Vail Williams has reported its most successful year yet, with revenues of £18.3 million – up 5 per cent on the previous financial year.
Growth for the Southampton-based property consultancy included the highest grossing single quarter since its founding in 1988.
The success comes off the back of an internal reorganisation of the firm’s 175 staff and was driven by agency work, planning, property asset management (PAM), building consultancy, a growing residential presence, and work in the energy and environmental sectors.
Managing partner Matthew Samuel-Camps said: “What’s absolutely clear is that once again we’ve had our best-ever year as we continued to increase our fee income and outperform previous years.
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“Our business plan is one where we’re seeking to continue to grow and exploit opportunities to increase our service lines, develop new areas of expertise and look at appropriate geographic expansion to enhance our existing footprint.”
The past year has seen Vail Williams open an Oxford office – welcoming a number of new staff, including partner Mike Watson and surveyor Clark Tersol – as well as retain its Investors in People (IiP) Gold accreditation, held by just 17 per cent of UK businesses.
“We were absolutely overjoyed at retaining our IiP Gold accreditation for another three years”, added Matthew.
“It’s very much a reflection of all the work we’re doing and we’re continuing to learn from it. We always seek to improve.”
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Matthew also pointed to the firm’s ongoing project of bringing dedicated people managers into the business – thus freeing up operational heads – as key to the recent success.
“Nobody comes into this profession with the sole desire to manage staff, so we’ve enabled them to get on with their jobs without distraction.
“People are our most valuable asset and every time we put, say, a specialist surveyor or planner in charge of something else, it’s a compromise.
“We’ve expanded our training budget and are really focussing hard on training, personal development and inculcating expertise and experience throughout the business.
“This is all very much part of our business plan. We’re spending a lot of time around how people are managed to the highest standard, how we can get the best from them and how they can get the best out of themselves.”
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