Ben Cullen stepped up to one of the biggest roles in UK real estate in July last year, when he became chief executive UK and Ireland for Cushman & Wakefield. Since then, he says, brokerages' relationships with AI and technology has moved the industry to a "different stage".
CoStar News caught up with him to find out what he has learned so far, and hear about his – and Cushman's – ambitions for the advisory giant.
The first thing that comes across about Cullen when CoStar News meets him at Cushman's Old Broad Street offices in the City of London, is his pride in working for the company.
Firstly, he points out he is a man-and-boy Cushman employee, having joined as a graduate in 2001. He was made an international partner in 2016, and then head of offices, UK, in 2021.
"I'm celebrating my 25th anniversary at Cushmans," he says. There no doubt have been bumps along the way, but his road to the top job has seen him at the heart of some of the brokerage's biggest successes and innovations over the last quarter of a century.
"I was in the capital markets team before moving to Stockley Park and the leasing team as Cushman really set up a new office there. I joined early with Charles Dady as we set up our Thames Valley activity advising occupiers and investors. Then I went back to the national offices team based in London. The idea was to provide expert advice on what were really nationally important developments in regional office markets, at campuses such as Cobalt Park in Newcastle, Media City in Salford and Granta Park in Cambridge. We set out to give occupiers and investors global perspectives on development and access to global occupiers."
In 2011 Cushman set up a London occupier rep business, where Cullen joined his predecessor as chief executive, George Roberts, who had been recruited from JLL to set up the team. That team has a reputation for leading an overhaul of how occupiers were advised.
At the time brokerage was all about the transaction and that was where all the time went – into showing the buildings and transacting. But we realised that occupiers wanted strategic advice on real estate portfolios that enabled them to get the best results for the business over a longer time.
"At the time brokerage was all about the transaction and that was where all the time went – into showing the buildings and transacting. But we realised that occupiers wanted strategic advice on real estate portfolios that enabled them to get the best results for the business over a longer time. We built a stable of occupiers and built information and data from them. Those occupiers included Amazon, L'Oreal, HSBC, Clifford Chance, and sector specialisms such as legal. The point is developing that business is ultimately about hard work understanding occupiers. In six to seven years we went from a small-also ran in the space to a market leader."
Cullen's star clearly rose in Cushman & Wakefield during this period and he became head of UK offices in 2021. So how did the opportunity to take on the lead role in the UK emerge?
"The decision was taken as part of an overall global reorganisation," he says.
In April 2025 Cushman & Wakefield appointed Matthew Bouw as chief executive for Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Long-term EMEA chief Colin Wilson stepped down and ultimately George Roberts, then the UK chief, moved on. He has now taken on the UK and Ireland president role at Avison Young, as revealed by CoStar News.
Bouw oversees a single operating model across both regions, a shift that Cushman has said will ensure the "scale and balance of services to drive growth and offer clients better global connectivity and access" to talent.
"An outcome of that was a number of leadership changes," says Cullen. "I had been leading the offices division in the UK, so it was the biggest division in the UK, so I had pretty good levels of management experience working under George Roberts. George was a terrific mentor and big influence, as equally, Matt has been. The reality is we do nothing in isolation."
Now that he has stepped up to the UK and Ireland top job, what has Cullen been mandated with and what are his aspirations for the business?
"We have a clear and focused path for the growth of the business and it is an honour and a privilege to lead as well as bringing a great sense of responsibility. We are clear on where we want to be."
Cullen points to Cushman's investor day in December as laying out the strategy. Cushman rolled out a three-year plan anchored on growing earnings per share at a compound annual growth rate of 15 to 20%. Cushman said it relies on three key levers. The first is accelerating the top line. The second is driving margin, and the third is lowering its cost of capital, cost of debt and interest cost. On revenue, it is instilling a "growth mindset in the company" aimed at winning more business, through "expanding its enterprise relationships, and through capturing high growth asset classes".
"It's focused on revenue growth and EBITDA margins improvement and a lower cost of debt. That will lead to a better return to investors," says Cullen.
At the heart of achieving this will be one key driver, he adds. "It has to be about our focus on clients in the UK and the business delivering exceptional service. And to do that it is about how we attract and retain clients by also ensuring we have the best balance of people with the best platform. My job is ultimately to assemble the best talent and then provide them with the right platform and tools to deliver best-in-class insights."
Cullen says his experience as an office tenant representative has taught him that success in this regard is a "very circular thing".
"Ultimately investors are fascinated to know what occupiers want and occupiers are fascinated by what investors are delivering and also what other occupiers are doing."
Change is better than a rest
Cullen's move came as all of the top UK brokerages seemed to be doing the same thing. At around the same time, CBRE appointed Rishi Bhuchar as chief executive of its UK and Ireland advisory business to succeed Ciaran Bird. Savills’s Mark Ridley retired as group chief executive after 29 years to be followed by the group chief financial officer Simon Shaw. Knight Frank announced a new UK board last April, and JLL’s Stephanie Hyde has moved on from chief executive. John Munday has recently taken over from long-time Colliers UK chief executive Tony Horrell. And at Cushman & Wakefield, non-executive chairman and former chief executive Brett White stepped down last year with Steve Plavin now chairing the board.
Cullen is clear what its rivals were doing had no bearing on what happened at Cushman. Each adviser has turned to a different skill set, and it is significant that Cushman has turned to an expert in advising occupiers in the UK and Ireland.
"I think over my career getting to advise leading occupiers you get to meet the C-suite in organisations and you learn that you need to be pragmatic and cool headed, that a relocation decision will be meandering some times. At the same time these companies are catalysts for major change and you learn an awful lot from them.
"One thing about this and with the wider Cushman business is it is really good at developing talent. We invest in people and that includes a focus on clients and a very strong collaboration where we support one another and train on the job. We are all learning always."
Cullen says that while the CEO role brings is a broader portfolio of demands on his time, he is still very much in front of clients. He is adamant that this must remain an important feature of what he does.
It is important to remain doing fee-earning work. It gives a much better understanding of what clients expect and what they want from colleagues and it's also the thing I love and I am passionate about.
"It is important to remain doing fee-earning work. It gives a much better understanding of what clients expect and what they want from colleagues and it's also the thing I love and I am passionate about. Amazon, for instance, has been a client for 12 years growing from offices in Slough and moving to London. That relationship has been a big influence in my professional career. It is how you learn about what best in class is. It is a very humble company, but very focused on what it delivers."
Having highlighted the importance of attracting and retaining talent, Cullen points out that since January, 80 people have joined in the UK and Ireland and "we have a big pipeline as we look to grow".
"There is a strong correlation between the talent and the ability to service clients. It is crucial in building relationships. We have recruited Chris Bennett from DekaBank. That means we have a lender looking at our services as a brokerage and he is providing fascinating observations. We have recruited John O'Regan in London offices capital markets and there are hires coming in retail and there have been moves into living. We will hire across transactional in buying and leasing in offices, London and regional, in retail, industrial and living."
"And in our service business lines there's a counterbalance. What is important here is the scale and breadth of service. Clients want to see integrated services delivering advice, backed by data and analytics and expert advice. In valuations, design and build, building consultancy, facilities management and property management you need scale to advise across large portfolios. Only a few can do that. Scale in brokerage means you can connect data insights and that differentiates expert advice, and means it can be more efficient and cost-effective."
Naturally, Cullen is looking deeply at artificial intelligence and the challenges and opportunities for Cushman & Wakefield and brokerages as a whole.
"Brokerage is changing, even in the last two months. In February there was this huge event hitting all listed brokerages around AI and data. You will see winners and losers, and I truly believe we are in a different stage now since then. The global players will be able to pull ahead. If you are global you can access global data informing how you grow and how you advise your clients. The challenge is joining the dots and bringing to clients advice on the ground and, in turn, building relationships."
Over his long career, Cullen has picked up some key lessons when it comes to advice.
"What I say is the important thing is always to give coherent advice and communicate clearly. You must listen really well and distil that into something useable and put it on paper to express simply. We invest heavily in the graduate programme and I think there is a comfortable collision now between younger staff's understanding of technology and someone who has been in the business for 25 years. In terms of the best advice I had it was 'be reliable before being the best'. That resonated as with clients what they really want is you do what you say and deliver on time and don't create unnecessary drama."
The best advice I had it was 'be reliable before being the best'. That resonated as with clients what they really want is you do what you say and deliver on time and don't create unnecessary drama.
Asked about the wider real estate market, Cullen describes it as "a mixed performance".
"There are pockets of clear resilience and opportunity but challenges as well. Occupier demand for higher quality space is strong across all geographies and sectors, and there is rental growth, so that area is strong. But there have been low levels of development and this has had a negative impact on leasing markets. In cap markets I am optimistic. While it is fragile there are some really positive signs. In response we are investing in talent."
Cullen says the outlook may be difficult at a geopolitcal level but occupier markets, which he describes as the key to real estate, are broadly strong.
"If there is one word I expect to reflect the coming months it is 'realignment'. That is a shifting in the political environment, in the occupier emphasis, and for investors those that will be successful will not be passive on asset management and driving value. AI will be driving massive productivity in the economy. That does lead to questions about what it means for jobs and real estate, and what do buildings' functions need to be in logistics, in retail and offices. Investors will need to step back and think differently about risk."
Put simply, Cullen says the "winning actors" will be the larger groups and those able to capture data at a global scale while also being agile enough to respond on the ground and move at speed. "In that context Cushman is in the sweet spot. We have the scale but are nimble enough to respond, too."