Gerald Eve

The overview

Gerald Eve LLP is a mid-sized independent chartered surveying and property consultancy based in the UK. Established in 1930, it began life in a single office with seven staff. It now occupies nine offices and employs over 324 people. It claims to have advised over 40 per cent of the FTSE100 companies.

The services it provides

The services Gerald Eve provides can be broadly broken down into three categories:

• Corporate asset management and fund management – managing the property portfolios of clients.
• Consultancy – covering building surveying, rating, research, planning and development, compensation and compulsory purchase, landlord and tenant, residential leasehold reform, and valuation.
• Transactions – including occupational agency, investment agency and structured finance.

Gerald Eve claims to have advised over 40 per cent of the FTSE100 companies.

The firm also offers corporate recovery services.

The markets it operates in

Gerald Eve has teams working in a range of property sectors, including:

• Offices and business space
• Leisure – pubs, restaurants, hotels, entertainment, and health and fitness operators
• Education – universities, colleges, independent schools, charities and religious orders
• Industrial – factories or manufacturing facilities, steelworks, paper mills, engineering and chemical plants, and shipyards and ports
• Energy and utilities – power stations, refineries, wind farms, reservoirs, substations, pipelines, petrochemical plants and gas storage caverns
• Minerals and waste management
• Public sector – local authorities, regional development agencies and police authorities
• Development and regeneration schemes
• Residential – new housing provision, such as affordable and sheltered housing, and live-work units
• Retail – department stores, warehouses, supermarkets, restaurants, retail units, cafes and banks
• Healthcare – care home groups, NHS Trusts and charity healthcare providers
• The ‘third sector’ – specialist property owned by voluntary community organisations, charities and social enterprises, eg heritage assets, museums, art galleries, churches and other religious properties.

The clients it serves

Gerald Eve has assisted a wide range of clients, including:

• Ford
• British Energy
• King’s College London
• E.ON
• Debenhams
• Unilever
• Whitbread
• BAE Systems
• Costa Coffee
• Shell
• British Waterways
• Hilton Hotels
• The Crown Estate
• The Co-operative Group
• The Natural History Museum.

Recent financial performance

Turnover for the year to April 2010 was £32.6 million, 81 per cent of which came from consultancy services. Transactions and corporate asset management accounted for 11 and eight per cent respectively. Senior partner Hugh Bullock states in a summary of the firm’s performance that year that its core strengths continue to lie in rating, planning and City agency, although its work in leisure and valuation was also strong. He also points to the firm’s recent agreement with real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield to service its clients’ ratings requirements as testimony to its reputation in this area.

Rankings and awards

• Ranked in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For survey for six consecutive years (number 62 in the 2011 mid companies category).
• Won best property recruitment marketing award at the Property Marketing Awards 2008.

Salary and benefits

For the working year 2010–11, graduate salaries in London stood at £23,000. Graduates in regional offices receive slightly less than this – a business rates graduate surveyor post in Glasgow was recently advertised at £20,000.

Benefits include:

• a bonus (discretionary)
• a golden hello
• gym membership/subsidy
• life assurance
• a season ticket loan
• 21 days’ annual leave (plus extra days at Christmas).

Salary prospects following the graduate scheme

Figures taken from The Sunday Times’ employer profile on Gerald Eve in 2010 states that more than half of employees earn over £35,000 and the average salary of a partner is £78,000.

Culture and values

The firm emphasises the closeness of its relationships with clients. It points out that its 90 partners and 41 associates mean a high partner-to-client ratio for the sector. It also claims that its independent status means less pressure to focus on profits and more time spent on ensuring longevity with clients because there are no public shareholders to appease. Its client retention rate is certainly high – 90% remain with the company for five years or longer. The firm also claims that it has a high retention rate in terms of keeping its staff.

Employee recognition

The firm stages annual awards, known as ‘The Geralds’, which recognise staff for business, community, sporting or graduate achievements.

Sports and social

Every year Gerald Eve holds a ‘firm day away’. Previously, this has involved a trip to Alton Towers in which each office was allocated a film genre for fancy dress, and prize money was awarded for the most outrageous costume.

Staff can take part in a number of sports such as football, rugby, softball, netball, golf, skiing and sailing. They may represent the firm in formal and informal competitions with other firms, such as the DTZ Mixed Hockey Tournament and the Surveyors’ Sevens Rugby Tournament.

Employees have taken part in the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for charity, climbing Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis and Snowdon within the space of a weekend.