LSH makes office agents redundant

Office agency directors Josh Levy and Andrew Gardiner have been made redundant from Lambert Smith Hampton’s Manchester office, with Gardiner taking up a consultancy role at Edwards & Co.

Levy’s next role is yet to be confirmed.

LSH said the redundancies are part of a “restructuring” of its Manchester office agency team, which currently has senior surveyor Matt Pickersgill as its sole member.

Levy was head of office agency, while Gardiner joined from TSG Property Consultants in 2018.

The departures are the latest in a wave of exits from the transactional side of LSH’s business. Head of capital markets Ben Roberts moved to healthcare developer Assura in September, and in November, three retail and agency directors, regional head of retail Jonathan Thompson, Richard Lyons, and Tim Letts, left in order to set up their own consultancy. All three had joined LSH through the 2015 acquisition of specialist retail agency Tushingham Moore.

At the end of last year, Place North West also reported the departure of Nick Mullins, executive director for business transactions, alongside Ian Scott, national head of build-to-rent based in Manchester’s capital markets team, and Hugh Anderson, divisional director in LSH’s hospitality and leisure team.

While Mullins is still set to leave, Scott and Anderson are understood to be negotiating their position with LSH.

As a national consultancy, LSH is also experiencing a time of change, with its £38m sale by Countrywide Group to John Bengt Moeller, owner of US-based Great Global Holdings, agreed with shareholders over the Christmas period.

Gayle Taylor, head of the North West at Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “We have restructured our office agency team in Manchester and confirm that Matt Pickersgill, an established agent within the market and a rising star within our business is now tasked with driving our presence forward.

“Matt has overseen a number of key deals within Manchester city centre including the pre-lets at 35 Dale Street and lettings at 80 Mosley Street and Abbey House to name only a few. In addition, he has been heavily involved in a number of city centre refurbishment projects that have recently launched or are about to launch in Q1 this year.

“As we enter 2020 under new corporate ownership, our ability to invest and establish a stronger transactional presence in the market has been reinforced.”