Mark Christopher joins Preston Baker with eye on growth

Mark Christopher, a man with over 30 years’ experience of the estate agency sector, is the newly-appointed business development director at Yorkshire estate agents Preston Baker as the company looks to grow its market share and geographical footprint.

A qualified valuer and surveyor, Christopher was regional managing director of Countrywide estate agents for more than 20 years, head of residential sales at Yorkshire-based Linley and Simpson for more than seven years, and most recently was regional director at Yopa.

“Preston Baker is ahead of the market curve in terms of technological innovation and has a team of highly-talented, like-minded people in place to drive the business forward,” said Christopher.

He added: “I have worked with several members of the Preston Baker senior management team previously and have always had the highest regard for the business model and its people. My main reason for joining is to impact growth by adding value and I am looking forward to being part of growing the Preston Baker brand still further and more specifically launching our new innovative “Search” project.”

Christopher will be heavily involved in supporting valuation generation, the listing process and supporting doubling the financial services broker numbers as well as looking to grow its geographical footprint and develop new products.

“This is a very exciting time to be joining the Preston Baker business,” said Christopher. “Preston Baker is committed to and passionate about delivering an excellent customer experience and everything we do is driven by this.”

Street Group strengthens management team

PropTech firm Street Group has has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of a new head of data, Chris Amor.

Amor is a key appointment for the Group, having previously led data focused teams in financial services and pure play ecommerce retail at Morrisons, where he spent the previous five years, latterly as senior technology manager for data, reporting and analytics.

Amor will be responsible for further strengthening Street Group’s data capabilities with both on and off market data.

He commented: “I am super excited to join Street Group to continue the incredible work they’ve started. Having been through the sometimes painful experience of buying our family home recently, the opportunity to play a part in making the process easier for everyone involved in moving home was too good to pass up.

“The passion of the whole team to build something truly impactful is clear to see and I am privileged to have been asked to join the group.”

Experienced expert joins Principle Estate Management as a partner

Principle Estate Management has appointed a new partner to head the firm’s business development plans with estate agents, as well as housebuilders.

Bob Simonds has a degree in Estate Management, is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and a member of the Institute of Residential Property Management (IRPM).

He joins with a wealth of experience including time with Lambert Smith Hampton, where he oversaw the Calthorpe Estate Management and Severn Trent residential portfolios, and set up Symphony Court as part of the Brindleyplace mixed-use development.

He has worked closely with various regional and national housebuilders at Knight Frank, and has previously handled new homes, the private rented sector and build-to-rent sites for investor clients for another major business.

Simonds said: “I’m really excited to be joining Principle at this key time to help them to continue to grow.

“I know that they are all about managing properties properly which is something I am looking forward to being able to offer to my contacts again.

“Principle is regulated by RICS and the Association of Residential Managing Agents (ARMA), with both Brett and Joe being chartered surveyors and Brett being a past chairman of ARMA.

“That really demonstrates their credentials and desire to provide top quality property management.”

He added: “It was the right time for me to get back to what I know best: helping developers with management strategies for new-build house and apartment schemes so that they can build great places for people to live.”