Three resign from WHR to create new practice

Five years after their bosses left Lambert Smith Hampton to set up their own commercial agency, three young surveyors at WHR Property Consultants in Manchester have resigned to launch a new agency together.

Will Lewis, 27, an associate partner in office agency, Gary Scorah, 33, partner in investment, and Dominic Horridge, 34, partner in charge of building consultancy, handed their notices in last Thursday. WHR staff were told of the news on Monday.

Mark Williams, partner at WHR, said in a statement: "We have been pleased to have Gary, Will and Dominic as part of our team and wish them luck in their future venture. This move signifies the beginning of a new chapter for us all.

"Over the last five years, WHR has continued to go from strength to strength and despite current market conditions, we have proven that we have the unique services and intimate market knowledge to provide our clients with an exceptional service.

"We have continued to evolve as a firm and as a result have recently secured several high profile new instructions with a number of exciting new deals in the pipeline."

Lewis, Scorah and Horridge have three-month notice periods to serve and are expected to see out the full term. All three declined to comment.

The name WHR was taken from three of the six partners who quit Lambert Smith Hampton in June 2004: Mark Williams, head of investment, Mike Hawkins in office agency and industrial specialist Mike Rooney.

The three departing WHR in February 2010 are not expected to use one of the three-letter acronyms open to them from their initials: LSH.

WHR currently employs 24 people – including the trio – in five practice areas. Major clients include the Co-operative Group, Patrick Properties, Peel Holdings, James Halstead and Northern Trust.