Grosvenor’s commercial director ,Jeremy Titchen, has resigned.
After almost 18 years with the Duke of Westminster’s property company – the past four as a main board director – Titchen, 41, resigned on 30 March and will leave at the end of June.
“I cannot speak highly enough of Grosvenor, but I need to take on a new challenge while I am still the right side of 45,” he said.
Titchen, who was appointed to the UK and Ireland statutory board in 2003, had been seen as a potential candidate to take over from chief executive Stephen Musgrave.
He refused to comment on his plans, but is likely to remain involved in the kind of office, residential and mixed-use schemes that have been his forte at Grosvenor.
Recently, Grosvenor has begun to focus more on very large, long-term urban regeneration schemes, exemplified by the 1m sq ft Paradise Street project in Liverpool.
Titchen led on a string of high-profile developments for Grosvenor, including: its joint venture with JER Partners to develop Belgrave House, SW1, the largest new development to hit the West End last year; 25 Moorgate, EC2, with CapitaLand; 41 Lothbury, EC2, with Royal Bank of Scotland; and the redevelopment of 77 Grosvenor Street, W1, with Norwich Union, which will be completed in mid-2006.
He was also behind Grosvenor’s latest joint venture, agreed last month, with Clan Real Estate to develop a 70,000 sq ft residential scheme at Montrose Place, off Belgrave Square, SW1.
A spokesman for Grosvenor said: “This is a decision that Jeremy has been considering for some time and the board, with sadness, accepted his resignation last week.”
The search for a replacement is already under way.
