Growing demand for experts around employment land in the property sector has seen our development agency team hire a top professional to lead a re-shaped team.
Matt Sladen, who has over 15 years of experience across the UK real estate market, is now our Head of Strategic Land for Employment.
Matt will be based in the Midlands but will be operating throughout the UK, and will be responsible for identifying, securing and promoting land for commercial, industrial or employment uses. Working to deliver and grow the pipeline which, if consented, could deliver in excess of 36 million square feet of industrial and logistics development nationwide.
He will advise clients on identifying opportunities and the routes to development, planning promotion, legal negotiations and relationships with stakeholders to convert land into saleable or developable assets.
Matt said:
"I'm excited to be joining Fisher German at a time when demand for employment land continues to grow across the UK.
Throughout my career I've worked on projects from the earliest stages of identifying opportunities through to delivering completed developments, and I enjoy bringing together the many different people involved to make those schemes a success.
This new role is a fantastic opportunity to help clients unlock the potential of their land and navigate what can often be a complex development process.
I'm looking forward to working with colleagues across the business to build on Fisher German's strong reputation and grow our strategic land offering."
After graduating from the College of Estate Management in Reading with a BSc in Real Estate Management, Matt started his career at Sladen Estates as a graduate developer surveyor and rose through the ranks to development director.
Matt led multidisciplinary design teams to plan, design and deliver development projects across various sectors, including commercial and industrial projects at Nimbus Park in Doncaster, The Boulevard at Hampton in Peterborough and Summit Park Phase 2 in Mansfield.
Since April 2025, he has been a self-employed development consultant, advising and managing existing and new land opportunities.
Partner Luke Brafield added:
"Creating this new role reflects both the growing demand we're seeing from clients and our ambition to strengthen our strategic land services, and Matt's experience meant he was a great candidate to fill it.
Matt will work closely with Alex Morrison and Henry Martyn Smith, together with colleagues specialising in leasing, investment and management.
He has a proven track record of bringing forward complex employment and commercial developments, giving him an excellent understanding of the challenges and opportunities our clients face.
Matt has worked for both developers and consultants, which will help us identify new opportunities, deliver even greater value for clients and continue to grow this important area of the business. We're delighted to welcome him to the team."