It is being reported that BNP Paribas Real Estate has entered into a collective consultation process on potential redundancies with around one-fifth of its staff in the UK.
The company has about 5,400 employees spread across 32 countries and there are believed to be around 1,500 real estate staff in the UK, so potentially some 300 jobs may be at risk.
The process is expected to conclude in September.
Strutt & Parker is part of BNP, having been acquired in 2017, and we asked the company if its staff are involved in the process.
Strutt & Parker told us that: ‘It’s our policy not to comment on HR related matters’.
The news comes just a few months after changes at the top in Strutt & Parker.
In early March, Andy Martin, who had been the senior partner at the time of the acquisition moved from heading up the firm to an international business development role at BNP, and his deputy, Etiennne Prongué became head of the UK Real Estate business.
Only last month EYE carried news of fresh appointments within Strutt & Parker, with their Head of Residential Agency saying at the time:
“This new organisation of our leadership team will enable us to push forward more rapidly with our strategy and ongoing projects, including the shift towards digital estate agency and the growth of our market share in London.”
“These appointments are important steps for our business, designed to streamline our structure and make us more effective as a team.”
Just yesterday we reported that 120 jobs could be lost at Nottingham Building Society following their estate agency operation being handed over to Belvoir in a “strategic alliance” deal.
Comments (3)
I hear from a reliable source that it was always the intention of BNP from the start to slim down the residential side of things. They acquired S and P really only for the commercial side which has, or did have sizeable value. At the same time they inherited a fair number of *legacy* employees on the resi side who will now be seen as redundant (a financial drain) to the business model. One area of noteable concern apparantly is country houses, grumpy men in grey suits wearing old school ties, fine for the the early 80s but not in 2020. This dept should be a big fee winner given recent increses in prices over the years however with constant stiff comptetiton from the likes of Knight Frank and Savills and more localised operators in key taregt markets the shine has gone!
Remember this is a French bank at the helm not a real estate company. If I was working there, I would be looking for another opportunity. I’m also told they don’t pay that well so another reason to get out sooner rather than later. Will be interesting to see how things pan out.
I know it took one S&P office nearly two weeks to sort out a negs email and phone line to be transferred to “home working” at the start of lockdown.
Just shows how nimble these corporates AREN’T.
The S&P crew cashed out and took the money. Hence have less freedom to manage this market. If still private they could take a longer view and accept reduced profits. As it is they have to deal with BNP’s top down orders.