CHARTERED surveyors and commercial property specialist Breakey & Nuttall is expanding and developing its team as business continues to grow.
The firm supports business in five key sectors of commercial property management, agency services, landlord and tenancy consultancy, valuation and business rates.
Agency manager Vicky Beresford works alongside Breakey & Nuttall associate partner Glenn Drake-Owen. Their team deals with properties for sale from £25,000 to over £1million, and annual leases from £5,000 to over £50,000. Recent Oldham property deals of note include the former Oldham County Court building, as detailed later in this report.
Vicky joined Breakey & Nuttall two years ago from a large city centre law firm. She wanted to work for a smaller, locally based business offering greater scope for personal career development.
Two years on, she is now agency manager and gaining new qualifications and successfully negotiating her own deals, managing transactions through to completion and liaising with clients including solicitors, property buyers, landlords and tenants.
Speaking about her role with the Salmon Field Business Village-based agency, Vicky said: “My day-to-day duties include carrying out viewings, negotiating strong lease terms, and qualifying and pushing offers as much as possible for our clients. I perform due diligence checks on buyers and tenants, to provide clients with as much info as possible to make a choice; producing and circulate particulars to our database of applicants, including targeted professionals such as north-west property agents, developers and investors. We believe our services are especially strong, which is why we use the ‘no ordinary professional’ tagline for Breakey & Nuttall’s branding and social media.”
With a background in secretarial and admin work, Vicky said learning about the commercial property sector, its terminology and systems, was like learning a new language at first. However, she rose to the challenge and is gaining a wide range of experience along with professional qualifications, as are other members of the team.
Vicky, aged 44, grew up in Droylsden, Tameside, and attended Wright Robinson School in Gorton, Manchester. She started work aged 16 for JD Williams in Manchester as a typist. She later moved to Citi Bank at Salford Quays and then law firm Addleshaw Goddard, where she worked for eight years.
She recalled” “Over the years, I typically worked in small secretarial and admin teams for large corporate firms. But I wanted a change to develop my career with new skills and training. One of my old colleagues, Christine McKeegan, had joined Breakey & Nuttall earlier and she put my name forward for an interview.
“When I first joined, I had no idea about commercial property and details like business rates or VAT. Commercial property is a totally different field to residential property. For me, it was like learning Chinese and was a massive challenge, at first.
“However, I really pushed myself and the team at Breakey & Nuttall was another key factor. Staff here are so supportive. I’ve been nicknamed ‘Can I Ask?’ by Glenn because I’m always asking questions! There’s never a day when I don’t ask questions. But Glenn always says he learns something new every day, too. So, there’s a good culture and opportunities for training and professional development.”
Vicky, Jackie and colleague Christine McKeegan, along with Glenn, are all undertaking various levels of Property Mark professional qualifications. Vicky has completed her first module and is working towards her second. Exams are taken in Oldham.
“I’ve learned about commercial building materials, structure, fixtures and fittings, such as eaves, ports and desk space. And about other things like regulations, legal compliance and health-and-safety. There are lots of things to learn, which I like. Staff at Breakey & Nuttall work across a range of work, which gives good variety and job satisfaction.
“In the past with larger organisations, I sometimes felt overlooked with no options for my own development. But now at Breakey & Nuttall, I feel everything I do is properly recognised. The job satisfaction combined with professional training makes me feel I’ve got much-better prospects now than in the past. It’s great to be with a growing Oldham business with good colleagues and an exciting future.”