We are pleased to announce the promotion of 46 colleagues across the firm, which includes two new heads of division, a new department head, a new Head of Planning and a colleague promoted to Partner after an excellent six months for the business.
The promotions were made following the introduction of our ‘Grow’ career progression framework, which gives colleagues clear guidance on what is needed to progress, and the responsibilities needed at each level of the business.
Liberty Stones will be our new Divisional Managing Partner for our Advisory Services division, with Sarah DeRenzy Tomson taking over as Head of Planning, Guy Hemus will be our Divisional Managing Partner for our Property Management & Consultancy division and Matthew Hodgetts will be our new Department Head for Infrastructure Consultancy focusing on delivery and operations, all will play key roles in high-level decision-making for the partnership.
Liberty, who has been with Fisher German since 2011, will lead advisory services which provide a variety of services including planning, valuations, business rates, sustainable energy services, telecoms and building consultancy.
She said: “It’s an exciting time to be stepping up to this role. We will be expanding and enhancing the green energy and sustainability services we offer and growing our business rates offering while continuing to deliver an excellent service for our clients across planning, valuations, building consultancy, and telecoms. I’m looking forward to being at the forefront of this and helping Fisher German grow further.”
Guy added: “I’m extremely pleased to move into this role and look forward to supporting the business to achieve continued and sustained growth. Fisher German has both a large commercial management portfolio of circa 80 million sq ft and a longstanding rural management business, working for investment funds, corporates, public sector, third sector and private clients, throughout the UK.
“We are a legacy partnership business and pride ourselves on being a strategic advisor to our clients, providing them with long-term support to achieve their goals. Our growth means that we can provide a full-service offering for our clients, bringing them the full force of Fisher German, including specialist expertise from our minerals team and an agribusiness team with an increasing focus on sustainability.
“The property management and consultancy division has had a number of recent significant wins, including portfolios for Dignity Funerals and National Gas, and I look forward to working with my team to help continue this success.”
Matthew Hodgetts will work in tandem with existing Department Head George Simpson who will take on a new role which will focus on innovation and growth. Together they will help our infrastructure division respond to the increases in demand we have seen from our clients in the gas, electricity, water, and renewable sectors.
Matthew said: “The demand for infrastructure projects - whether that’s major new electricity installations, new water strategic resource options, or helping the gas network take on hydrogen – has skyrocketed in the past couple of years and only looks set to continue.
“For example, electricity demand is expected to increase by 64 per cent by 2035 according to the ESO’s ‘Beyond 2030’ report which recommends an overhaul of the existing energy grid to facilitate this. I’m therefore very happy to be stepping up to work alongside George Simpson as Department Head for Infrastructure Consultancy. With the way demand is going and the likely increase in the size of the team, having one person overseeing the whole operation was going to be untenable.
“George and I working together will enable us to be at the forefront of this unprecedented increase in infrastructure work, and the eight promotions within our infrastructure team show we want our talented colleagues to be right there with us at this exciting time.”
George added: “This change in our management structure will mean we are best placed to capitalise on the incredible surge in demand for infrastructure projects over the coming years. The potential projects in electricity alone could contribute up to £15 billion to the economy, and we need to ensure we are ready to help make these projects a reality for our clients. I’m looking forward to working with Matthew and the whole infrastructure team towards a really bright future for us.”
Our Managing Partner, Andrew Bridge, said: “It is very exciting to see both Liberty and Guy stepping up to these leadership roles. They are great examples of colleagues who embody our values and continually drive not only their performance forward but that of their teams too. I do not doubt that this will continue in their new roles as Divisional Managing Partners.”
Our Senior Partner, Richard Benson, added: “Promotions are an opportunity to reflect and recognise the fantastic achievements of our people and to celebrate their progression in the business. The ‘Grow’ programme was launched as a way of enabling colleagues to better understand how they can progress their careers here, and all 46 promotions as a result of the programme are thoroughly deserved.”
