Knight Frank accelerates rural expansion drive with key hires
Knight Frank has announced that it will be adding to its expansion plans, with an additional new office opening in Cheshire later this year, and a string of new senior hires.
The estate agency has taken on some leading names in the rural sector to join the firm as partners, including Anna Collins and Patrick Beddows to lead a new Midlands offering in Melton Mowbray. In Kent, Ali Fell joined Knight Frank to lead the southeast, and later this year another leading figure in the rural world will join Knight Frank as a Partner, to spearhead the Cheshire offering.
James Farrell, head of rural consultancy at Knight Frank, said: “I am looking forward to welcoming more like-minded people to the business as we grow our teams. I would also like to extend a warm invitation to others who share our sense of purpose and want to be part of an exciting story of opportunity and growth to get in touch, particularly as we gear up for the launch of our latest office in Cheshire.”
Tim Hyatt, Head of Residential at Knight Frank, added: “The Board is fully committed to the growth of this important part of our business. On the back of the step-change currently taking place across the rural sector, we are now better placed than ever to support our estate and farm business owning clients.”
Former Featherstone Leigh agent of 18 years joins Moveli
Fraser Allen, ex Richmond based Featherstone Leigh agent of 18 years has joined Moveli, the self-employed broker model.
Fraser has over 18 years in the business. Previously he was a director at Featherstone Leigh in Richmond, south-west London, and had been with the company since 2006, prior to switching to Moveli to run his own business.
Moveli’s expansion into Richmond follows a further nine agents who have joined since the start of the year, mainly in London and the Home Counties, but also as far afield as Bath and Bristol. The company has been running over six years and prides itself on it’s brand and network where, according to their website, the average experience of their agents is over 16 years.
Moveli’s co-founder, Ben Littlewood, said: “Our growth is in experienced agents, operating in higher value areas that reinforces our brand as the upper-market brokerage. This also strengthens the network to the advantage of everyone within it.”
LSL appoints Adrian Collins as chairman
LSL Property Services has announced the appointment of Adrian Collins as non-executive chair to the Board with immediate effect. He will also chair the Nominations Committee and join the Remuneration Committee.
Collins is a highly experienced board chair and executive director of listed companies, having co-founded and led several financial services businesses.
Collins’ executive career was spent in fund management, including 25 years at Gartmore. In 1995, he was one of the founders of Trustnet. Adrian has also held senior roles at Jupiter, Bestinvest and Lazard Investors.
Between 2009 and 2019 Collins served first as Executive and then Non-Executive Chair of Liontrust Asset Management, where during his tenure the company was transformed growing assets under management tenfold. In the last 5 years, Adrian has held a number of Board positions, and is currently Board Chair of Logistics Development Group plc (formerly Eddie Stobart Logistics plc) and a Non-Executive Director of Hargreaves Lansdowne plc. He was was also the chair of Bahamas Petroleum Company plc (2011 to 2021).
Collins will stand for election at LSL’s AGM which will take place at 10am on 20 June 2024 at a location in London to be confirmed. Further details of the AGM will be announced in due course.
Darrell Evans, who is currently the interim Chair of the Board and Nominations Committee, will step down from these roles and resume his role on the Board as an independent Non-Executive Director with responsibilities for Workforce Engagement and Chair of the Remuneration Committee. He will also rejoin the Audit & Risk Committee.
LSL’s last permanent non-executive chairman, David Barral, left the estate agency and property brand’s board after just 11 months in the role.
Barral had been appointed to replace industry stalwart Bill Shannon in April 2023, but left in February this year.
Since 5 March 2024, Gaby Appleton has held the roles of Workforce Engagement Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee, with these roles reverting back to Evans.
Appleton will continue as an independent Non-Executive Director and as a member of the Audit & Risk, Remunerations and Nominations Committee.
David Stewart, Group CEO, commented: “Adrian is hugely experienced, with a track record of growing businesses and creating value. The Board has had some fantastic conversations with Adrian, and we are excited to work with him.”
Collins said: “I’m very pleased to take on the role of chair of LSL. I have been struck by the enthusiasm and commitment of the whole Board, and I look forward to helping them drive the business forward to create value for our shareholders.”
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