• Swindon & Wiltshire Appointments
• Wednesday September 23 2026

New hire at property consultancy

Property consultancy Vail Williams has made a strategic appointment to its Thames Valley valuation team.

Luke Kemp, who has joined at partner level from Daniel Watney Partnership in London, has also worked at Savills, Knight Frank, BNP Paribas Real Estate and Cushman & Wakefield.

He is based in Reading and Oxford where he provides property valuation advice to clients across the firm’s Western Corridor – Reading, Oxford and the wider Thames Valley.

A RICS registered valuer with more than 20 years’ post-qualification experience, he advises a wide range of clients, including fund managers, banks and other lending institutions, investors, developers and property owners.

Luke has extensive experience in commercial property valuation, residential property valuation, portfolio valuations and development appraisals.

He provides valuations for a variety of purposes, including secured lending, financial reporting and accounting, pension planning, and tax planning including Capital Gains Tax.

Having specialised in student property valuation from 2013, he has advised on the valuation of major student accommodation portfolios for clients including Scape Student Living, The Mansion Student Accommodation Fund, the BlackRock Student Housing Trust and Unite.

Before specialising in PBSA, Luke worked as an investment portfolio valuer, overseeing the valuation of billions of pounds of property assets on a monthly, quarterly and annual basis.

More recently, his work has included valuations of mainstream commercial property, including London landed estates for accounting purposes, as well as office and retail properties for pension planning, tax planning and Capital Gains Tax purposes.

Luke said: “I am excited to have joined such a forward-thinking firm as Vail Williams where the business ethos matches mine completely.

“I hope that my skill sets will enable me to play a big role in the ambitious growth programme set for this progressive, professional and exceptional firm.”

Thames Valley regional managing partner David Barden said: “We welcome Luke as someone whose broad valuation experience, combined with his understanding of the Thames Valley property market, enables him to advise on individual properties, development opportunities and complex property portfolios across a range of sectors.

“He has hit the ground running and has already become an integral part of the team. We have high expectations of him, particularly around the student accommodation sector, which, obviously is particularly important in Oxford and Reading which both have huge student populations.”