Graduate joins the rural professional team at Halls

Gareth Parker
Gareth Parker

The rural professional team at leading Shropshire-based company Halls has been further strengthened with the recruitment of a graduate from Ludlow.

Farmer’s son Gareth Parker, 23, joins the company’s team at its Shrewsbury headquarters as a graduate rural surveyor.

A rural enterprise and land management graduate of Harper Adams University, Newport, he spent his placement year at an estate management company in Suffolk and is now looking forward to developing his career at Halls.

He will now work towards the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Assessment of Professional Competency whilst supporting Halls’ busy rural professional team.

His parents are tenant farmers on a 500-acre beef and arable enterprise at Stanton Lacy, which was formerly a dairy farm. “My family used to sell their dairy cattle at Halls, so we have known the company for many years,” said Gareth.

In his spare time he is a scrum half or full back for Ludlow Rugby Club and also enjoys shooting. A keen skier, he took a year out from education to exercise his passion at a ski resort in Canada where he worked in a shop to support his stay.

He has also completed two London Marathons and was a member of a team of eight cyclists who pedalled from John O’Groats to Land’s End in 2011 to raise £17,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support in memory of Paddy Brick from Stanton Lacy who died from cancer.

“My ambition is to qualify as a rural surveyor, to be good at my job and see where that takes me,” said Gareth, who is currently handling compensation claims on behalf of landowners for pipelines and utility projects.

Rural professional director Shaun Jones said he was delighted to welcome another graduate to the growing team at Halls as the company continues to expand its footprint and range of professional services, including applications for renewable energy schemes and changes to the Single Farm Payment system.