THE Worcester office of commercial property consultants Harris Lamb has received a leading annual industry award.

It recognises the firm as the most active agent not only for Herefordshire and Worcestershire but also the West Midlands.

The award is presented for achievements in letting, sales and acquisition of commercial property by trade magazine Estates Gazette and represents a double accolade.

The firm’s Birmingham, Worcester and Stoke-on-Trent regional offices won the category award for the West Midlands region last year. “The last 18 months have been incredibly challenging in the commercial property market as local businesses tightened their belts and delayed any plans for expansion,” said Harris Lamb senior surveyor Nick Aylett.

“In the fourth quarter of 2008 we saw enquiries down by about 50 per cent compared with the same period in 2007, but changing trends in a turbulent market have brought there own crop of enquiries in encouraging volumes.”

An increase in interest in larger stock, which represented 33 per cent of Harris Lamb’s 2009 enquiry bank, picked up with a 60,000 sq ft industrial building being under offer on Hartlebury Trading Estate.

There was also strong interest in the former Ceramaspeed Building, also in Kidderminster, a building totalling about 135,000 sq ft.

The Big Berry, a modern industrial building in the Droitwich area, has also seen an upturn in enquiries.