Cast your mind back 25 years to Newcastle in October 1994. The roar from St James' Park under King Kev's reign was unequivocally deafening and that season saw them sign Philippe Albert, Marc Hottinger, Paul Kitson and Keith Gillespie.
You were Definitely Maybe hearing Oasis on the radio and Whigfield was stuck in your head singing about the air getting hot (like you baby) on a Saturday Night. And your own Saturday nights were spent feeling bilious riding the revolving dancefloor on the Boat, after too many Woo Woos in OffShore44.
Your business lunches were at Metropolitan’s (now Bar Luga) or 21 Queen Street on the not-quite-yetup-and-coming Quayside. And Paris Texas was your go-to restaurant before a City Hall gig. After years of industrial decline, the region was struggling to surface from the doldrums when Knight Frank launched its North East operation in 1994. Property-wise, much of the Newcastle Gateshead quaysides were still littered with derelict sheds and the Development Corporations that were to become pivotal in the regeneration of Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside, were yet to gather serious momentum. The office and industrial property markets were somewhat depressed but there was hope on the horizon, with the Conservative government of the day poised to inject cash in the form of Enterprise Zones.
It was against this backdrop, that two surveyors working at the now-defunct Storey Sons and Parker Mark Swallow and Tim Evans decided to boldly, in a challenging market, persuade global player Knight Frank to invest in the North East with a new office. Along with a PA, Mark and Tim set-up shop in a tiny office on Sunderland’s Doxford International Business Park and within a few months had moved to a bigger space at 33 Grey Street in Newcastle. They sub-let the majority of the new 2,500 sq. ft. office but the bold ambition was there to grow their presence and use it all for themselves one day.
By executing its only-the-very-best-people recruitment strategy – that the firm credits with its success – and bringing to bear the national and international experience of the wider Knight Frank family, the team expanded and triumphed in winning work from the vast majority of the North East’s property players.
Today, Knight Frank Newcastle employs 76 people and has been involved in pretty much every significant property development that has helped pump life, hope, and jobs, into the region over the past two and half decades. From the Quayside, to Quorum, to the Team Valley, to Doxford, to Wynyard. One of the founders, Tim Evans, who retired in 2015, looks back: ”In the beginning, our main competitors in the region the likes of Story Sons & Parker, DTZ, Lamb & Edge, Sanderson Townend & Gilbert, Chestertons and Naylors – were firms that, in some cases, had a history of over 100 years which was quite daunting if you thought about it for too long. But in a very short time we found ourselves being able to compete on an equal footing.
”In the early days, we won two huge office instructions – Akeler’s Doxford International and Amec’s Newcastle Quayside East two very successful schemes and the Quayside development despite a lot of scepticism at the time – was the catalyst for the wider regeneration of the entire waterfront. Which, of course now, is recognised as one of the finest waterfront developments in Europe.
”We have maintained our prime position by headhunting from competitors and never compromising on getting hold of the very best people. We’ve been known to wait over two years to persuade and recruit the right individuals, rather than bring in lesser skills.” By 2007, just 13 years since it opened its doors, the office made its first £1m profit. The very affable Peter Bowden took his place in the team in 2012. He came from DTZ and brought his entire property asset management (PAM) team with him. He’s now Office Head and leading the region’s largest PAM squad which manages an impressive 20 million sq. ft. of commercial space. When you compare that to twenty-five years ago when there was only 90,000 sq. ft. on the books, it shows just how victorious that aspect of the business has become.
In 2017, the office hailed its best-ever year of trading with turnover up 27% on the previous year. And, remarkably, this feat was achieved in the looming shadow of Brexit. There are now 12 Partners leading nine service lines PAM, Building Consultancy, Business Rates, Lease Advisory, Industrial Agency, Office Agency, Valuations, Residential Consultancy and Capital Markets.
Peter shares his thoughts on why he thinks the business is so successful: ”I genuinely believe we have the best people in the North East in terms of expert knowledge and experience. We’re very proactive in the market and pride ourselves on knowing things first.
”I think one of our biggest strengths is, not only delivering the deals, record rents and yields, but looking after our clients very well. We are humble, approachable, welcoming and give them a personal service. ”We’re also privately owned and debt-free which ensures we’re a secure partner.
”I think our best legacy to date is we’ve made a significant contribution to inward investment for the region over the years by using the Knight Frank network to introduce developers and institutional funds that had never previously invested in the city or, in some cases, even thought about it.”
