Over recent years we have experienced impressive growth across our various disciplines despite the turbulence of a new government being elected and swings in the economy. We caught up with our Managing Partner, Andrew Bridge, who shared his thoughts on the company’s achievements in 2024, and what 2025 might bring for the firm.
“As Fisher German finished 2024, there was a lot to be proud of despite a difficult backdrop across the year.
“The obvious one was the election of a new government in July. The property market was slower than usual before the election, and with added uncertainty before the Budget, it was tough to move deals forward for our clients.
“When the Budget was announced in October, our farming clients needed our support urgently due to the changes to the inheritance tax rules announced by the Chancellor.
“Despite these hurdles, our dedication to offering a full range of agency, advisory, and management services to our clients along with our focus on urban growth, has put us in a strong position as the year comes to an end.
“We have successfully opened two new offices in central London and Birmingham, which have quickly become busy hubs of activity we have refurbished our Manchester office in Deansgate to an extremely high standard.
“Our recruitment drive has been highly successful; we have welcomed some incredible talent across all areas of the business. Laura Sutton was hired to lead our London and South East Industrial and Logistics team, and Ben Southworth was hired as our Chief Operating Officer to help guide the business into 2025 and beyond and more recently Ben Stanley, who will lead our London office agency team and enhance our landlord expertise nationally.
“Heading into 2025, there will be further challenges still. The recent NPPF reforms confirmed by the Government in December were welcome and represent the most significant change in national planning policy in the last 12 years. However, it remains to be seen how effective it will be in delivering the housing the country needs.
“Stubborn inflation and interest rates may continue to slow down the residential property market too, with the cost of borrowing being a major factor in the number of transactions.
“Commercial growth is also hindered by a lack of land supply and reliable grid connections, making it difficult for companies to expand. The drive towards net-zero may see green projects progress, such as an increase in electric vehicle charging points on private sites, new wind and solar farms, and conversion of parts of the existing gas network to carry hydrogen.
“And the fallout from the changes to agricultural property relief from farmers may cause further worries in the rural sector.
“However, Fisher German is set to navigate these challenges with our ‘One FG’ unified strategy, which will enable us to provide a comprehensive range of services to our clients and deliver incredible value from our expertise across so many disciplines.
“Our experts in areas such as commercial property management, commercial agency, residential agency, investment, business rates, lease advisory, planning, utilities & infrastructure, rural property management, valuations, and more, can all combine to give our clients everything they need.
“And our commitment to targeted recruitment to bring in the best talent will continue and will drive growth across our 26 offices all over the country. Having started as a graduate with the business myself, I know first-hand how far you can go when your development and ambitions are actively encouraged, which is what we do with all our staff at Fisher German.
“Our commitment to sustainability will also be bolstered next year, with Fisher German not only working with a whole host of clients on net zero projects, but also joining Anthropy, a cross-sector organisation aiming to improve the UK’s quality of life through long-term joined-up collaboration among business leaders.
“In April I will begin my third term as Managing Partner. Being elected by my fellow partners means a lot to me, it is a huge honour that all of them saw fit to elect me again and a real vote of confidence in the direction the firm is going in.
“The firm has changed massively over the last few years, and we now have an incredible breadth of expert knowledge across our company. We can now help our clients by assisting them in all sorts of property matters and maximise the value they get from us with the cross-section of expertise now on offer. I am really looking forward to Fisher German growing even further this year.”
