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Property consultancy Vail Williams has reported its best ever year, with increased revenues of £18.3 million, up 5%.
The results included the highest grossing single quarter since 1988 when the firm was founded.
‘People managers’
An internal reorganisation of how the firm’s 175 staff are managed played a part in the financial success, the firm says.
Matthew Samuel-Camps, Managing Partner, says: “We increased our team numbers, productivity improved, we did a lot more multi-disciplinary work and we continued to serve high-quality clients across a range of sectors.”
Nobody comes into this profession with the sole desire to manage staff.”
Samuel-Camps says a key contributor to success was introducing dedicated people managers into the business.
This move was the first phase of ‘decoupling’ people management from operational heads.
“Nobody comes into this profession with the sole desire to manage staff, so we have enabled them to get on with their jobs without distraction.
Specialist
“People are our most valuable asset and every time we put, say, a specialist surveyor or planner in charge of something else it is a compromise,” he says.
“We have a whole new learning and development philosophy being instilled into the business. We have expanded our training budget and are really focusing hard on training, personal development and inculcating expertise and experience throughout the business.”
New office
Vail Williams employs 175 people, of which more than 50 are partners, based across its 12 offices in the Midlands and south of England.
The firm recently opened a new office in Oxford in an extension of its Thames Valley region presence.
Lovely to read this – studies will back up the benefits of a well trained expert team but nice to see it so clearly demonstrated. Next steps in our training platform – the dream would to be able to measure this.