An old name is gone, a new name is thinking of recruiting: this year’s takeover of King Sturge by Jones Lang LaSalle was more than just a business transaction in Bristol.
The Sturges have been a big noise in Bristol property since the 1760s, when Joseph Sturge launched the family business.
But today their name has been erased from “to let” boards across the city. Now these say Jones Lang LaSalle – a name hitherto hardly ever uttered by Bristolian mouths.
Jeremy Richards, once head of King Sturge in Bristol but now leading the 160-strong Jones Lang LaSalle team, says this is sad, but not very sad: “The King Sturge name carried a lot of weight in Bristol, and it’s sad that it’s been lost, but the JLL brand is strong globally, and Bristol will benefit from that.”
Other Bristol firms seem equally unperturbed by the name change. David Mace, regional managing partner at GVA, says: “The Sturge name always had some impact but people’s memories are quite short. It will be up to the people on the ground at JLL to sell a good service.”
Where most takeovers mean job losses, Richards hints that in this case it probably means more recruitment.
“We are likely to go up in numbers, and we won’t be going down,” he says. “Now we have the JLL link we can do things here that are currently being done in London, and we want to expand the valuation, health care and building surveying teams.”
The other big agency news in the city is the anticipated merger of DTZ and BNP Paribas Real Estate. Unlike JLL and King Sturge, both firms already have Bristol offices, leading some to question whether services might be duplicated should the merger go ahead.
Mace says: “They both have a similar range of services. It’s quite clear there is a consolidation going on in the market, and I suppose that is inevitable.”
Tim Davis, head of DTZ’s Bristol office, prefers to talk about growth: “We have been actively recruiting in areas that have maintained business levels, such as agency, building consultancy and property management.”
Growth is also the watchword at Knight Frank. Tony Nicholas, head of the Bristol office, says: “There are no plans for major change. New business lines will be introduced and the firm last week announced a strengthening of its mixed-use capability in the South West, where it is felt its commercial presence and very strong residential reputation can come together.”
Mace, too, talks of potential growth at GVA as investment in consultancy services continues: “I like to think we’ve been investing in consultancy for some time, and we are less reliant on the agency transactional markets than some other firms.”
If the upbeat bosses are to be believed, Bristol’s agency scene could see recruitment during 2012 – and after the grim experiences of the past three years, that would be good news indeed.
