Savills bolsters south west London business with two new recruits
Savills has expanded its residential sales teams in south west London through the appointment of two associate directors; Oliver Morley joins as head of department in Richmond, while Stephanie Mant will be based in the firm’s Wimbledon office.
Morley comes to Savills with eight years’ experience in the property industry, having started his career at Douglas & Gordon. He later joined Aspire’s Wandsworth Bridge Road office where he rose from a junior sales negotiator to run the company’s Fulham office.
His role at Savills will see him focus on the sale of flats and smaller houses across Richmond, Ham, Twickenham, St Margarets, and Kew as well as heading up a team which is set to expand with an additional recruit later this month. Oliver will also work closely with offices throughout Savills south west London region and network of 40 London offices.
Meanwhile, Mant joins Savills with 14 years’ worth of experience, having started her career aged 16 at a local estate agency in Oxfordshire, before studying building surveying at Reading University.
In 2008 she joined the residential sales team at James Pendleton, before taking on a sales manager role at Cluttons on Northcote Road. She later returned to James Pendleton as an associate director where she valued properties across the company’s south west London offices. At Savills Stephanie will operate in and around Wimbledon Village, Wimbledon Town and Southfields, focusing on the sale of large family homes valued upwards of £2m.
The green space, excellent schools and tight-knit network of communities and families in south west London has created an enduring appeal to the area and has continued to support prime house prices. Despite a dip in values in south west London (-1.3%) over the third quarter of this year, prices remain 6.9% higher than they were pre-pandemic (March 2020), outperforming Prime Central London (5.5%) and all prime London as a whole (3.0%), according to Savills Q3 index.
Of the appointments, Robin Chatwin, head of Savills south west region commented; “We are delighted to be expanding our residential business in an area of the capital that has continued to show strong levels of demand. Oliver and Stephanie are two highly valuable additions to the region and I am confident that they will further strengthen their respective teams and offices as well as the wider sales business in south west London.”
Richard Smith to step down as CEO of Unite Students
Richard Smith, the chief executive of Unite Students, an owner, manager and developer of student accommodation across the UK, has announced that he is stepping down after eight years in the post.
Smith will step down with effect from 31 December 2023 and will remain as an adviser to the business until the end of September next year.
Smith is resigning after 13 years with Unite, having been CEO from 2015. He will be replaced in the role by Joe Lister, effective from 1 January 2024.
He said: “With Unite in such a strong position, both financially and operationally, I felt now was the right time to step down and focus on my personal goal of helping improve access to education for young people. I would like to extend my thanks and best wishes to Joe and our excellent team who have worked so hard to get Unite to where it is today.”
Lister steps into the CEO position after 22 years with Unite, including 15 years as chief financial officer (CFO).
Michael Burt, currently group investment director, will be promoted to CFO, also effective from 1 January 2024.
Katherine Grafton, currently group finance director, will be promoted to deputy chief financial officer, effective from 1 January 2024.
Lister commented: “Unite Students is poised to enter a significant period of opportunity, uniquely positioned to grow our platform and tackle the shortfall of suitable accommodation for students. I am hugely excited to be working with Mike and the wider Unite team.
“We are committed to providing more students with the quality, affordable accommodation they need through our pipeline of development and asset management projects and working collaboratively with university partners to unlock the potential of their campuses.”
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