Estate Agencies

Strutt & Parker has announced a new Managing Director and a new Head of Marketing. Gary Higgins is on board as Managing Director, moving over from S&P’s parent company, BNP Paribas, where he was Managing Director of UK Corporate Client Coverage, based in London. Tamerah Couchman has joined as Head of Marketing & Client Experience, moving from Carter Jonas, where she spent a decade as Head of Residential Marketing.
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UK Sotheby’s International Realty has opened a prominent new base in Knightsbridge, taking over the former McLaren showroom at One Hyde Park.
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UK SIR has also added another batch of well-known names to its Prime Central London team: Alex Bourne has joined as Senior Director, having previously worked at Hanover Residential and Beauchamp Estates before co-founding boutique agency London House. Lettings specialist Danny Daniel has moved from Savills, where he was Head of Lettings in Knightsbridge.
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In addition, a trio of top-billing Chestertons agents have moved over to UK SIR: Rowland King, George Smith and Matthew Chard spent the last decade working together at Chestertons, and have some 50 years’ experience between them.
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Knight Frank has moved its flagship Mayfair & St James’s branch to a “more prominent” new spot on South Audley Street, just off Grosvenor Square.
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Knight Frank has appointed a new chief at its Henley-on-Thames outpost: Matt Davies takes over from Nick Warner, who was Office Head for the last seven years. Warner will “continue to play an integral part in the business”, specialising in the prime and super-prime country house market.
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Knight Frank has recruited former Stags buying agent Joel Moore as Partner to handle resi sales around South Devon from the Exeter office.
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Knight Frank has also ramped up its South East New Homes division with three new appointments: Sarah Gunn and Lucy Sutherland have joined as Associates; Grace Blythen has as Operations Coordinator.
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Savills has appointed Holly Sibley as its head of office and residential sales in Reigate. She moves to the Surrey team from Savills Haywards Heath, having joined the firm early last year from Knight Frank.
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Former RICS Young Surveyor of the Years Abigail Jones has been appointed to lead the development team at Savills Cambridge, having joined the firm in 2013 and recently returned from maternity leave.
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In other Savills news, the firm has launched a specialist golf offering to assist clients looking to buy property in or near the best golf courses within the UK and across international markets. Ben Hehir and James Moor are driving, with Country House Director Jamie Macnab also pitching in with expertise of Scotland’s golfing scene.
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Winkworth franchisee Neil Sloam has opened a new office on Haverstock Hill in NW3, covering Belsize Park and Hampstead Village. Sloam also owns Winkworth businesses in West Hampstead, St John’s Wood and Maida Vale. Jack Peet is running the new branch as well as the West Hampstead operation.
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John D Wood & Co. has appointed Naomi Hazell as Country House Lettings Manager to cover the Cotswolds and Oxfordshire region. She moves from Carter Jonas in Oxford.
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Fine & Country has expanded to cover the whole of Scotland. Louisa Thomson and Andrew Jack are leading the “ambitious growth plans”: Thomson has added ten new areas to her existing Fine & Country operation in Dumfries & Galloway (which was the first F&C licence north of the border); Jack has acquired the Edinburgh license, having been a Director with Belvoir (part of The Property Franchise Group, as is F&C) in the city since 2017.
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Fine & Country has also added a new office in Poundbury to its network, selling a new license for the South Dorset patch around Dorchester. Shay McNulty is leading the eight-strong team as Head of Sales, alongside Matt Gregg and Sam Gregg.
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Surrey & Sussex-focused estate agency house. Partnership has added a new homes specialist to its teamsheet. Nick Eaton has joined as Regional Partner overseeing Land and New Homes. He previously ran his own estate agency in the home Counties with Seymours before switching to property development in 2014 – delivering some 100 new homes across a range of sectors.
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Douglas & Gordon has poached Chestertons’ Head of Talent Acquisition to help build its national network of brokers. Catherine Darbon, described as one of the UK’s most respected property recruitment leaders, has been hired by James Evans’ firm as Head of Talent and Employer Brands.
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D&G has also added another name to its self-employed broker ranks, as it makes progress on its plan to recruit 50 new Partners this year. Matthew Williamson has signed-up to cover the Putney patch of South West London. The ARLA-qualified agent spent the last two years with John D Wood & Co (most recently in the Chelsea office), and previously worked at Foxtons.
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George Simpson has moved from Knight Frank to join Winkworth’s flagship PCL branch on Brompton Road, which covers the Chelsea, Belgravia, Mayfair, and Marylebone markets.
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The founder of boutique Prime Central London estate agency Napier Watt, Libby Watt, has joined property brokerage Moveli. Having recently relocated to Harrogate, she is now a self-employed broker working with high-end clients in Yorkshire and PCL.
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Buying Agencies

One of London’s best-known super-prime agents, Paul Finch, has joined Knightsbridge-based private office and wealth advisory firm Liberty Rock. Finch was previously a long-standing Director of Beauchamp Estates. He is now Managing Director of Liberty Rock’s property advisory and buying agency, Liberty Rock Property.
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Trevor Kearney’s super-prime property agency The Private Office: Real Estate has launched a dedicated lettings division, targeting the top-end of the market in Surrey and the South East. James Dodds, formerly group lettings director at Grosvenor Billinghurst is leading the new operation. Also on the team is Olivia McGuire, who has a background in high-end interior design.
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40-year-old buying agency Stacks has launched a new outpost in Gloucestershire. The new office, covering the South Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wiltshire, is led by Regional Director Adam Lock, who spent the last 13 years at Hamptons, where he served as a director and led the Prime Department in the Cotswolds. He was previously with Savills in Bristol for six years.
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