Spicerhaart will use its recent acquisition of the three-branch Brian Holt group in the midlands as a springboard to open a network of high street branches in the region.

The business said it would set up a new region in Warwickshire under the haart brand, following its purchase of Brian Holt, which was announced earlier this week.

Eventually, it aims to create a cluster of between ten and 12 branches in the area, and has announced the appointment of Connells veteran Vanessa Millward as regional partner to drive its growth.

In addition to Brian Holt’s three offices in and around Coventry, haart already has plans to open a further two and said it was looking for more sites for Millward to run.

Millward joined haart at the start of the year, after a 22-year career at Connells, where she rose to become senior area director in Warwickshire.

She said: “My goal and ambition is to create haart as the number one estate agency of choice throughout Warwickshire.

“Haart is a winning brand and my aim is to establish a whole chain of new estate agency branches, providing such a premier service that it is the logical choice for both vendors and buyers to deal with a Haart estate agent.

“While I had achieved some outstanding results in my previous job, I felt that I was limited in what else I could achieve as the culture didn’t enable me to progress any further.

“I am highly ambitious and want to be, and achieve, the best that I possibly can, so I moved to an organisation that would enable me to do that.”

Russell Jervis, managing director of Spicerhaart’s estate agency division said: “Having Vanessa on the team is a real coup for haart.

“She has a proven track record of building up highly successful estate agencies, while her tenacity, drive and determination marks her out as a winner from the start.

“It is testament to haart’s reputation for providing its staff with the culture and opportunity to succeed, that people outstandingly talented as Vanessa, leave an already successful career because they have better opportunities in our organisation.

“At haart we believe that there is no limit to how successful someone can be, and so we have put the structure in place to enable someone to be as successful as they choose to be, in whatever area and level of the organisation they want to work in.”

Spicerhaart, which has a £26m war chest at its disposal for more acquisitions, said it would buy more high street firms shortly, making it clear that it is not interested in online ventures.

Spicerhaart, which was established by Paul Smith and his father Alick in 1989, now has 200 branches with 2,000 staff nationwide, with brands including haart, Darlows, Haybrook, Felicity J Lord, and Chewton Rose.