Simon Alden has been appointed as the new president of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (CAAV), taking over from Andrew Coney at the CAAV annual general meeting (AGM) in Liverpool.
Alden is a director of Adkin in Oxfordshire, first joining the firm in 1984 after growing up on the family farm, in the year before attending the Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester.
He returned to the firm and qualified as a Fellow of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers (FAAV) in 1992.
Alden is a member of CAAV’s executive committee, sits on its governing council and has been chairman of its examinations committee.
His specialist areas of work include planning and development, covering promotion agreements; options and conditional contracts, landlord and tenant; corporate and private client valuations; compulsory purchase; and expert witness work.
Alden also runs his own family property business incorporating farming interests, residential lets and a multi-tenanted office park.
He is also a past chairman of the local branches of both the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and CAAV.
Following the disruptive events of Brexit, Covid-19 and the continuing war in Ukraine, Alden wants to promote meetings and grow activity within the membership, especially younger members, who are essential for the profession’s future.
“It is also important to talk to employers as one big issue is recruitment. We need to diversify the pool that we recruit from,” he said.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my two years as part of the presidential team, visiting local associations that I have been able to see in person as well as online.
“I am honoured and a little daunted to follow Andrew Coney, who has taken the CAAV membership towards 3,000.”
Assisting Alden during his presidency will be senior vice-president, Malcolm Gale, a partner at Bagshaws, based at its Uttoxeter office who has been involved in all aspects of rural practice.
Martin Hall, senior director at Davidson and Robertson, based in Edinburgh, will also join the presidential team as junior vice-president and is the second Scot to join the CAAV’s presidential team.
