure consulting offering in Canada. The offering will be led by new addition Scott Pickles, a seasoned real estate and infrastructure consultant who joins AY from Colliers.
Toronto-headquartered AY has continued to expand its professional services practice as the firm diversifies beyond its traditional domain of commercial real estate management and brokerage – which have been negatively impacted by the pandemic.
Since founding its Americas professional services practice in April 2020 under the leadership of former Deloitte partner Sheila Botting, AY has been working to bolster its capabilities in corporate real estate and workplace consulting, infrastructure consulting, valuation and advisory services, and project management.
"Through growing our distinct service offerings, we are able to deliver on increasingly complex business imperatives our occupier, owner, and investor clients have as they evaluate real estate for their service needs and identify their capital investment requirements," Botting said.
To this end, the company strengthened its valuation advisory offering in Western Canada earlier this month with the hire of three valuation experts in Edmonton from rival firm Colliers.
AY has now added a new real estate and infrastructure consulting offering in Canada, peeling off another Alberta-based leader from Colliers to head it.
Scott Pickles brings 17+ years of experience providing strategic advisory and infrastructure consulting to the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. The registered architect has worked as a strategic advisor, sustainable real estate developer, and in various roles within municipal government.
Pickles previously spent two years at Colliers as a senior manager of infrastructure advisory, supporting public and private sector clients across Canada. His consulting work included strategy development, best use analysis, project management, and service and capital planning for a broad range of services – including affordable housing, utilities, and recreation.
Before that, he spent 11 years in the Calgary municipal government, where he was latterly program lead for corporate investment strategy & infrastructure planning. He was also previously the leader of strategic planning for community services.
Before joining the municipal government, he was a development manager at Windmill Development Group, where he managed the development of several residential, retail, and mixed-use projects. Pickles started his career as a project architect at Busby Perkins + Will.
He holds an MBA from the University of Colorado at Denver, a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Calgary, and a BA from The University of Lethbridge.
"Scott's broad experience and leadership as an architect, developer, and public servant have led him to become a trusted strategic advisor across Canada, and he's a perfect fit as we grow our professional services consulting across the country," Botting said.
