March 2019 Movers and Shakers with PrimeResi

28 March 2019

What happened to recruitment within the property sector during March? View the monthly round-up from PrimeResi, below. Please note that links to all full stories are provided at the end of each summary.

Estate Agents

The Modern House

Specialist estate agency The Modern House is recruiting for a Managing Director to helm the firm through “a new chapter of growth”. Co-founders Albert Hill and Matt Gibberd are looking for someone with a background in “growing purpose-led organisations” rather than direct property agency experience.

Russell Simpson

Russell Simpson has opened a second office in the Royal Borough. The new base on Holland Street is being helmed by Bertie and Hattie Russell, and represents the first expansion for the family-run Chelsea agency in its 40-year history. It will serve the areas of Kensington, Notting Hill, Bayswater and Holland Park – which now account for a quarter of the firm’s transactions by volume.

Knight Frank

Knight Frank has appointed two new office heads in West London. Rebecca Higgins has moved over from the Wandsworth branch to take charge of the Clapham operation, while ex-Foxtons and Hamptons man Edward Sainter, who joined the firm in 2014, will now be heading up things in Chiswick. Up in Yorkshire, meanwhile, the agency has bolstered its regional resi development team with the hire of Tim Mather as associate.

Marsh & Parsons

Marsh & Parsons has promoted its Queen’s Park Associate Director, Callum Hodgson, to Area Sales Director for North West London, and separately opened a new office in Willesden Green. Neale Jones is heading eta sales department of the new branch, with Tega Alexander as Lettings Manager.

Hunters

AIM-listed franchised estate agency network Hunters has hired Foxtons’ former tech head Dan Rafferty as Chief Operating Officer. Rafferty left Foxtons last Summer, after 14 years with the company as its Chief Information Officer; he previously worked at IT firm Logica.

Fine & Country

Fine & Country has opened a new office in York, covering the North Yorkshire patch around the historic walled city, Malton and Pickering. The new outpost is being run from a serviced office by Frances Bowling, who has spent the last six-and-a-half years with Doncaster agency Moss Properties.

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Buying Agents

Knight Frank Private Office

Knight Frank has recruited Hugh Dixon to strengthen its specialist Private Office division. Dixon previously worked at Private Property Search before co-founding buying agency GWD Property Consultants with fellow Strutts alumni James Geddes and Deborah Walker in 2015. GWD’s partners went their separate ways last year.

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Developers & Landowners

British Land

Tim Score will be taking over as Chairman of British Land from when John Gildersleeve retires in July. Score has been an independent non-exec director of the property firm, and chair of its audit committee, since 2014. He was previously CFO of ARM Holdings. Rebecca Worthington, group COO of Countryside Properties, will be taking over as chair of the audit committee.

Crest Nicholson

Crest Nicholson has recruited Sainsbury’s former Director of Group Finance, Duncan Cooper, to fill the CFO role left vacant by Robert Allen last year. Cooper will join the house-builder in June as Group Finance Director.

Battersea Power Station Development Company

Battersea Power Station Development Company has confirmed a raft of high-level personnel changes, including the departure of COO Simon Jenner and head of delivery Matt Lusty “to pursue other opportunities”. Ian Feast, current head of phase three, becomes head of delivery; Scott Grant takes over as head of phase three; Nigel Parrish steps up from phase three commercial director to head of commercial. There have been some new hires too: Andrew Rhodes as head of logistics; Hugh Porter as head of commercial NLE & sitewide; Alasdair James as financial controller; Tom Etchells as senior manager for risk and compliance, and James Mantle as senior project accountant.

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland has recruited Dawn Airey as a Non Exec Director. Airey is the former CEO of Getty Images, who previously headed up Channel 5 and held senior roles at Yahoo, ITV and Sky.

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Conveyancing, tech and others

My Home Move and The Simplify Group

Two of the UK’s leading conveyancing firms, My Home Move and The Simplify Group, have merged to create what they describe as “a conveyancing powerhouse which will be the standout market leader.” Operating under the “Simplify” banner. David Grossman is leading the operation under the “Simplify” banner, from My Home Move’s existing campus in Leicestershire (where c.450 employees are located). Doug Crawford, CEO of My Home Move, is leaving the organisation.

Loop Software

Prime property industry veteran Philip Selway has joined “next generation property platform” Loop Software as a Strategic Consultant. Selway set up Knight Frank’s independent buying arm, The Buying Solution, back in 2002, and stepped down as Managing Partner in 2015. Loop was launched in 2018 by Claire Owen, who previously worked as a buying agent for The Buying Solution in Bath, and Oliver Gleave, who previously founded and ran proptech firm Jupix.

Rewards & Attitudes Survey 2019

Property professionals earn a median salary of £48,000 across the UK, according to the latest RICS & Macdonald & Co Rewards & Attitudes Survey; the media base salary for resi agency is £35,000. 64% of survey respondents received a pay rise over last 12 months (down from 65%), with an average increase of 5.2% (down from 6.3%).

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