Property Movers & Shakers September 2023

21 September 2023

Estate Agencies

Savills Plc has appointed a new Chair, naming Stacey Cartwright to succeed Nicholas Ferguson when he retires from the Board at the end of this year after seven years in charge. Cartwright has been an independent non-executive director of Savills since October 2018, and Senior Independent Director since January 2021. The qualified accountant was previously CEO and then Deputy Chair of Harvey Nichols Plc, and Executive VP and CFO of Burberry Plc. Read more. 

Savills has bolstered its offering in Singapore, recruiting a new co-head of international residential sales in the affluent enclave. Ruben Koh joins the firm as Senior Director, working alongside fellow Colliers alumnus Adrian Lim, who was recently appointed as the Head of IRS. Read more.

Savills has also added to its Dubai-based international resi sales team. Having joined the firm in 2012, Milly Brook Shanahan is relocating from London to join the team as associate director. Read more.

Russell Simpson has moved its Kensington office from Holland Street to larger digs on St James House on Kensington Square. A dedicated Kensington lettings team will operate from the hub, led by head of lettings Ed Woolgar; Jesse Daybell has joined the team from John D Wood & Co. Read more.

Property consultancy Rapleys has made another notable business move, launching a New Homes team. Mat Shenton has been recruited to run the show. He was a formerly Director in JLL’s Residential Development team, and spent seven years at Savills. Read more.

Knight Frank has created a new Group Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion role, with a remit to “ensure that there is a strategic roadmap in place to implement DE&I initiatives and strengthen [the company’s] commitment to making Knight Frank a diverse and inclusive organisation.” Hannah Awonuga moves from Barclays Bank Plc to fill the position; she was Global Director and Head of DE&I Colleague Engagement at the banking giant, and has 17 years experience in the finance sector. Read more.

Knight Frank has also boosted its presence in the West Midlands, with a new base in Stafford, led by Mitchell Glassey - who joined the firm’s Shrewsbury branch last year, following stints at Fisher German and Savills. Read more.

Two big industry names have joined the board of franchise brokerage The Agency UK. The “cloud-based” business, which operates a network of 100 agents across the nation, has signed up former Countrywide CEO Harry Hill as chairman, and Purplebricks founder Kenny Bruce as senior non-exec director. Read more.

John D Wood & Co. has opened a new office in Winchester, Hampshire. It is managed by Associate Director, Kevin Allen (who has been with the firm for over 30 years), and newly-appointed Emily Reeve. Read more.

Winkworth has opened a new outpost in West Hampstead, north London. It is the third territory for franchisee Neil Sloam, who also runs the Maida Vale and St John’s Wood offices. Based on West End Lane, the new office is led by Jack Peet, who ran his own agency in the West Hampstead area for nearly four years before joining Winkworth. Read more.

Carter Jonas has appointed Jack Johnson as Head of Residential Sales in Cambridge. Johnson has spent recent years setting up and managing a boutique consultancy firm, following various roles at Hertfordshire-based development company GO Homes Family, including managing director. He also spent time working in the London market, at PCL firms including Plaza Estates and Home House Estates, and in Cornwall at Lillicrap Chilcott. Read more.

Freelance estate agency Harding Green has added another broker to its roster. Noah Pearlman, who will be operating from its St John’s Wood office, previously held roles at firms including House Partnership, Hadleigh Residential and Lurot Brand. Read more.

Cluttons has shifted its London headquarters from the West End to the Square Mile. The estate agency – one of the oldest names in property – has signed a ten-year lease at Yarnwicke on Cannon Street, where it will occupy 8,551 sq ft of space. Read more.

A new boutique estate agency is debuting next month, covering the west London market. Celine Brill and Robbin Pierce have teamed up to launch The Property Moms, billed as a “one-stop-shop” estate agency offering sales, lettings, search, staging, and bespoke build services. Read more.

Buying Agencies

Savills-owned buying agency Prime Purchase has brought in a new recruit to cover the Kent and East Sussex patches. Dominick Brown previously worked as a selling agent, heading up the Savills team in the Sevenoaks office for more than 14 years. Read more.

Knightsbridge-based buying agency AWS Prime has hires Jack Osmond as senior property advisor. He previously headed up the sales team at Chestertons in South Kensington, and spent time at Hamptons. Read now.

Nicholas Shaw, formerly of Harrods Estates, Knight Frank and Savills, has launched a new prime London property consultancy with a twist. Lanesborough Advisory offer resi and commercial property acquisition, investment and consultancy – plus components of wealth management. Read now.

Developers & Design

John Caudwell’s eponymous luxury development firm has brought in Lars Christiaanse to lead sales across its portfolio of top-end projects. Christiaanse spent the last three-and-a-half years as sales and marketing director at Fenton Whelan, following other high-level roles at Knight Frank, Taylor Howes, Chestertons and Fairmont. Read more.

Design practice Elicyon has made a trio of senior management appointments, including installing a new Creative Director. Holly Beazley steps up to lead the London-based studio’s “creative vision, direction and execution of projects.” She joined the firm as an Associate back in 2018, having previously worked as a Senior Interior Designer with Morpheus. In addition, Accenture alumnus James Ford has been named as Finance Director, and former Squire and Partners associate James Manby as Projects Director. Read more.

Martin Kemp Design is setting up its first international outpost, launching a studio in New York City. CEO Jemimah Graff will be relocating from the London HQ to lead the team. Read more.

Marketing & Professional Bodies

The Property Ombudsman has added two new non-executive directors to its Independent Board. Louise Baxter and Nick Samuels will replace Gerry Fitzjohn, former Chairman of TPO Board, and Mark McLaren. Baxter started the National Trading Standards Scams Team in 2012, to provide a support system for victims of fraud and scams. She was previously Chair of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and a Non-Exec on the CTSI Board. She was awarded an MBE for protection of vulnerable consumers from financial abuse in 2017. As Chair of the Board for a subsidiary of Wiltshire Council, Samuels has been responsible for devising a strategy for the purchase of affordable housing, and overseeing new sites. His previous roles have included Chief Operating Officer at Bold and Reeves (hired in 2020), Group Chief Operating Officer at Myrooms, Growth Director at Residently and Property Hub, and also Director of Expansion at Foxtons (spending 14 years with the estate agency). Read more.

The organiser of real estate industry events MIPIM and MAPIC, RX, has appointed Dan Cook as Director for the UK & Ireland Built Environment Markets. Cook was previously CEO of research and technology organisation Active Building Centre (ABC). Prior to that, he was a CEO of the Landscape Institute (LI) and Director of Strategy & Planning for the Royal Institution of Charted Surveyors (RICS). Read more.

Finance & Tech

Toby Johncox has been appointed Managing Director of top-end international mortgage broker Enness Global, taking over from co-founder Hugh Wade-Jones. Wade-Jones no longer has an executive role with the firm that he set up 16 years ago, but remains a significant shareholder and a Non-Executive Director. Read more.

Tuscan Capital has reworked its sales structure, bringing in Jaxon Stevens  as Sales Director. Stevens moves from Sancus Lending Group, where he was Head of Sales then Sales Director. He previously worked at Omni Property Finance and Positive Lending. Read more.

SPF Private Clients has returned to Edinburgh, opening an office in the Scottish capital for the first time since 2009. Chelsea Thomson has been recruited to lead the new outpost, to work alongside advisers Avril Cassidy and Mark Parsons. Read more.

The CEO of TM Group, which owns a variety of proptech brands including Mio, tmconvey and tmconnect, has stepped down to “pursue new professional challenges.” Following the acquisition of TMG by European venture capital firm Aurelius earlier this year, Joe Pepper makes way for Thomas März, an Operating Principal at Aurelius, who takes over as interim CEO. Read now.