Treating every customer as an individual and giving a highly personal touch is what makes Cheltenham commercial property agency 52 Degrees North different from their competitors.

Keeping their portfolio selective is the way they can give a highly individual service to their clients, coupled with extensive local knowledge and years of experience.

The company recently moved into bigger and better offices in Cheltenham's Promenade to help them accommodate the increase in their client base in the commercial sector but, although they are growing, their mantra is giving a personal service to each and every client, no matter how big or small.

Director David Grundy teamed up with associate property consultant Julian Capewell to set up the company two years ago, after running residential lettings companies for 16 years.

Working out of the centre of Cheltenham allows them to be in the centre of the property hub of Gloucestershire while covering the whole of the county, including Gloucester, Stroud and Tewkesbury.

But it's that personal touch that Julian believes makes them stand out from other companies.

"We are not conflicted between clients like many larger agencies who have a vast portfolio. They can't really give 100% to each one of their clients because they are effectively in competition with each other for the same thing.

"Rather we are able to focus on the individual, rather than the unit and therefore are able to provide a better service because of it."

Their main market is small and medium-sized businesses, which Julian says is more active now than the larger ones.

"Most of the larger office buildings have been converted into residential properties and the government is focused on that at the moment.

"It's the smaller office units that are doing quite well. There's lots of people out there looking to start their own business; a lot of young people with the confidence to go out and start up on their own, and we can help those sorts of people.

"We're prepared to give these people a little more time. We're not after the big, shiny deal where there's lots of money coming in; we can afford to be a little more focused to assist them and find them the right location.

"Some of the larger firms often aren't interested in helping the little guys but if you're careful and clever, the small businesses can turn into slightly larger ones and you have business for the future.

While their centre is in Cheltenham, the company is also active in the Stroud area, which Julian says has a very diverse market in a compact area.

"Cheltenham has been the panacea for as many years as I've been in property, but now, because of mobile technology, people can work in their own environment, rather than have to go to a centre of work, so it encourages people to set up and work on their own in smaller towns.

"Stroud is one of those areas where you have a lot of people working from much smaller units rather than a large, business type of environments, and those are the people we are able to help find premises."

He also had a warning for landlords of older buildings, particularly prevalent in parts of Gloucester, that he says will need upgrading or rebuilding if they wanted to stay ahead of impending government regulations.

"The government is striving with green issues and are saying that by 2022 there will be legislation saying all buildings that do not comply with an E rating will not be let-able, or at least not without vast improvement.

"So, landlords are going to have to spend money on refurbishing their existing stock, in some cases quite dramatically, or knock them down and build something new."

Find out more here or call 52 Degrees North on 01242 261424 

Picture caption: LtoR, associate property consultant Julian Capewell and director David Grundy