CBRE’s new executive to ‘review’ business

CB Richard Ellis has set up a UK executive committee of senior directors in response to the downturn in the market.

The make-up of the board is yet to be determined but it will be chaired by UK managing director Martin Samworth and will have several senior directors representing all the business divisions, as well as senior staff from administrative departments such as human resources and marketing.

Property Week has learnt that central London managing director Tony McCurley will represent central London; UK head of retail Ciaran Bird will represent the retail arm; while Simon Blake, who joined CBRE in July last year when it bought industrial agency Holley Blake, will represent business space, including offices and industrial.

There will also be senior representatives for the regional markets, professional and valuation services and other business lines.

Samworth said: ‘This board will be a distillation of some existing executive committees. We are just making sure that the business is as aligned to the market as it possibly can be and is able to respond to changing market conditions. It is also a review of whether we are in the right shape for the next leg of the property cycle.’

The executive committee, which Samworth said is similar to the operating model of CBRE’s Asia Pacific business, will meet regularly.

‘The committee will assess how best to fully integrate the various businesses. For example, Ciaran will look at ensuring all the retail business from the agency, professional and investment side all work together.’

He said CBRE was constantly assessing its businesses and staff needs as the business evolved, and there was always a healthy level of change and movement.

Property Week also learnt this week that CBRE has poached Simon Calvert, Colliers CRE’s head of West End offices, to join its central London tenant advisory group.

Calvert joined Colliers in June 2004. He becomes one of five directors in the 12-strong team.

Stewart Smith, CBRE’s head of tenancy advisory and Calvert’s new boss, said it had been attracted to Calvert’s experience of working with US occupiers entering the UK market.

‘A large amount of our work is coming from the US and he has experience with that’ said Smith. ‘He was the adviser to [North Carolina’s] Wachovia Bank, which recently took space at Portland Square, and that is typical of the work he does.’

Smith also said tenant representation had been a growth area of CBRE’s work.

‘It is a rapidly growing business,’ he said. ‘We have doubled our turnover over the last two years.

It is an area of the business that we are heavily investing in at CBRE.’