New faces and expansions as agents set out their 2016 plans

Several agencies have announced expansion plans and new personnel as they gear up for 2016.

Strutt & Parker is announcing that Giles Lawton has joined the firm as a full partner to head up the Oxford office and lead the Cotswolds region. Lawton has been a director of John D Wood & Co and has worked at Savills, specialising in Oxford and London. 

Meanwhile JLL has appointed Michael Whittaker - ex-Felicity J Lord - to run its Canary Wharf office and has recruited Laura Ochoa - ex-Foxtons and Marsh & Parons - to head up its Corporate Relocations team. Emma Deeny has joined JLL from Chase Evans to run its Training and Development team. In addition, JLL will be launching a further residential agency office in Stratford at the end of January.

Still in London, Chestertons has elevated two members of staff and invited them to join the operational board. Guy Gittins, former Sales Director in Chelsea, and Cory Askew, who retains his responsibilities as Area Director in Canary Wharf, Docklands and wider East London, have both been co-opted to the operational board. Robert Sturges is also promoted to take on the role of Sales Area Director for the London, SW Central region.

The three promotions to director level are Robert Mosgrove, who works in Business Development in the Mayfair Head Office, Nicola Lavictoire, who heads the PRIME portfolio property management team, and Kelly Rees, Lettings Manager in the Chestertons Docklands office.

In Scotland, Bell Ingram has announced the appointment of a new estate agent and property assistant, boasting 37 years of industry experience between them.

Carl Warden and Moira Webley, both originally from Perthshire, joined Bell Ingram’s Perth office earlier this month. 

Property crowdfunding platform The House Crowd - which rose to fame in 2015 with a less-than-successful appearance on Dragons’ Den - says it nonetheless hit a record £1.1m turnover last year; its total raised for property projects now exceeds £17m.

It has recently recruited four new employees, taking its staffing to 12. The House Crowd’s first TV ad will air this month.