Ex-Donaldsons staff dominate DTZ Manchester job losses
Ten ex-Donaldson employees are to be laid off next week by DTZ out of a total of 13 redundancies in the Manchester office.
Those affected are currently being consulted over their positions as part of a national programme of 100 redundancies. Departments hit include valuations, investment, offices and retail asset management. The consultation period is due to end on Wednesday 18 February.
Publicly-listed DTZ acquired the smaller partnership Donaldsons in July 2007 for around £40m.
Many in the North West property community expected the firm to trim team numbers at some stage to save costs and reduce duplication, regardless of a recession.
Several ex-Donaldsons staff left DTZ following the takeover including retail director Matt Illingworth and his team, who joined Cushman & Wakefield, and development consultants Bruce Owen and Victoria Critchley, now at Gerald Eve.
An earlier round of cuts at DTZ in October saw office agency director Rupert Barron, also formerly of Donaldsons, join Colliers CRE as partner.
The latest cuts will see around 25 go from the Northern business, which includes the Leeds office. Roughly half that number is made up of former Donaldsons staff.
DTZ declined to comment on the specifics of redundancies in Manchester and repeated its national statement: "DTZ is in consultation with UK staff after announcing that up to 100 roles have been identified for redundancy, based on stringent business criteria. This is a direct response to the challenging market conditions the industry is facing. The roles affect all levels across the UK.
"The consultation will determine the extent to which the people in these posts can be redeployed to growth areas, minimising the need for redundancies.
"DTZ has been very open about its plans to continue to restructure and reorganise the business throughout the recent fundraising process. DTZ has not taken this decision lightly. For every role identified, redundancy is the last option when all other alternatives have been considered."
