Drees & Sommer UK Expands its Commercial Team with a Trio of Appointments

Management and property consultant Drees & Sommer UK is pleased to announce the recent appointments of John Blomeley, Stephen Niels Jacobsen and Karen Sandford as divisional directors.

Kenneth Wood Managing Director said, “This trio of appointments demonstrates the ambition of the business and our direction of travel. As we continue to grow our client base, I have no doubt that they will drive us forward in 2018 and well beyond.”

John has over 30 years of experience as a building surveyor and has undertaken a range of building surveying, professional services and project management duties for clients including Boots, Standard Life and West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service. For the past 10 years, he has worked at Watts Group Limited.

Stephen joins the business from Currie and Brown, where he led on the delivery of The Halle Place food quarter at Manchester Arndale and was involved in the delivery of Liverpool Shopping Park, Europe’s largest retail park.

Karen completes the appointments and returns to Leeds where she worked for almost 20 years in cost management for Rex Procter & Partners. She has been involved in various commercial and regeneration projects with clients such as Muse Developments and NewRiver REIT plc together with retail clients such as Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc.

Discussing the appointments Kenneth continued, “We are delighted that we have been able to attract three highly impressive individuals to the business. John comes to Drees & Sommer UK with vast experience and specialist knowledge in supporting legal teams with purchaser and vendor surveys, technical advice, and expert witness commissions. We have long established ourselves as a leading provider of building surveying services in support of property law and litigation, and John can complement our existing offer.”

Kenneth added, “Stephen’s work on international projects in the commercial sector will be a valuable addition to the business and Karen has been instrumental in leading project delivery and cost management for key retail and regeneration projects in the North, and is well regarded in the region.”

John will be responsible for leading the building surveying business in Leeds and Newcastle offices, Stephen will lead cost management at the headquarters in Manchester and Karen will lead cost management at the Leeds office. They will collaborate with clients and staff across the UK and Europe.