Kontor has announced the creation of an advisory arm for landlords seeking to lure creative and tech occupiers to their offices.
Former Montagu Evans senior associate Roger Holmes (pictured) has been appointed to join the new disposals division in January as head of leasing. He will report to head of transactions Gavin Kamara.
Since its foundation in 2014 by former CBRE leasing agents James Townsend and Luke Appleby, Kontor has focused on tenant representation and become known for finding workspaces for creative, media and tech businesses. Clients include Virgin Media, Monzo, Mindspace and WeWork.
Kontor is already advising on the disposal of 500,000 sq ft of offices and hopes to capitalise on its experience working with serviced office providers, which are forcing traditional landlords to improve their level of service if they want to compete.
The company, which is based at 37-42 Charlotte Road, EC2, will have 12 employees from January.
Appleby said: “We have been turning down requests for help with disposals from landlords for some time, as we didn’t have the capacity to service this market.”
Townsend said: “Currently 70% of our tenant rep deals are now going down the serviced/flexible route, taking some form of hybrid solution, such as a longer licence agreement on a fully managed basis.”
He added: “We have seen a significant increase over the past 18 months of established occupiers [with requirements for] between 50 and 200 desks going down this route.”
Holmes said: “It’s a unique opportunity to help such an exciting, forward-thinking company develop a new line of business. The addition of a specialist disposals division will further enhance Kontor’s services.”
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