A PROPERTY consultancy has reported its best ever year.
Vail Williams, which has an office in Bournemouth, increased its revenues to £18.3million for 2022-23, up five per cent from the previous year.
Growth continued in line with its current three-year business plan, the company said, and the year included the highest grossing single quarter since 1988, when the firm was founded.
The business said that agency work, planning, property asset management, building consultancy, a growing residential presence, energy and environmental sector work and an internal reorganisation were key to its success.
Managing partner Matthew Samuel-Camps said: “What is absolutely clear is that once again we have had our best-ever year as we continued to increase our fee income and outperform previous years.
“We have seen an excellent collegiate performance. We increased our team numbers, productivity improved, we did a lot more multi-disciplinary work and we continued to serve high-quality clients across a range of sectors. We continued to advance our expertise, our client base and the type of work undertaken.
“The agency team continued its strong performance from the previous year, our planners made significant inroads and grew our offering, while the Building Consultancy and restructured Property Asset Management teams pushed ahead on all fronts.
“Our business plan is one where we are seeking to continue to grow and exploit opportunities to increase our service lines, develop new areas of expertise and look at appropriate geographic expansion to enhance our existing footprint.
“However, we could do none of this without our exceptional and valued clients who trust us to act on their behalf across a huge range of property matters and whose continued support drives us forward to grow the business, uphold our high standards and deliver ever better levels of customer service.”
The firm opened its Bournemouth office in 2021, following a merger with Dorset-based Cowling and West in March of that year.
The office became firmly bedded in through this financial year and continued to make a significant contribution, the business said.
Property consultancy Vail Williams has reported its best ever year, with increased revenues of £18.3 million, up 5%.
The results included the highest grossing single quarter since 1988 when the firm was founded.
‘People managers’
An internal reorganisation of how the firm’s 175 staff are managed played a part in the financial success, the firm says.
Matthew Samuel-Camps, Managing Partner, says: “We increased our team numbers, productivity improved, we did a lot more multi-disciplinary work and we continued to serve high-quality clients across a range of sectors.”
Nobody comes into this profession with the sole desire to manage staff.”
Samuel-Camps says a key contributor to success was introducing dedicated people managers into the business.
This move was the first phase of ‘decoupling’ people management from operational heads.
“Nobody comes into this profession with the sole desire to manage staff, so we have enabled them to get on with their jobs without distraction.
Specialist
“People are our most valuable asset and every time we put, say, a specialist surveyor or planner in charge of something else it is a compromise,” he says.
“We have a whole new learning and development philosophy being instilled into the business. We have expanded our training budget and are really focusing hard on training, personal development and inculcating expertise and experience throughout the business.”
New office
Vail Williams employs 175 people, of which more than 50 are partners, based across its 12 offices in the Midlands and south of England.
The firm recently opened a new office in Oxford in an extension of its Thames Valley region presence.
A PROPERTY consultancy in Bournemouth has topped the leader board for office deals – again.
Vail Williams has been named the ‘most active disposal agent’ based on office square footage on the south coast.
The firm also led on being the ‘most active disposal agent’ based on the number of deals it made.
It is the fourth year running that Vail Williams, which has offices in Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, topped both the category leader boards.
The awards are presented by CoStar, a global leader in commercial real estate information.
Based on data submitted to CoStar over 2022, Vail Williams was involved in 58 per cent of office sales and lettings.
Nik Cox, a Vail Williams partner who specialises in office sales and lettings on the south coast, said: “These CoStar awards celebrate the performance of commercial property professionals in delivering results for landlords and occupiers in an increasingly busy market as people return to offices following the pandemic work-from-home culture.
“We are once again honoured to have led the leader board for the fourth consecutive year as the most active disposal agent, based on office square footage, on the south coast.
“It is also great to again see Vail Williams recognised in the category of most active disposal agent based on the number of deals.”
The CoStar awards are not the only ones to have recognised the success of Vail Williams.
Last year, the property consultancy scooped a hat-trick of industry awards at the south coast’s largest property event.
Held at The Hilton at the Ageas Bowl, Southampton, the South Coast Property Awards recognised the annual contributions of property agents, surveyors, developers, dealmakers, planners, architects, consultants and property lawyers to the success of the sector.
The awards for Vail Williams were in three categories – industrial/logistics consultancy (by deals), offices consultancy (by deals) and offices consultancy (by square foot).
Nik described how the Vail Williams team had “collective and individual knowledge, experience and track record of success for clients”.