Archive: Feb 2015
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Mark Hawthorn speaks at NW Insider Entreprenuer event
Mark was part of a stellar panel of successful business men and women at a special event held by Northwest Insider on 10 February, at which they revealed their experiences and lessons learnt while building new businesses.
Mark’s path to forming Landmark Investments Group 15 years ago makes for an interesting and inspirational story. He left school with a handful of low-grade GCSE’s and joined a YTS scheme at his local estate agency branch earning £40 per week.
Mark said: “I wasn’t very academically minded and certainly wasn’t a high achiever, so I left school as soon as I could. I didn’t have a grand plan either, I just wanted to get a job and start to earn money.
“When I was really young, I asked for a pension book for Christmas as all I knew was that it gave you access to money. I had a load of different little money makers over the years and always found a way to earn. At one point I worked in a nightclub until early morning and then went and did a milk round.”
Mark realised his colleagues at the estate agency were less than keen on showing people around houses which needed substantial work doing to them, preferring to take families to see brand new sparkling show homes. Mark saw an opportunity and was soon taking builders round the less than loved properties, agreeing deals which would see the buildings restored and resold at substantial profits to the buyers.
Mark said: “It was glaringly obvious with most of the deals – buy for X, spend Y and sell for Z. The clients appreciated it as I would only ring them if I thought it was a good deal for them and I quickly learned what to look for. One of my contacts suggested I should expand my horizons so I took two weeks off work and spent that time finding properties from other estate agents. In those two weeks I made £1500, three times my monthly salary at the time. Needless to say, I didn’t go back to my job, I carried on finding properties to develop – first of all for others, then when I had enough saved I bought them for myself.”
This was the beginning of what is now Landmark Investments Group, which he started in 2000 at the age of 19. Before the downturn of the property market in 2007, Mark had already started to do a few ground rent deals but when the recession hit, he shifted his focus entirely towards ground rent purchases.
Today Mark controls a portfolio of around 11,000 units, valued in excess of £15 million, on top of this there are interests in other businesses
You can find out more about Landmark Investments Group here, and read the article on the “Secrets of entrepreneurship revealed” in Insider.
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OBI Property appoints Andrew Cowell
Fast growing real estate firm OBI Property announced Andrew Cowell has joined the Transactions & Asset Management team working alongside Will Lewis, Richard Lace and Emma Powell.
Andrew has joined OBI Property following a highly successful two years with MEPC/Patriza on Birchwood Park, Warrington and Wellington Place, Leeds. Previous to that, Andrew headed up the city centre leasing team at Bruntwood for eight years, where he worked on a number of key assets including City Tower, No1 Portland Street and Lowry House.
Richard Lace, OBI Property said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Andrew to the OBI team. We have recently been awarded a number of asset management positions and Andrew’s skillset and experience in both leasing and asset management will really strengthen our offer. We enjoyed a strong 2014 and have started this year really well. This appointment is a really positive move for the firm and our clients.”
Andrew Cowell said: “I am looking forward to working with the OBI Property team, the firm continues to progress and has ambitious plans for the future. To be given the chance to be part of the team was too good an opportunity to pass up and I am relishing the challenges that lie ahead.”
Andrew’s appointment story received press coverage in the Manchester Evening News, Place Northwest, theBusinessdesk.com and Northwest Insider
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Partners announced for Manchester @MIPIM 2015
On Thursday 29 January 2015, Marketing Manchester the team responsible for leading the Manchester Partnership delegation to the annual property conference MIPIM, announced it has 70 partners for this years event – including several Ashurst Communications clients.
This year OBI Property, urbanbubble and Planit-IE have once again joined the Manchester Partnership, while Landmark Investments Group is also attending.
On Wednesday 11 March, urbanbubble will be hosting a panel discussion at the Manchester Bar. Titled: Private Rented Sector homes designed, built and managed for Manchester.
With over 5000 PRS units already in the pipeline in Manchester our panel will explore and discuss how architects, developers, funders and public sector partners are working together to create PRS homes that not only meet the needs and aspirations of the people living in them but also how we can sustain demand from institutional investors for the long term.
To start our discussion, residential property management company urbanbubble will share its findings from their survey of existing city centre residents. urbanbubble has canvased residents’ opinions on what they want not only from the design of their homes but from the services, management and facilities also offered at their apartment building or close neighbourhood. With representatives from key schemes in the City on the panel, it promises to be an informative and thought provoking discussion and is open to anyone with an interest in the PRS sector.
Taking place in Cannes from 10-13 March 2015, MIPIM is one the largest international convention for property and development. Ashurst Communications attends each year, mainly representing our clients, however it’s a fantastic opportunity to catch up with lots of our property and architecture friends. If you’re attending MIPIM and would like to meet up with Lisa, or be introduced to any of our clients, just get in touch!