11 March 2024
Hamptons has significantly bolstered its Prime Central London, recruiting Craig Tonkin, Mark Cullen, and Mark Breffit in senior roles, while Grant Bates has stepped up to lead a new Private Office division in London. Bates was previously in charge of sales at the firm’s highest-performing branch, Islington; his new role is “specifically tailored to cater to the unique requirements of HNW and UHNW clients”. Tonkin has moved from Druce to become Regional Sales Director for Central London. Former Foxtons regional director Cullen is now running Hamptons’ sales operation in Kensington. Breffit (ex-Knight Frank & Dexters) is Head of Sales for Sloane Square. Read here. Savills has added three new directors to its Country House Department, recruiting two new faces and moving another. James Toogood has been brought in to lead the South and South West regions, after 23 years with Knight Frank. Barclay Macfarlane joins from Strutt & Parker as director to cover country house sales across the East Anglia region. Charlie Kannreuther, who has been with Savills since 2012, has shifted to the Country Department after six years running the estate agency’s North West region, focusing on prime markets around Cheshire. Read here. John Ennis has joined acquisitive estate agency group Lomond as Chief Sales Officer. He moves from Chestertons, where he was CEO since 2022. Before that, Ennis spent 23 years at Foxtons, rising from Negotiator to Managing Director for Central London & New Homes. Richard Davies is Director of UK Operations at Chestertons; Keith Shields is MD of the Campions Group, which owns the business. Read here. Top-end property agency Oliver Bernard has followed last year’s flurry of appointments with a trio of high-profile hires. Social media star Ari Reid has joined as as Head of Acquisitions (bringing a 265k-strong Instagram following); Izzy Bradshaw has moved from Savills to become OB’s Lettings Director; and Kim Oldham has moved from Druce, to lead the lettings division at the firm’s new Notting Hill office. Read here. Following a major roll-out across Prime Central London, UK Sotheby’s International Realty is now making a move on the UK’s prime country market. Industry veterans Nat Bracegirdle and Alex Collins have been brought in to head up a new office just outside Cobham in Downside, Surrey. Bracegirdle was previously the top fee earner for Knight Frank in Elmbridge and the Home Counties. Fellow Knight Frank alumnus Collins also has a track record in handling large-scale country house transactions. Originally from the Midlands, he has spent the past four years in Surrey. Read here. Russell Simpson has added three new faces to its sales team. Henry Synge joins as head of sales in Kensington & Notting Hill, moving from Youhome and following 11 years with Winkworth. Sales negotiators Chloe Jackson, formerly of Knight Frank’s Prime Chiswick department, and Lenard Pap, previously of Gordon & Co (now owned by Foxtons), have also joined the team. Read here. Knight Frank has anointed three new Proprietary Partners for 2024, tapping Head of Chelsea Sales Charles Olver, Head of the Sheffield Office Rebecca Schofield, and Jon Reynolds, who leads the North, City and East London Lettings division. Read here. Knight Frank has also appointed a new head of sales in Dulwich, recruiting Camilla Heywood from Savills, where she was an associate director in the Battersea Park office. She steps into Christopher Burton’s shoes, who is now leading sales up in Wimbledon. Read here. And there’s a new addition to Knight Frank’s Southbank and Tower Bridge office; Louna Del Barrio has joined as lettings associate after four years with John D Wood in Kensington and Notting Hill. Read here. Luxury property brokerage Nest Seekers has recruited a new chief for its London-based sales team, bringing in Eric Corsaletti to helm a new Private Office in its super-prime division. His career includes four years as an off-market deal specialist with “The Super Prime Advisor”, four years as a Partner at property developer Maybridge Group, and five years as Head of New Homes & International Sales at Re/Max in London. In addition, he was recently appointed Editor of The Knightsbridge Magazine, is a partner at property management firm Savill & Mason, co-founder of AI proptech firm AgentWise.io, and Sales Director for Champagne brand Héloïse Lloris. Read here. Chestertons has acquired Madley, an estate agency that’s been operating in Surrey Quays since 2008. This follows a spree of acquisition last year, including of Chelsea-based boutique agency Soames, St John’s Wood-based Behr & Butchoff and Belgravia-based Henry & James. Read here. Jordan Sturgess has stepped up to lead Winkworth’s Super-Prime Country Houses division, two years after joining the Sunningdale office from Surrey-based firm Seymours. Read here. Boutique estate agency house. Partnership has amped up its presence in southwest London, bringing in Jasper Colliver and Sam Wylie as partners. Colliver and Wylie previously worked at various prime London agencies including Savills, Hamptons, Winkworth and James Pendleton. Read here. Harding Green has added to its roster of brokers covering Prime Central London. Simon Green joins the agency having worked for high-profile brands including Foxtons, WA Ellis and, for the last eight years, Pastor Real Estate. He specialises in the markets of South Kensington, Knightsbridge and Mayfair. Read here. Ten-year-old estate agency Johns&Co has opened a new base in London, on Devonshire Square near Liverpool Street station, and is moving its London City Island branch to a bigger space. The firm has also recently set up a new HQ in Vauxhall, to house its property management and business development teams. Read here. PCL agency Knightsbridge Prime Property has appointed a new lettings manager. Jessica Del Gaizo previously worked at Marsh & Parsons, JLL and Barnes International. Read here. An established estate agent with upper-end firm Fine & Country has shifted his focus from the Midlands to Mayfair. Luke Hammond has spent the last three years at F&C in Lincoln, rising to Branch Partner, but has now set sights on the Prime Central London property market. He’s been working as a representative for the brand in Mayfair since January this year. Read here. Fine & Country has added a new outpost in North Wales, with a trio of seasoned agents picking a brand license for the area. Tom Carter, Jamie Tulloch and Mark Fish were previously partners at veteran firm McCartneys Estate Agents. They are now offering F&C services, but do not plan to open a physical branch space. Read here. London real estate firm Vita Properties has inked its first tie-up since launching a self-employed broker model. The firm has announced a “brand partnership” with Kate Brookfield, a former director at longstanding boutique agency Parkheath. Brookfield will focus on sales and lettings across London and the South East, specialising in “design-led and carefully curated” homes. Read here. Tom Cope and Luke Tye have joined Camilla Dell’s buying agency, Black Brick. Buying Consultant Cope has moved from Marsh & Parsons in Fulham, where he was Sales Manager. Tye is a Mayfair specialist who previously worked at Wetherell, rising from Negotiator to Manager over four years. More recently, he focused on prime and super-prime lettings with Clifton Property Partners, then as a Director at UK Sotheby’s International Realty. Read here. Prime property agency Middleton Advisors has added two new faces to its Estates and Special Projects division. Rosanna Fishbourne joins as an acquisitions consultant, bringing 20 years’ experience in luxury hospitality, having worked with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Dorchester Collection and Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. Hollie Byrne has joined as an executive; the qualified Chartered Surveyor previously worked in the farms sector with Knight Frank, Moore Allen & Innocent and the National Trust. She grew up in rural Northamptonshire and went on to study Rural Enterprise and Land Management at Harper Adams University in Shropshire. Read here. Interior design and architecture practice Studio Indigo has appointed a new Chief Operating Officer. Tyche McCaig has stepped up to the role after 16 years with the firm, and will spearhead the overall business operations, collaborating with creative director Mike Fisher and CEO James Kandutsch. Read here. Residential project broker and advisor Carter Wells has added a new director to lead Private Design and Consultancy Services. Sophie Coller has moved from Studio Ashby, where she was Commercial Director. Read here. Leigh Shapiro has joined law firm Winckworth Sherwood as a Partner and Head of Leasehold Enfranchisement & Residential Property, having previously headed up the enfranchisement and London resi property teams at Irwin Mitchell. Read here. International law firm CMS has hired Rebecca Moore from BCLP. She joins the UK real estate team as a Partner, bringing expertise in the private rented and affordable living sectors. Read here. AIM-listed firm Keystone Law has bolstered its property practice with five new partners, including private wealth and super-prime specialists from RWK Goodman and Vardags. The London-based firm has brought in Jonathan Ross, David Paxton, Andrew Brown, James Bunker, and Cathy Cearns. Read here. High Net Worth mortgage broker Enness Global has launched a range of insurance services for its affluent clients. Victoria Barton is in charge of the new Enness Insurance Brokers, having been with the firm since 2015. Read here. Major mainstream housebuilder Barratt is to take over its rival, Redrow, creating a behemoth of a UK property developer. Barratt will acquire all of Redrow’s shares for £2,524mn. The combined company will be known as Barratt Redrow Plc, and will operate three brands (Barratt Homes, David Wilson Homes and Redrow). Redrow will be pitched as the Group’s premium brand. Read here. Urban regeneration specialist property developer Knight Dragon has appointed a new Chief Executive Officer; Matt Hawkins takes over with immediate effect from Richard Margree, who is retiring after a 30-year career including 12 years at Knight Dragon. Read here. Estate Agencies
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