Colliers UK chief outlines aspirations for business
John Munday took up the role of chief executive of Colliers UK in March, with the remit of setting the strategic direction of the UK transactional and advisory services business, which has more than 1,000 employees. A year on, he is reflecting on what he has learned, what he has achieved and what is coming down the tracks.
Munday, who succeeded Tony Horrell, moved into the hotseat at a busy time for the UK's major brokerage peers, with new chiefs at JLL, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Knight Frank and Savills. There has been no obvious trend among these hires, with each coming from different routes. But Munday's vision for Colliers UK is clear.
He told CoStar News: "The business' global status is a top three brokerage by market capitalisation and also it has been the fastest growing real estate advisory business over the last five years. But here in the UK if we are talking about transactionally the figures are lower in terms of where we sit.
"My ambition – that I have set – is to reflect that global position in the UK. It will not be easy but we have had record results in 2024 and 2025. Our business in the UK is split to around 73% of revenue in advisory and the remainder in transactions and we want the strategy to be closer to a global ideal of around 60:40."
You can read the full interview here.
CoStar News will be talking to leading names from the global real estate sector at Mipim 2026 this year, so look out for our video interviews running all that week.
Cushman & Wakefield recruits student homes specialist
Cushman & Wakefield has appointed student accommodation specialist Christian Davis to its UK living team. Davis, based in London, has two decades of commercial property experience and will provide capital markets advice and execution to student accommodation developer and operator clients across the UK, the firm said.
He worked for DTZ at the start of his career, prior to its merger with Cushman & Wakefield, spending more than three years at the firm. Afterwards he held senior positions specialising in student accommodation and residential investment. The London student accommodation transactional team is led by Russell Hefferan.
BNP Paribas Real Estate names Birmingham office head
BNP Paribas Real Estate has promoted Liz Cain to head of Birmingham office. She has more than two decades of experience across real estate, financial services and professional services environments and joined the business 11 years ago. During that time she led a team of around 100 qualified and trainee accountants and property finance professionals.
As head of the Birmingham office, Cain will assume responsibility for people leadership, strategy, revenue generation and operational performance. She will also work with national sector and service line heads to further enhance the firm’s integrated offer in Birmingham.
Hines hires BlackRock stalwart for flagship European fund
Hines has appointed BlackRock stalwart Tatiana Tezel as fund manager for its flagship European core-plus fund. The recruit will lead the next phase of Hines European Property Partners' growth, focusing on capital formation and strategic deployment across the continent's "most dynamic markets".
Tezel was managing director and co-portfolio manager of BlackRock’s Europe Property Fund VI, responsible for fund strategy, capital formation, capital deployment and portfolio performance across the platform. She was at the firm for more than 12 years. Tezel works in London and will report to Alfonso Munk and Chiang Ling Ng, co-heads of investment management.
Rapleys recruits duo to launch Birmingham planning team
Rapleys has created a planning team in Birmingham after hiring two senior specialists, Sachin Parmar and John Nicol. Parmar has 17 years’ experience and joins as a partner from Marrons, where he was a director with responsibility for building a Midlands-based planning practice. Nicol enters as an associate from Fisher German with more than seven years’ experience of planning in the private sector.
Parmar and Nicol previously worked together at Broxtowe Borough Council in Nottingham between 2014 and 2017, before landing roles in the private sector. Robert Clarke, senior partner at Rapleys, said: "Planning has been and will continue to be a core area of growth."
Savills adds leading commercial director to auctions business
Savills has recruited experienced commercial auctions specialist Philip Parsons as a director. Parsons has three decades of sector expertise, predominantly from an institutional client base, joining from Allsop where he was a long‑standing partner within the commercial auctions team.
He follows Gary Murphy, who joined Savills from Allsop in June 2023 and Ben Hodge who made the move in 2024. Savills said Parsons will focus on driving the continued growth of the team’s commercial sales capabilities across all asset types and price points. He said: "I am thrilled to be taking the next step in my career by joining Savills’ commercial auction team."
Big Yellow Group CEO Jim Gibson to retire this year
Big Yellow Group's chief executive and co-founder, Jim Gibson, will retire from the business and step down from its board in July, having led the firm since 2003. The company’s chief operating officer, John Hunter, will replace Gibson as CEO after joining the group in April 2024 and joining the board in July last year. Big Yellow described Hunter as an experienced director, having joined from HomeServe, where he was UK COO. He previously held several senior management roles at Dixons Carphone, contributing to over 20 years' experience in the retail and consumer services sector.