Our People

Sofia is a qualified surveyor with over 12 years’ international experience in the UK, Middle East and Australia. Sofia was previously with CBRE, Stockland Property Group as well as Legal and General, in Sydney and London, where she focused on property valuation, advisory and investment management.

Sofia is responsible for banks as well as private and institutional clients, overseeing valuations throughout the UAE and the wider region. Some of her current clients include Aldar, Meraas, Dubai Properties, Emirates NBD, Mashreq Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, SAMBA, HSBC and Standard Chartered, among others.
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Julian joined Cavendish Maxwell as Chief Economist in January 2019. Coming from an old real estate family in Ireland, his career as an economist began with a first-class honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics at the age of 19, following which Julian was an analyst with the UK Government. He later helped develop and launch the UK’s residential forecasting service with the firms that merged to become Global Insight. Julian subsequently developed derivatives in the City of London and established real estate futures contracts for what is now the International Commodity Exchange. He also ran a property development and management firm, before eventually serving as an international consultant and trainer to governments, central banks and notable firms including AXA, Citibank, DBS, Deloitte and Thomson Reuters.

Julian fills his work-free time with academic pursuits; he holds several postgraduate degrees, including a PhD in International Risk Management Policy, and also the Licensed Conveyancer qualification. Julian has published many business and academic texts and articles, and is also a keen walker – especially fond of the Scottish Highlands.
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Mike has garnered decades of experience in niche sectors of machinery and equipment valuation in various countries around the world. He commenced his valuation career in 1973 as a cadet plant and machinery valuer at Henry Butcher and Company, London. Through this experience, Mike has gained practical expertise to meet a variety of valuation requirements for numerous commercial and industrial operations across the UK and Europe. In 1983, Mike joined Exeter Machine Tools as a specialist valuer of machinery and equipment that was outside the usual remit of instructions. During this time Mike was part of several large projects including the valuation and sale of equipment associated with watch-making and automotive gauges.

Mike worked in New Zealand from 1986 and was responsible for the South Island plant and machinery valuations undertaken for litigation, insurance reinstatement, financial reporting, loan security, taxation, and due diligence. In 1993, Mike moved to Australia where he undertook assignments for large companies and government organisations, carrying out major overseas instructions in Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, the United States and Thailand.

Mike has been in the UAE since 2013 and has conducted many types of machinery and fixed assets valuations in varying industrial and commercial businesses throughout the GCC, Mediterranean countries, Egypt, Mexico and Australia.
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Jessica Taylor joined Cavendish Maxwell in 2016. As HR Director, Jessica is responsible for the development and execution of all HR strategies, policies, services and programmes. She brings to the HR team over 10 years of extensive people-management skills and hands-on experience leading HR initiatives.

Jessica’s expertise is founded on understanding and translating business objectives into meaningful strategies and polices that engage and motivate employees and create a positive work environment. Placing immense importance on employee engagement, Jessica’s believes in the principle that people tend to support what they help to create.

Prior to her role at Cavendish Maxwell, Jessica held various positions within private and public sector companies in the UK. Her meticulous approach, passion to understand what motivates people, and her support in helping them achieve their full potential has inspired positive change in the organisations where she has worked.

Her key areas of expertise includes policy design, employee engagement, compensation, performance management, recruiting, compliance reporting, HR workflow development, training and development, and benefits administration.
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Benjamin, who has served as Associate Partner since July 2018, is a Chartered Building Surveyor bringing over 15 years of global professional experience to the Project and Building Consultancy team at Cavendish Maxwell. Over the course of his career, he has successfully advised top-tier international clients from around the world on portfolio acquisitions/disposals, lifecycle costing, technical due diligence, and building pathology, among others. He has delivered a full range of project management services including new builds, refurbishment, fit-out and alterations.

Prior to his role at Cavendish Maxwell, Benjamin headed up the building consultancy department of the New Zealand arm of a global real estate firm. He also has extensive experience in the UK and the wider Middle East, covering building consultancy services across the GCC for a variety of projects and asset classes for developers, investment trusts, local authorities and large private clients in the region. He has advised clients from China, Singapore and Australia on some of the largest property acquisitions in both New Zealand and Australia.

Being an RICS-accredited Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) assessor, Benjamin provides consistently distinguished standards of service for the company and the wider surveying profession in the UAE.
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Khalil Al Zadjali has served as the Head of Cavendish Maxwell in Oman since 2017. He has a BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in business and finance from the UK and brings over 14 years of experience in valuations across the Sultanate in commercial, residential and investment properties. Khalil’s expertise has helped cement relationships with government agencies and high-profile clients in Oman and the wider GCC.

Prior to his role at Cavendish Maxwell, he led the Valuations team at Hamptons International, using his in-depth industry knowledge to accurately value various real estate assets. Khalil retained a substantial number of clients in the move to Cavendish Maxwell, and his strong, long-lasting relationships with all major banks in Oman have been invaluable to the growth of the company’s presence in the Sultanate.
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Daniel Harrison has been with Cavendish Maxwell since September 2010, gaining nine years of experience in the Commercial Valuation team. He is an expert RERA-registered valuer and an accomplished chartered surveyor in the MENA region, offering expertise to varied clients on all aspects of valuations across specialty asset classes.

His team is responsible for all valuations relating to assets positioned in specialist sectors, including hotels, hospitality and leisure, education, medical facilities, exhibition halls, district cooling plants, retail, restaurants and nightclubs.

Daniel has overseen and provided considered advice on over 200 operational hotels in the UAE, offering focussed competitor profiling and operational performance analysis to clients. His core disciplines incorporate extensive yield profiling and value analysis with detailed financial modelling and accurate forecasting, helping unlock an asset’s true market value.

Daniel is a RICS-accredited valuer and alongside providing expert valuations services is responsible for ensuring the creation and delivery of the highest quality reports in accordance with RICS Red Book and International Valuation Standard Council (IVSC) standards.
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Paul has 20 years of experience in valuation and consultancy services and has worked in leading international practices across the UAE, Oman, Europe and the UK.

His professional knowledge encompasses all property asset classes including large, complex master plan developments of mixed-use properties in office, retail, industrial, leisure, hospitality and residential sectors. Paul is professionally qualified to value minerals, waste and recycling properties as well as environmental land considerations.

Paul’s client portfolio includes international and local banks, lending institutions, developers, investors, owner occupiers as well as accountants, legal firms and insolvency practitioners. As joint head of the Commercial Valuation department he is responsible for valuations of all property types. He ensures quality assurance and provides timely RICS Red Book/International Valuation Standard Council (IVSC) standard reports.
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James joined Cavendish Maxwell in March 2014. He has more than 16 years of experience in valuing a diverse range of properties including residential apartments and villas, commercial properties, trading properties, and development sites including large mixed-use developments in both, the UK and Middle East.

James has gained a wealth of valuation experience having led related activities on a diverse range of regional and international properties. He specialises in advising lending institutions and conducting valuations for property funds, corporate entities and for IPO purposes. His client portfolio includes international and local banks, lending institutions, developers, investors, owner occupiers as well as accountants, legal firms and insolvency practitioners.

James is joint head of the Commercial Valuation department and is responsible for valuations of all property types. He also champions quality assurance and project excellence to provide high-quality and timely reports in accordance with RICS Red Book/International Valuation Standard Council (IVSC) standards.

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Jay is from the UK and moved to Dubai in May 2008 before setting up Cavendish Maxwell with a business partner 5 months later. Following on from this in 2014, Jay set up the real estate intelligence platform, Property Monitor.

Jay holds a BA honours degree in economics and accountancy and a master’s degree in estate management. He spent 6 years in the City of London with Sanwa International and JP Morgan before embarking on a career in property and subsequently qualifying as a chartered surveyor in 2006.

Jay’s real estate experience covers valuation, landlord and tenant, property management, commercial agency, fund management and investment. Jay is a creative business thinker and the driving force behind Cavendish Maxwell’s emergence from a niche valuation company into a larger multidiscipline surveying practice. The flame of ambition still burns very bright he says, as the next few years will demonstrate.

Away from work Jay is an Arsenal season ticket holder, Ironman triathlete, white collar boxer and keen cyclist who cycled half the Tour de France route in July 2017 averaging 200km a day.
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Nigel joined Cavendish Maxwell as CEO in July 2016. A pro-active leader with a passion for scaling business size and growth, he spent a large proportion of his career as CEO and shareholder at the Bannatyne Group. Here he was accountable for the operations and management of over 3,500 staff in 66 locations nationwide and was instrumental in growing turnover from zero in 1997 to over £100m in 2013.

Nigel is a qualified accountant by profession and holds a strong managerial background with in excess of 25 years senior experience across a range of sectors including leisure, hospitality, health clubs, hotels, bars, casinos, children's day nurseries and manufacturing. His core strengths lie in his astute business understanding and elite leadership style; motivating teams to consistently deliver on targets.

Outside of work, Nigel enjoys spending time with his wife Jacqui and three beautiful daughters Olivia, Ella and Lucia. He loves movies and trips to the cinema, as well as playing golf. He is also a passionate yet frustrated Newcastle United fan.
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