Firth takes MD role at Walker Sime

Duncan Firth has stepped up to become managing director of the property consultancy, with founders Des Walker and Jon Sime taking on new roles within the business.

Firth who joined the business in 2015, will lead the business which has offices in Manchester, Liverpool, and Leeds.

Jon Sime and Des Walker have now assumed new roles focussing on quality, governance, and client relationships, while Mark Parker has been promoted to take over Firth’s previous role as director of Walker Sime’s project management division.

Projects on the company’s books include Peel’s £5bn Liverpool Waters, Manchester’s Great Northern Warehouse, and Muse’s New Victoria. The business employs 85 staff and has a turnover of around £8m.

Firth said: “We have a unique culture here that places our clients and our staff front and centre and it will be more of the same. The team here have built a really solid business over more than twenty years and my job will be to help them develop it further.

“We don’t lose many people and that continuity has been key to our growth.  Our projects tend to be quite lengthy and clients don’t like it when the consultancy team chops and changes.”

Des Walker added: “This is a key part of our succession planning so that as new senior managers emerge from within they benefit from an even stronger business.”