White Commercial Surveyors are excited to announce their 20th anniversary this year. Chris White, the company’s founder set up a new surveying practice in 1999 and appointed Andrew Fairbairn as a consultant; 10 years later their two companies merged, with both still enjoying being a part of the family orientated company they built together.
Chris (who was born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire and moved south in 1981), and Andrew, (who moved to Banbury when just 2 weeks old), first met in 1989 whilst instructed jointly on the Heron Hi Tech office development of Waterperry Court in Banbury. Chris was working for Rafferty Buckland in High Wycombe at that time and was moved to Banbury specifically to set up a new office for the company in anticipation of the opening of the northern section of the London-Birmingham M40, where considerable growth expansion was predicted.
In 1994, Chris moved from Rafferty Buckland to Savills’ Banbury office and in 1999 set up White Mitchell. Andrew, who had been working at Chesterton Chartered Surveyors in Banbury and Oxford, set up his own property consultancy in 1997, known as Fairbairn Wild. The two companies formed the basis of White Commercial Surveyors within which their separate specialisms are complementary – Chris dealing in the main with commercial property development and investment in the region together with commercial property valuations, lettings and sales, and Andrew concentrating on commercial and residential property management, business rates, rent reviews, lease renewals and valuations.
Over the years, Chris and Andrew have both had active roles in the local community. Chris has been involved with Banbury Chamber & Commerce, acting as Chair and President for a period of 10 years. In addition, and in conjunction with Cherwell District Council, he was one of the main architects in 1990 of the first public/private finance initiative known as Cherwell Investment Partnership (CHIP) which has been so successful in encouraging both the expansion of existing companies in the area and also attracting inward investment to the region.Andrew has been an active participant within various service clubs, including Banbury Round Table and the Rotary Club of Banbury. He is also a founder member of the Rotary Club of Banbury Cherwell and acts as the Surveyor for Banbury Charities and is Deputy Chairman of the Tour de Trigs.
Andrew is continuously involved in charity fund raising for local and overseas projects, including for Katharine House Hospice which has been chosen as White Commercial’s charity of the year for 2019. Andrew is also a keen walker and climber; he has a 3,500-foot sheer rock face in Switzerland on his radar. With his lectures and seminars, which he gives to surveyors and students both in the UK and overseas on behalf of Oxford Brookes University (his travels have taken him to France, Holland, Germany, Spain, North and South Vietnam, China and Singapore), Andrew has lots of adventures planned!
One of Chris’s passions is motorsports (watching not participating!) and White Commercial’s work within the motorsport sector has been a long term interest of both Chris and Andrew. This has seen them involved with Red Bull, Mercedes AMG Petronas (previously Brawn, Honda and BAR) and Prodrive. Between them, Chris and Andrew have been at the property helm of F1 teams winning 10 World Championships (with four different drivers). Chris most recently attended the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix courtesy of Mercedes AMG Petronas.
White Commercial are a very friendly team of 7 with Harvey (Chris’s son) heading up agency inspections and negotiations, Verity as Chris’s PA, Alison who does a bit of pretty much everything, Wendy as Andrew’s PA (and Chris’s wife) and Jill, our management consultant. All are looking forward to the next 20 years!
