Lambert Smith Hampton has sacked its head of London operations Archie Cowan.
Cowan, who joined the firm a year ago to spearhead the growth of LSH’s London business, was this morning told by returning chief executive Mark Rigby that he was no longer an LSH employee.
He is the latest fallout from the change in management at the firm in recent weeks.
Rigby said: “There is no question that we are still committed to growing London business. We would like to thank Archie for his contribution to the business and wish him well for the future.”
EGi can also reveal that Cowan will be replaced by Guy Gregory, who had quit LSH to join Jones Lang LaSalle as head of South East offices but will return to the firm – before he begins at JLL – as head of London agency.
Roger Tunicliffe will assume overall responsibility for LSH’s London office, in addition to his current role as head of consultancy.
Formerly head of Knight Frank’s West End agency, Cowan was brought in by Chris Boulton, who left as chief executive last month following the collapse of his proposed management buyout.
Cowan was part of Boulton’s MBO team, as was former CEO Paul Dunn-Sims, who also left when the buyout fell through.
Boulton was replaced as chief executive by Rigby, who had left during Boulton’s tenure the previous year.
As well as Rigby, chairman Bruce Brown returned to help run LSH following Boulton’s departure and the pair have quickly sought to reverse many London-focused strategies put in place by Boulton during his tenure.
Sources close to Rigby said that the shift was “not to forsake London but simply to avoid focusing solely on London to the detriment of the regions”.
As revealed by EGi News, Brown and Rigby this week reversed Boulton’s decision to close a number of regional South East offices and centralise efforts in London.
Cowan was brought in by Boulton to improve LSH’s London presence.
He was charged with overseeing the entire London region and had sought to increase turnover with a number of key appointments to both the West End and City.
This included new head of City Rob Riley, who joined Cowan’s team last month from CBRE. LSH said that Riley will be retained to run the City office.
Tunicliffe stressed: “Building the London office remains a key part of our overall business strategy.”
Cowan said he would be “taking time to think about his future for a couple of months”.
References: EGi News 13/02/04
