Property Jobs Today - the movers, shakers and people in the news

House price growth may be slowing but there is still plenty of movement in the property jobs market.

Here are some of the latest moves that took place during May.

If you want your jobs or appointments news to feature here, email press@estateagenttoday.co.uk 

Cluttons: Property consultancy Cluttons has appointed estate agency veteran Ed Woolgar from Strutt & Parker as lettings partner in its  Hyde Park Office.

Ed has worked as a Central London agent for over 15 years, and he has a wealth of experience in high end valuations, corporate relocations and prime Central London lettings. 

Prior to his role as lettings director at Strutt and Parker’s South Kensington Office, Ed worked as head of lettings for Harrods Estates and head of corporate for Chestertons.  

James Hyman, head of residential at Cluttons said: “With over 15 years Central London residential lettings and corporate relocation experience, Ed is extremely well placed to run our Central London lettings and drive our plans to expand the lettings side of the business. Right now, post pandemic, represents an exciting time for lettings as we see the return of foreign renters and corporate relocations.” 

Commenting on his new role, Ed said: “I am delighted to join such a well-established brand and am excited to grow the lettings business across Central London as the company goes through a period of growth and development.” 

SmartSearch: Anti-money laundering firm SmartSearch has appointed Collette Allen as chief operating officer.

She joined the company in 2013 as a senior support specialist and, within two years, earned a position as head of client services. Just five years later, she was appointed to the SmartSearch board as client services director.

At 30, Collette was the company’s youngest-ever board member and the first female in the boardroom

Martin Cheek, managing director of SmartSearch, said: “Collette has shown incredible leadership and innovation in her time at SmartSearch. She’s been crucial in the development of our outstanding client services team which has managed to achieve exceptional client retention. 

“I have no doubt that she will go from strength-to-strength and continue to drive innovations that will keep SmartSearch as the leading anti-money laundering firm.”

In her new role, Collette will oversee SmartSearch’s operations and procedures and will be responsible for driving sustainable business growth.

She said: “Having been with SmartSearch for nearly a decade, it is a real honour to now be COO. 

“The business is fast growing and it is an incredibly exciting time to be at SmartSearch.

“SmartSearch is the only AML resource any regulated business needs, and we’ll continue to innovate and work with our clients to deliver the best possible product and service.”

HBF: The Home Builders Federation has appointed Sam Stafford as planning director. He will take up his new role in early July..

Sam has been a chartered town Planner since 2002 and has accumulated skills and experiences from across the property sector during this time.

In the early stages of his career Sam worked for a housebuilder in South Yorkshire, a planning and landscape consultancy and, following a move to Ripponden, Calderdale Council's development control team.

The majority of Sam's experience between 2006 and 2014 was in development management as a planning consultant in multi-disciplinary environments.

In 2014 Sam joined Barratt Development and his work as a Regional Strategic Land Director involved working with the Divisional Barratt and David Wilson businesses in the North West and the West Midlands on their strategic land portfolios, engaging in so doing with local plans and national planning policy.

Sam is replacing the previous planning director, Andrew Whitaker, who is retiring after 28 years at HBF. 

HBF executive chairman Stewart Baseley said: “We are delighted to announce that Sam will be joining HBF.

“He brings a huge wealth of experience and his appointment will further strengthen our team as we work closely with the government on the future reforms. 

“The problems our members are facing with regards to planning are never ending, and it is paramount that we are best placed to help the industry continue to deliver the housing that the country needs."

Sam Stafford said: 'I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the HBF. There has arguably never been a more pressing need for a strong, confident planning system, but I am struggling to recall a time in my career when the system has conveyed the impression to the extent it is doing now as being the opposite of these things.“I will relish representing the house building industry in discussions with partners about how we work towards getting more and better local plans adopted and more and better applications approved.'  
 

Gleeson Homes:  Housebuilder Gleeson Homes has appointed Jennifer Tupman to the position of regional managing director to oversee its operations in its Tyne and Wear region in the North East of England.

Reporting directly to Sarah Marsden, Divisional Managing Director for the North Eastern division, Jennifer will be looking to drive activity across several key areas, including expansion of the current land portfolio, investment in people and an unwavering commitment to build quality. 

Jennifer joins Gleeson Homes with more than 20 years of experience in the construction industry, all based in the north of the country. 

Her most recent role was with Avant Homes, where she was employed for over 10 years. She finished her tenure as managing director and was responsible for the growth pipeline and was heavily focused on people and culture, as well as customer relationships, amongst other assignments for the North East region.

Mark Knight, managing director of Gleeson Homes said: “We are thrilled to have Jennifer join the team at such a pivotal and exciting time for the North East Division.

“Her wealth of experience, especially as someone operating in the region for many years, will be invaluable in leading the team into our next phase of expansion. 

“It is important to us, especially at a time when household income is under pressure and financial worries are on the rise, that we continue to provide quality, affordable homes for those in the North and Midlands in the coming years.

“Jennifer will be instrumental in our continued mission to provide homes for our core customer base of first-time buyers, young people and buyers on lower incomes.”

Jennifer said: “I am excited to start work with Gleeson and continue the brilliant and essential work they are doing in this part of the country. I have been inspired by the passion for customer satisfaction, build quality and investment in people that Gleeson is known for and am looking forward to carrying on this work, as well as providing some fresh perspective on the tasks ahead.

“In particular, I am keen to continue our engagement with local communities, making sure to connect with and invest in them wherever possible, to make sure each of our projects is mutually beneficial. Through the rejuvenation of primarily brownfield sites, I want to extend the opportunity to build a Gleeson Home to as many local low-income families, key workers and first-time buyers as possible.”

Savills: Savills has promoted Charles Broadbent-Combe, a director in its Cobham sales team to take on the role of head of sales and oversee its multi-disciplinary Sunningdale office.

Having worked in the firm’s Cobham sales department since 2013, Charles steps into his new position with circa 10 years’ experience in the industry and with an intricate knowledge of the region and prime sales market.

As head of residential sales, Charles will lead a team which comprises several specialists handling the sale of properties at all levels of the market, ranging from period country houses, town houses and cottages through to cutting-edge modern estates and apartments.

Charles will also work closely with the London based country department and cluster of local offices including, Weybridge, Esher, Cobham, and Windsor.

He said: “Having lived in Cobham my whole life and worked locally over the past 10 years, I’m extremely excited to be taking on the challenge of heading up the Sunningdale sales team and working closely with our lettings and residential development colleagues.

“Through working collaboratively with the offices, the area is one I know well, plus there are a number of similarities between the Surrey offices – by way of the property types and clients.

“I’ve had some incredible mentors over the past decade who have all supported me and I look forward to the next chapter in my career with Savills.”

Head of Savills Surrey region, Simon Ashwell, added: “We are delighted to see Charles take the next step in his career by taking on the role of head of sales and office in Sunningdale.

“Given his highly successful track record thus far his detailed knowledge of the region, I’m certain that he will be a success in driving our Sunningdale sales business forward.  He is an exceptional talent and credit to our business and has already demonstrated his ability to provide a first class service to our clients look forward to seeing him take the office from strength to strength.”
 

Smoove: Michael Cress has joined conveyancing platform Smoove PLC as chief financial officer. 

Michael joins Smoove from My 1st Years where he was finance director and has previously held senior and executive finance roles with Kelkoo, The Digital Property Group and AOL UK. 

Jesper With-Fogstrup, chief executive of Smoove, said: “Michael joins Smoove at a pivotal time for the business and his in-depth commercial knowledge and sector expertise will be critical in driving our ambitious strategy and plans.  

“Michael’s appointment comes at an exciting time for Smoove following our rebrand and recent wins, including the provision of additional services to Lloyd’s Banking Group remortgage business and an exclusive conveyancing partnership with Moneyfacts.”

Michael said: “I’m delighted to be joining Smoove at a brilliant time in the company’s development.  I’m looking forward to combining my financial experience with my passion for digital businesses and driving Smoove’s ambition to build frictionless products and services for every stage of the home ownership process.”
 
 

Henry Adams: The Development Land Consultancy division at Henry Adams has appointed Simon Boakes as a specialist consultant. 

Initially, Simon will be involved with the sale of Old Malling Farm in Lewes, a prime residential site with outline planning permission for 226 units. 

Prior to becoming a consultant to work on specific projects, Simon Boakes spent 20 years at Croudace, most recently as land director for seven years.

His previous roles at the housebuilder included 11 years as a Solicitor, where he was responsible for overseeing all legal aspects of land transactions. He is still a practising solicitor. 

Commenting on his new appointment, Simon said: “This new role will be very interesting as it involves handling land from the other side of the fence as an agent, to ensure our landowner client achieves the optimum land value. 

“There’s a huge amount of work that goes into promoting and marketing land, and of course, once Heads of Terms are agreed, the detailed work to keep the transaction moving forward then ramps up. And that’s where I come in. It’s really good to be involved in this part of the industry. I’ve built up a pot of skills over my career which can now all be used to advance this project on behalf of Henry Adams Development Land. 

“Having worked with Henry Adams over the course of many years in my previous roles, I’ve always found them an exemplary organisation to work with. Invariably the reaction from everyone is that they’re really good people to work with, which is how they’ve built up such an excellent reputation in the industry.”

Martin Curry, Partner at Henry Adams, added: “The land market is exceptionally busy at the moment and it’s vital that every aspect of our transactions is covered in detail. It’s great to have Simon on board, particularly given his depth of experience in this sector, and we look forward to working with him initially on Old Malling Farm. This scheme has, understandably, already generated considerable interest.”

JLL:  Property consultancy JLL has appointed Ed Burgess as head of UK residential marketing.

Based in London, Ed’s career at JLL began in 2019 when he joined the firm as a residential marketing director. 

He holds more than 10 years of extensive experience working across the financial and real estate sector in which he developed a consistent track record of providing strong leadership and delivering exceptional client service.

He said: “The pandemic and global lockdowns have led to a level of forced innovation and acted as a catalyst for change. 

“As a marketeer this presented an exciting opportunity, and I am fortunate to have the support and backing that has enabled me to invest in pioneering new marketing channels that have helped us to continue to service clients and maintain momentum.

“As we continue to embark on rapid growth both domestically and internationally at JLL, I am hugely excited about the role marketing will play in this and in defining the wider landscape”.

Peter Murray, head of Residential Development at JLL, added: “Ed’s appointment as head of UK Residential Marketing represents an extremely exciting step for JLL’s Residential division. 

“This progressive move means that there is one department head across agency and new homes marketing and ensures greater collaboration as well as a single platform for information sharing, which will be invaluable for driving the future growth of our Residential business."

KFH: Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward (KFH) has appointed Kayleigh Sylvester as head of portfolio asset management, a newly created role to oversee its growing build-to-rent (BTR) and corporate client portfolio.

Kayleigh brings eight years of property and portfolio management experience to the role, with six of those years focused on build-to-rent with JLL. In her previous role, Kayleigh was an asset manager overseeing the operation of a portfolio totalling over 1,000 units. 

Paul Masters, group operations director at KFH, said: “We are delighted to welcome Kayleigh to KFH. Her expertise and guidance will help further establish KFH as the essential partner to help deliver build-to-rent solutions and portfolio management to corporate clients and their residents.”

Kayleigh added: “I am very excited to be joining KFH as head of portfolio and asset management.

“I am looking forward to using my experience and knowledge to help with the continued success of their BTR and portfolio management teams.”

Heaton & Partners: Buying agent Heaton & Partners is expanding its role in country house consultancy and property management with the appointment of Tom Hayes to the team.

Tom’s role will encompass developing and leading a department in charge of the day-to-day management of country houses and estates for both resident and absent owners, as well as wider land agency duties for farmers and equestrian operations. 

Heaton & Partners will take on every aspect of the management, including employing and interviewing estate staff such as gardeners, housekeepers, cooks, maintenance staff and drivers, both in London and the country.

Tom has considerable experience for the role, having previously managed private clients’ estates in the southeast of England as part of his role within the land management division of Strutt & Parker.

Prior to that he was the rural property manager for an extensive private estate in Hampshire.  He has also spent some years farming in the south of England.

Tom said: “I am particularly excited about the new position.

“Wherever our clients buy a property, we will be ready to offer a full management service if required.

“Although Heaton & Partners has long offered property management on a smaller scale, my job is to expand this side of the business, continuing to promote the service to clients who buy a property through us, and also to take on the management of established properties and estates from elsewhere as well.”

Edward Heaton, founder and managing partner of Heaton & Partners, said: “Tom brings with him a wealth of knowledge that will be vital in helping us to grow this important area of our business. Having an experienced manager in charge will ensure that we can offer a market-leading service.”

Heaton & Partners predominantly operates in London and the south of England with offices in Newbury and Knightsbridge.

Connells: Connells has unveiled four key promotions across its lettings division, signifying the group’s commitment to nurturing talent and creating long-term career opportunities for colleagues.

The promotions include Rachel Allison as Lettings Area Director for William H Brown (Norfolk & Suffolk,) Tracy Fisher as Connells Group Lettings Head of Operations (Corporate & Insurance,) Nathan Nock as Lettings Area Director for Connells Midlands and Nick Reynolds as Lettings Area Director for William H Brown (Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire). 

With more than 50 years’ combined experience in the industry – all across Connells, Countrywide and Sequence – Rachel, Tracy, Nathan and Nick have extensive knowledge within their areas of expertise and a host of past achievements.

As they take up their new roles, their objectives are to support further growth of the lettings division, develop the careers of those in their teams and, ultimately, maximise the potential of their respective businesses.

Commenting on their promotions, Stephen Nation, Connells Group Lettings managing director, said: “These are well deserved promotions which demonstrate the incredible talent and unlimited career opportunities that we have within our group.

“The lettings market is ever-evolving and we must ensure our management is agile and able to lead the way for their teams to react to developments in the industry.

“I have no doubt that Rachel, Tracy, Nathan, and Nick are perfectly placed to drive forward our business objectives and continue to develop our lettings stars of the future.”