To be national or not to be national? That is the question for Northern Ireland’s commercial agents.
Over the past eight years, nine out of 13 of the UK’s top agents, keen to expand their regional offices, have forged connections with NI. Several have also opened offices in the province.
Those NI agents that are either allied with or owned by UK companies sing the praises of their national connections. Those that have resisted and remained independent are fiercely proud of the fact, and flaunt their freedom at every opportunity.
So is one group better than the other? Bill Kennedy of Colliers CRE, for one, is happy with his national alliance. He believes that they can work independently but still have a national attachment.
“We have a nicely balanced position,” says Kennedy. “We have our expertise. Local directors still control the company. Leaving the financials aside, we value our relationship with our London colleagues.”
And he is in no doubt that the connection gives the Belfast branch “kudos”.
Keith Shiells, chief executive of Lambert Smith Hampton, Belfast, widely regarded as NI’s largest commercial firm, tells of the great benefits to both staff and clients of being with the LSH group.
“As we are doing more work in Great Britain, there’s 30 offices we can tap into We can ring up our colleagues in, say, Manchester and get their expertise of that market. Being with LSH also opens up an enormous client base for us,” he says.
Shiells adds that, although LSH Belfast reports to the LSH group, it is very much an “independent unit”.
Barney Goan, a partner with the independent firm McKibbin Commercial, has a very different view to Shiells.
“We have been approached a couple of times by national agents, but we don’t want to consider that. We thought there was a glut of people who jumped on that ship. They sold out for one-off sums, which they could have made in a year,” he says.
One reason Goan and his partner, Michael Hopkins, want to stay independent is the ease of decisionmaking.
“I know that at any one time we can make a decision within, say, two hours. We don’t have to have a meeting somewhere in England, and that independence I value. I can’t put a price on it,” says Goan. “Once you make a step into a national agency you can’t go back.”
The same sentiment is felt at O’Connor Kenny Turtle. Partner Tony O’Connor says the 10-year-old firm has purposely chosen to remain independent.
“We feel there’s no great merit being allied. We did a lot of business with Knight Frank. And we just have an informal agreement with GVA Grimley,” he explains.
Their ability to work with any other national agent is something independent agents really value.
Goan believes firmly that being too closely associated with one national agent damages business because it stops him working with others. It is a view shared by another independent firm – Osborne King.
Osborne’s Robert Ditty says when a three-year trading arrangement with Dublin-based Hamilton Osborne King, which has an association with CB Hillier Parker, ended in May last year, agents in the company had a “noticeable increase in opportunities” of work.
“We are getting more instructions coming in because we are independent. Think about it – the likes of Jones Lang LaSalle are not going to give DTZ or LSH an early starter on a instruction,” says Ditty’s colleague Stephen Bell.
Even Shiells admits that working with just LSH can tie his hands. But he is quick to point out that if LSH expertise cannot be called on in any particular UK town or city, the company will work with other agents.
There is also the opportunity for a Belfast agent to make contacts with many different agents – something that can be exploited if he or she decides to seek another job.
Despite his views on alliances, Ditty does concede that there could be some benefit for an NI agent allying with a national firm. “To some extent the training that comes with those big firms could be useful,” he says.
Shiells says the agents in his office can take advantage of the training LSH has to offer. “A lot of our human resources are centred within the group and it’s helpful to have that training backup and expertise where we can send guys to London. This is more so than an independent company.”
LSH’s agents can also tap into the company’s large research database.
“We have research groups in London, which means we have the benefit of looking at reports for places like Oxford Street and the London City market,” says Shiells.
On the subject of staff recruiting and promotion, opinion is as divided as on every other issue.
Goan says he is keen to promote people to partner within 10 years, if they merit it, and he believes this would be harder in a national firm, given the number of directors.
Shiells highlights the benefits of being with LSH, and what attracts the yearly total of eight graduates and placements.
“Some of those that come to us are interested in the geographical spread of offices, and we also attract graduates from Edinburgh and Newcastle who look on the website and can see where all the offices are located.”
And as for promotion, Goan points to Criona Collins, who last year was appointed director, having joined the firm three years ago, as evidence that if an individual is good he or she will progress up the ladder.
Ultimately, both Goan and Shiells agree that agents and graduates will follow their hearts to whatever firm they want – regardless of large or small, national or independent.
Whether independent or alliances are the best way forward is clearly a matter for debate. What is certain is that both are in NI to stay.
Lee Baron
The London-based firm opened in Belfast in 1998 and closed 18 months later. In a statement, chief executive Carl Whayman said: “We opened in Belfast in the belief that there was a strong market for our services. While we initially fared well, it became apparent that our long-term aspirations would not be reached and, as a result, we closed the office. We would achieve greater returns elsewhere.”
Chesterton
Chesterton, London, was reluctant to comment on the lifespan of the Belfast office, which was opened around three years ago on the back of a PFI project. But one former Chesterton director, who was with the company at the time, says: “The instruction was done and came to an end, but in the meantime it couldn’t get any other business. It couldn’t break into the market.”
Jones Lang LaSalle
At present, JLL has neither an office nor any associations in Northern Ireland. A spokeswoman says: “We don’t have any intention of opening a Belfast office. We have no affiliations or associations and we don’t use other agents.”
GVA Grimley
No offices and no associations in Belfast. According to a spokeswoman, there are no future plans for either because “we haven’t had that much business in Ireland”.
FPDSavills
A spokesman for FPDSavills says that it has neither an association nor an office and that all “transactions in NI go through the London office”. A source added that this was because the company did not view the NI market as a large enough commercial centre.
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Northern Ireland’s agents: some staying independent despite the nationals’ overtures |
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O’Connor Kennedy Turtle Independent. Established in 1993, the firm is the only NI agent with two offices in the province, one in Belfast, the other in Coleraine |
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Osborne King Independent. Established in 1947. Osborne has seen several alliances and ownerships. The most recent was with Dublin-based Hamilton Osborne King, which has an association with the CB Hillier Parker network. It was agreed in 1999 and ended in May 2001. |
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McKibbin Commercial Property Independent. A family firm set up in 1902. |
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Lambert Smith Hampton Formerly Milhench Crothers, the company was sold to Lambert Smith Hampton in 1988. |
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Gerald Eve The company was set up in Belfast in March 2000. |
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Insignia Richard Ellis Gunne Part of the Dublin-based IREG, the office was set up five years ago. |
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Whelan Partnership Associated with ATIS Real Weatheralls since 1998. |
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Colliers CRE Trading as Colliers Jackson Stops until it agreed to a formal link with Colliers CRE in 1999, when the national firm bought 25% of the company. |
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DTZ McCombe Pierce In 2000, Dublin-based firm DTZ Sherry Fitzgerald bought a 20% stake in the Belfast firm, McCombe Pierce, for £600,000. DTZ, the UK-based alliance company of DTZ Sherry FitzGerald, also acquired a 20% interest in the partnership. The remaining 60% is held by partners of McCombe Pierce. |
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Lisneys Associated with Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker. Lisneys, founded in 1934, has been associated with CWHB since June 1999. The company has also been linked with Donaldsons on Multi Development Corporation’s redevelopment of Victoria Square. |
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McConnell Martin Affiliate with King Sturge. The 40-year-old company has had close links with the national firm since 2000 |
