A Look Back Over 2019 at The Property Centre
Looking back at last year, 2019 was hugely successful for us at The Property Centre. Our annual investment in Training and Development is always considerable, but 2019 saw us increase this significantly and we reaped the rewards as a record number of staff earned promotions. These included new Branch Management positions in our Cheltenham and Churchdown offices, promotions in our Property Management team and possibly most telling of all, the appointment of two negotiators to Assistant Branch Manager roles, who started their career with us as Trainees and had worked their way up through the ranks. In my 15th year with The Property Centre, I also became a Partner in the business and our Quedgeley Senior Branch Manager, James Ellson, celebrated his 20th year with the Company.
Despite tougher market conditions and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, we saw a notable increase in results across the board – an impressive 8% rise in both Instructions and Sales and significant growth in our Lettings business.
Whilst other agents were contracting, we expanded – both our existing teams and with the opening of our 9th office in October in the St. John’s area of Worcester. Establishing another office Worcester had been on our radar for some time, due to the exceptional level of business from our existing Worcester office and the new branch has only served to consolidate our presence here. With one of our most experienced members of staff, James Morgan, at the helm, it’s exceeded all targets and expectations since opening and we’re looking forward to continued success in St John’s throughout 2020.
As with every year, our key focus is to ensure we always give the best possible customer service and it was great to not only be awarded a Gold Trusted Service award by Feefo for holding a 4.8 out of 5 rating all year, but also for winning three major industry awards.
- Gold for Best Regional Agency Group in the UK at the ESTAS, as well as County Best in Worcestershire for both Lettings and Estate Agency.
- Voted Top 3% of all UK agents by the Best Estate Agency Guide awards.
- Gold for Best South West Estate Agency of the Year at the Negotiator Awards
These awards are not only testament to our results and investment, but most importantly to our fantastic staff across the whole company.
Away from the world of work, we supported several local charities. More than 30 staff took part in Fit for Feb in aid of St. Richard’s Hospice in Worcester, walking, running, cycling and swimming to raise over £2,200.
We sponsored local sports teams too – Gloucester City Youth Cricket, Quedgeley Wanderers Football Club, Gloucester All Golds Rugby Club, not to mention all 15 teams at Longlevens Rugby Club, from the Under 7s right through to the 1st Team and their Mixed Ability Team. The latter went on to qualify for the Mixed Ability Rugby World Cup in Cork in 2020 – a tremendous result!
All in all, 2019 was a fantastic year. Thanks to all our customers for their continuing support and to our amazing staff. Here’s to an even busier 2020.
Simon Trippett - Partner.
