The four members of the Leaders Romans Group (LRG) New Homes Development Consultancy Team (DCT) have a combined industry experience of over 65 years, each taking a very different route to where they are today. Their varied backgrounds bring a depth and breadth across many different departments within LRG, strengthening the service offering that they supply to their clients.
Here each team member describes their individual role and career path, tell us why they love working for LRG and what their proudest achievements have been to date.
Jason Farrimond
What is your role at LRG? My job title is Associate Director, Land & New Homes
How long have you been with LRG? I joined LRG 10 years ago as a trainee negotiator in our Wokingham office. I then moved over to our newly opened Sunningdale office as a sales negotiator in 2014. It was during my time in the Sunningdale office that I began my Real Estate Management Degree at the University College of Estate Management. In 2015 I moved over to our Land & New Homes team as a Development Consultant as this enabled me to work in an environment to gain relevant real world experience for my studies. In 2016 I was promoted to Market Intelligence Manager and this was when the LRG Development Consultancy team started. As the LRG network grew so did the new homes patch. The development consultancy team also grew to a team of 7 and in 2018 I was promoted to Group Residential Development Manager. This role involved providing our services to the wider brands within LRG. In 2020 I was promoted to Associate Director for the Land & New Homes department and now work closely with all areas of the Land & New Homes team and our senior management in providing support to our key clients and expanding our new homes area of coverage.
Why did you want to work for LRG? Prior to working for LRG I spent a number of years working on building sites so I have spent most of my working life in the property industry. Romans are a well-known company where I grew up and after a 2 years in a different sales industry I wanted to go back into property. I noticed that Romans were recruiting and a decade later I’m still very much looking forward to what the future brings for LRG and the property industry.
What do you do on a daily basis? Due to our area of coverage and the wide range of projects that we are involved in it is rare that every day is the same. Our development team offer our advice and expertise from the initial site identification all the way through to working with our sales team. The team and I work closely with developers advising on optimum housing mix, internal layouts, specifications as well as providing development appraisals and market insight reports. We also support the wider LRG teams including Boyer, Shared Ownership and Corporate Lettings.
What is your favourite part of your job? My favourite part of my job is working with the different areas of the business and being involved in a wide variety of projects, from office conversion schemes through to large regeneration developments.
What have you loved the most about working for LRG? The overall culture of the business and the opportunity to progress and the support I have received to be able to gain a professional qualification. I have also always found that the senior management team were approachable and happy to help.
Your proudest achievements to date – in your career and at LRG? The proudest moment for me was becoming a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in 2022. This was an important personal goal that I set for myself when I started my degree in 2014 and an achievement I am really proud of.
Steve Griffiths
What is your role at LRG?
I’m a New Homes Business Development Manager
How long have you been with LRG? What was your progression to being part of the DCT?
I have been with LRG for 11 years now, having I started my career in the property industry back in 1996. My first role in the industry was as a trainee estate agent before progressing through the ranks to become an assistant manager then achieving the position of Branch Manager. I was unfortunately made redundant during the 2008 recession, but took the opportunity to start my own business doing consultancy before taking a role with Cubitt & West (Arun Estates) in Leatherhead.
I joined Romans in 2011, as I felt they offered the best opportunity to further my career – they had a great reputation and were by far the ‘stand out’ agency in the area.
Why did you want to work for LRG, and specifically be part of the DCT? I was aware of Romans and heard great things about the career progression opportunities, they were growing fast and going places – I wanted to be a part of that!
What do you do on a daily basis?
I spend much of my time liaising with developers and carrying out valuation work for them. I advise on layout specifications and provide the essential detail that they need to market their properties effectively. We have a huge amount of data to call upon to support developer’s decision making and
We also provide detailed market reports for developers when they’re exploring a scheme in a certain location. These reports will cover vital information that’s useful to the developer and designers when consulting about what to build, such as demographics, population, house statistics, market overviews & trends, local amenities, comparable data and many more. These can also be a great way to improve your own skillset and knowledge of an area when writing a report.
What is your favourite part of your job?
Building strong relationships with developers, working closely with them to understand their priorities, and meeting tight deadlines! You have to enjoy working under pressure to succeed in this environment!
What have you loved the most about working for LRG?
The culture. It has a great balance of friendly and professional, and I think it has also evolved with the times. I would say LRG is a modern company with the values that you would expect from a progressive leading company.
Your proudest achievements to date – in your career and at LRG?
I think my proudest achievement is my career progression – I think this has been achieved by consistently putting my clients at the heart of what I do, and trying to go the extra mile to support them at every stage of their development sales cycle – from viability and specification to sales and marketing.
Any advice you have for someone considering a role within the property industry
Be yourself.
Myles Butler
What is your role at LRG?
My role at LRG is as a Residential Development Consultant.
How long have you been with LRG? What was your progression to being part of the DCT?
I have been with Romans around 4.5 years now. I originally started out in property management before changing roles to become part of the Development Consultancy Team. I changed roles as this better utilised my degree and I had an interest in new build property.
Why did you want to work for LRG, and specifically be part of the DCT?
LRG appealed to me for the variety of opportunities that are offered across multiple departments. I also saw that with the company’s goal of expansion there was long term job security that some smaller agents were not able to match.
What do you do on a daily basis?
My role is highly varied so often days run differently depending on what work I have on. That said I always start the day by reviewing emails and calls that would have come in overnight, checking if there is anything requiring my attention and if so add these to my day book. I will then run through all tasks I have outstanding in my day book so I can structure my day to ensure these are completed within their required time scales.
I see my work as having two key sides to it with these being development appraisal and market reports / analysis. If on a given day I have sites requiring appraisal I will often look to visit the site location to gain a better understand of the different aspects which may impact upon values, following this I will then return home or to the office depending on where I am based that day and look to complete the appraisal. I often try to do this in the morning which leaves my afternoons free to work on market reports which we compile for a number of our clients. These take significant time to complete and are highly detailed orientated, as a result we work on them across a number of days in order to ensure we maintain our attention to detail and have variation within our day.
What is your favourite part of your job?
My favourite aspect of the job is the variation offered by the role. One day you can be valuing a site for two units and the next day it could be several hundred units. Each valuation is like its own puzzle and you have to work diligently to put together the pieces to form your final opinion on values.
What have you loved the most about working for LRG?
What I love most about my work at LRG is the team I get to work with. We have a great mix of personalities and everyone is valued.
What are your proudest achievements to date – in your career and at LRG?
Recently won a quarterly award but am currently working on my Assoc RICS submission which if successful will be my proudest achievement.
Any advice you have for someone considering this role within the property industry
My one bit of advice for anyone considering this role is to have a passion for property, this will ensure that you enjoy the work you are doing and will be more likely to succeed.
Robert Wheeler
What is your role at LRG?
I’m the manager of the Residential Development Consultancy team at LRG.
How long have you been with LRG? What was your progression to being part of the DCT?
I joined Romans 7 years ago back in May 2015 where I initially joined as a mortgage advisor. I was fortunate to be placed within the New Homes team helping purchasers who had reserved a property from one of our developments arrange the mortgages & insurances.
I worked closely with the New Homes team throughout the next 3 years and was really intrigued by the processes of advising and bringing developments to life from the early stages throughout the planning process. As a mortgage advisor you’re only really involved with the finished product whereas I was really interested in getting to know more about the development consultancy side as I’ve always had a keen interest in property.
I joined the Development Consultancy team around 4 years ago, initially within Romans but this then expanded to us covering all of LRG’s locations also. And recently, as of March 2022, was appointed the manager of the division.
Why did you want to work for LRG, and specifically be part of the DCT?
LRG is a very well-known name within the industry with great ethics and management. As a large company it has a variety of departments and opportunities to grow and further my career. The clientele we deal with, especially within the New Homes division, includes numerous large-scale building companies and this was very appealing as you get to work with large-scale developments. Being part of the BDM team especially intrigued me due to my keen interest in building and property.
What do you do on a daily basis?
The role can be very varied so it’s difficult to describe what I would do on a consistent daily basis. Generally, there are 3 or 4 main aspects to the role. Conducting site appraisals are large part of the working week, this will entail consulting with a developer about a potential scheme they may be looking to build and using your expertise to discuss what would be best in that location, such as what house types, sizes, elevations, values, specifications, internal layouts, site layouts, etc.
We also provide detailed market reports for developers when they’re exploring a scheme in a certain location. These reports will cover vital information that’s useful to the developer and designers when consulting about what to build, such as demographics, population, house statistics, market overviews & trends, local amenities, comparable data and many more. These can also be a great way to improve your own skillset and knowledge of an area when writing a report.
Another large part of the role is the ongoing relationships you’re trying to build with the clientele. This can involve on-site visits, general meetings with developers or even after work engagements.
What is your favourite part of your job?
My favourite part of the job is being apart of and seeing a development go from an initial enquiry about a potential piece of land or building conversion to then helping a developer throughout the planning process giving advice on what you think would be best in this location from a monetary and saleability point of view, all the way through to seeing the properties being build and sold to purchasers. It’s a very rewarding feeling knowing you’ve been a part of that process.
What have you loved the most about working for LRG?
The company is very supportive in anything you want to do to help further your career and grow as person, whether that’s encouraging you on different personal development courses, RICS applications or even charitable events, they’re a great company to work for and you’ll also meet some great people that work here too.
Your proudest achievements to date – in your career and at LRG?
Recently being promoted to manager of the Development Consultancy team after many years of hard work and improving my skillset.
Any advice you have for someone considering a role within the property industry
Do something that you enjoy and have a passion for, mine’s always been property and I’ve been fortunate enough to work within a variety of sectors within this industry. If you have a passion for property too it’s a fantastic industry to be involved in and the business development side lets you be involved in a number of different aspects.
Meet the New Homes Development Consultancy Team!
The four members of the Leaders Romans Group (LRG) New Homes Development Consultancy Team (DCT) have a combined industry experience of over 65 years, each taking a very different route to where they are today. Their varied backgrounds bring a depth and breadth across many different departments within LRG, strengthening the service offering that they supply to their clients.
Here each team member describes their individual role and career path, tell us why they love working for LRG and what their proudest achievements have been to date.
Jason Farrimond
My job title is Associate Director, Land & New Homes
I joined LRG 10 years ago as a trainee negotiator in our Wokingham office. I then moved over to our newly opened Sunningdale office as a sales negotiator in 2014. It was during my time in the Sunningdale office that I began my Real Estate Management Degree at the University College of Estate Management. In 2015 I moved over to our Land & New Homes team as a Development Consultant as this enabled me to work in an environment to gain relevant real world experience for my studies. In 2016 I was promoted to Market Intelligence Manager and this was when the LRG Development Consultancy team started. As the LRG network grew so did the new homes patch. The development consultancy team also grew to a team of 7 and in 2018 I was promoted to Group Residential Development Manager. This role involved providing our services to the wider brands within LRG. In 2020 I was promoted to Associate Director for the Land & New Homes department and now work closely with all areas of the Land & New Homes team and our senior management in providing support to our key clients and expanding our new homes area of coverage.
Prior to working for LRG I spent a number of years working on building sites so I have spent most of my working life in the property industry. Romans are a well-known company where I grew up and after a 2 years in a different sales industry I wanted to go back into property. I noticed that Romans were recruiting and a decade later I’m still very much looking forward to what the future brings for LRG and the property industry.
Due to our area of coverage and the wide range of projects that we are involved in it is rare that every day is the same. Our development team offer our advice and expertise from the initial site identification all the way through to working with our sales team. The team and I work closely with developers advising on optimum housing mix, internal layouts, specifications as well as providing development appraisals and market insight reports. We also support the wider LRG teams including Boyer, Shared Ownership and Corporate Lettings.
My favourite part of my job is working with the different areas of the business and being involved in a wide variety of projects, from office conversion schemes through to large regeneration developments.
The overall culture of the business and the opportunity to progress and the support I have received to be able to gain a professional qualification. I have also always found that the senior management team were approachable and happy to help.
The proudest moment for me was becoming a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in 2022. This was an important personal goal that I set for myself when I started my degree in 2014 and an achievement I am really proud of.
Steve Griffiths
I’m a New Homes Business Development Manager
I have been with LRG for 11 years now, having I started my career in the property industry back in 1996. My first role in the industry was as a trainee estate agent before progressing through the ranks to become an assistant manager then achieving the position of Branch Manager. I was unfortunately made redundant during the 2008 recession, but took the opportunity to start my own business doing consultancy before taking a role with Cubitt & West (Arun Estates) in Leatherhead.
I joined Romans in 2011, as I felt they offered the best opportunity to further my career – they had a great reputation and were by far the ‘stand out’ agency in the area.
I was aware of Romans and heard great things about the career progression opportunities, they were growing fast and going places – I wanted to be a part of that!
I spend much of my time liaising with developers and carrying out valuation work for them. I advise on layout specifications and provide the essential detail that they need to market their properties effectively. We have a huge amount of data to call upon to support developer’s decision making and
We also provide detailed market reports for developers when they’re exploring a scheme in a certain location. These reports will cover vital information that’s useful to the developer and designers when consulting about what to build, such as demographics, population, house statistics, market overviews & trends, local amenities, comparable data and many more. These can also be a great way to improve your own skillset and knowledge of an area when writing a report.
Building strong relationships with developers, working closely with them to understand their priorities, and meeting tight deadlines! You have to enjoy working under pressure to succeed in this environment!
The culture. It has a great balance of friendly and professional, and I think it has also evolved with the times. I would say LRG is a modern company with the values that you would expect from a progressive leading company.
I think my proudest achievement is my career progression – I think this has been achieved by consistently putting my clients at the heart of what I do, and trying to go the extra mile to support them at every stage of their development sales cycle – from viability and specification to sales and marketing.
Be yourself.
Myles Butler
My role at LRG is as a Residential Development Consultant.
I have been with Romans around 4.5 years now. I originally started out in property management before changing roles to become part of the Development Consultancy Team. I changed roles as this better utilised my degree and I had an interest in new build property.
LRG appealed to me for the variety of opportunities that are offered across multiple departments. I also saw that with the company’s goal of expansion there was long term job security that some smaller agents were not able to match.
My role is highly varied so often days run differently depending on what work I have on. That said I always start the day by reviewing emails and calls that would have come in overnight, checking if there is anything requiring my attention and if so add these to my day book. I will then run through all tasks I have outstanding in my day book so I can structure my day to ensure these are completed within their required time scales.
I see my work as having two key sides to it with these being development appraisal and market reports / analysis. If on a given day I have sites requiring appraisal I will often look to visit the site location to gain a better understand of the different aspects which may impact upon values, following this I will then return home or to the office depending on where I am based that day and look to complete the appraisal. I often try to do this in the morning which leaves my afternoons free to work on market reports which we compile for a number of our clients. These take significant time to complete and are highly detailed orientated, as a result we work on them across a number of days in order to ensure we maintain our attention to detail and have variation within our day.
My favourite aspect of the job is the variation offered by the role. One day you can be valuing a site for two units and the next day it could be several hundred units. Each valuation is like its own puzzle and you have to work diligently to put together the pieces to form your final opinion on values.
What I love most about my work at LRG is the team I get to work with. We have a great mix of personalities and everyone is valued.
Recently won a quarterly award but am currently working on my Assoc RICS submission which if successful will be my proudest achievement.
My one bit of advice for anyone considering this role is to have a passion for property, this will ensure that you enjoy the work you are doing and will be more likely to succeed.
Robert Wheeler
I’m the manager of the Residential Development Consultancy team at LRG.
I joined Romans 7 years ago back in May 2015 where I initially joined as a mortgage advisor. I was fortunate to be placed within the New Homes team helping purchasers who had reserved a property from one of our developments arrange the mortgages & insurances.
I worked closely with the New Homes team throughout the next 3 years and was really intrigued by the processes of advising and bringing developments to life from the early stages throughout the planning process. As a mortgage advisor you’re only really involved with the finished product whereas I was really interested in getting to know more about the development consultancy side as I’ve always had a keen interest in property.
I joined the Development Consultancy team around 4 years ago, initially within Romans but this then expanded to us covering all of LRG’s locations also. And recently, as of March 2022, was appointed the manager of the division.
LRG is a very well-known name within the industry with great ethics and management. As a large company it has a variety of departments and opportunities to grow and further my career. The clientele we deal with, especially within the New Homes division, includes numerous large-scale building companies and this was very appealing as you get to work with large-scale developments. Being part of the BDM team especially intrigued me due to my keen interest in building and property.
The role can be very varied so it’s difficult to describe what I would do on a consistent daily basis. Generally, there are 3 or 4 main aspects to the role. Conducting site appraisals are large part of the working week, this will entail consulting with a developer about a potential scheme they may be looking to build and using your expertise to discuss what would be best in that location, such as what house types, sizes, elevations, values, specifications, internal layouts, site layouts, etc.
We also provide detailed market reports for developers when they’re exploring a scheme in a certain location. These reports will cover vital information that’s useful to the developer and designers when consulting about what to build, such as demographics, population, house statistics, market overviews & trends, local amenities, comparable data and many more. These can also be a great way to improve your own skillset and knowledge of an area when writing a report.
Another large part of the role is the ongoing relationships you’re trying to build with the clientele. This can involve on-site visits, general meetings with developers or even after work engagements.
My favourite part of the job is being apart of and seeing a development go from an initial enquiry about a potential piece of land or building conversion to then helping a developer throughout the planning process giving advice on what you think would be best in this location from a monetary and saleability point of view, all the way through to seeing the properties being build and sold to purchasers. It’s a very rewarding feeling knowing you’ve been a part of that process.
The company is very supportive in anything you want to do to help further your career and grow as person, whether that’s encouraging you on different personal development courses, RICS applications or even charitable events, they’re a great company to work for and you’ll also meet some great people that work here too.
Recently being promoted to manager of the Development Consultancy team after many years of hard work and improving my skillset.
Do something that you enjoy and have a passion for, mine’s always been property and I’ve been fortunate enough to work within a variety of sectors within this industry. If you have a passion for property too it’s a fantastic industry to be involved in and the business development side lets you be involved in a number of different aspects.
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