The Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association (SAAVA) has announced a new presidential team with Rob Forrest appointed as president and Ian Austin taking the vice president post.
A director of FBR Ltd, Land Agents and Rural Surveyors based in Kelso, Rob Forrest is also a Fellow of The Association of Agricultural Valuers (FAAV) and is involved in the purchase and sale of farmland, landlord and tenant issues, compensations and general valuation work. Rob replaces James Dick, who moves to become vice president of CAAV.
Rob has been a member of the SAAVA council since 2008 and more recently acting vice president. He has been heavily involved in the compulsory purchase of the land and negotiating compensation with farmers affected along the length of the recently opened Borders Railway Line.
Brought up on the family farm in Berwickshire, Rob combines his role as Land Agent with running Robert Forrest Ltd farming operation based at Preston near Duns where he is involved in mixed farming with both livestock and arable production.
Senior surveyor and branch manager at Davidson and Robertson Rural, Ian Austin (28), originally from the South West and now based in Edinburgh, will take on the vice president role at the Association.
A member of SAAVA since 2011, Ian was awarded the President’s Prize for obtaining the highest mark in the Scottish CAAV exam in 2013. Since then, Ian has been involved in assisting and organising the Scottish Tutorials for the CAAV exams for SAAVA. He is also a Fellow of The Association of Agricultural Valuers (FAAV), member of the Royal Institution Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) and a RICS Registered Valuer.
Ian is experienced in a range of private client work including compensation and access negotiations with 3rd parties including utilities, commercial negotiations for renewable energy projects, compulsory purchase, sales and lettings, planning for agricultural property, landlord and tenant negotiations and valuations for a wide variety of purposes.
Speaking about his new position Rob said: “As President of SAAVA, I will strive to ensure that SAAVA members are at the forefront of delivering the forthcoming Land Reform Act which will undoubtedly be complex as, for example, it will now cover up to seven different forms of tenancy.
“As an industry organisation, we work for all parties and our main aim is to ensure we can continue to offer the best professional advice in delivering the many changes that are proposed within the Agricultural Holdings Section of the Act.”