CBRE has expanded its market-leading Manchester Occupier Services team with the appointment of Frankie Isherwood who joins in response to a surge in demand from clients seeking support as they navigate the changing working environment.
CBRE’s Manchester Occupier Services team is headed up by Joe Rigby who has been with the CBRE business since 2014, utilising his global expertise to provide a bespoke service to occupiers advising on their real estate strategy and direction. Since he took the helm of the Manchester team in 2019, the division has gone from strength to strength securing and delivering regional workplace strategy and transactions for the likes of HILTI, HSBC, Warner Brothers, Grant Thornton and Schroders. The team has also secured international mandates for clients including THG in Melbourne, San Francisco and New Jersey and Perkin Elmer in Hamburg, Milan and Dubai.
Since the pandemic, CBRE has identified that occupiers are considering their strategy, not only in terms of how they occupy the physical space but also how agile their portfolio is, to allow for successful and efficient hybrid workforce. This heightened demand, along with the change in sentiment for both investors and landlords towards how the occupier thinks, has led CBRE to expand the team to support clients in preparation for the return to the office and the years ahead.
Frankie Isherwood joins Occupier Services from a five-year stint in CBRE’s highest-performing Northern division, Investment Properties, which during that time carried out £4.5bn of investment transactions and last year had 96% market share in Manchester office investment activity. Frankie has had involvement in some of Manchester’s largest strategic funding and joint venture transactions including acting for Bruntwood on the formation of the Bruntwood Scitech JV with Legal & General in 2018 and Aviva Investors’ funding of Enterprise City.More recently Frankie worked on the sale of Helical’s £119m Powerhouse Portfolio.
Joe Rigby said;
“Occupier Services has proven to be an invaluable support to businesses and the changing workplace resulting from the pandemic has accelerated and expanded this need as organisations of all sizes face new challenges. Having worked closely with a broad spectrum of clients throughout significant transactions and ventures, Frankie has the ideal skillset to transfer to this team to take our offering to the next level. Her in-depth market and client knowledge will be invaluable in supporting our occupiers and in propelling the division forward.”
John Ogden, MD of CBRE’s Northern Business, said;
“Under Joe’s expert management, the Occupier Services division has been incredibly successful with clients both regionally and internationally. We acknowledge that this is a real growth area for the business and as such are delighted to transition one of the northern businesses most accomplished members, Frankie, into the team.”
Frankie Isherwood commented;
“Having joined CBRE as a graduate, I have been fortunate to work with the best Investment team in the region and I am excited to be bringing the knowledge and insight I have accumulated to the Occupier Services team at such an exciting time.”
