Being part of something has always been important to Strettons, from its family roots to its geographical strongholds. It is something that becomes instantly clear when EG sits down with the first non-familial managing director of the 93-year-old business, Simon Tilsiter. Being part of the DNA of an area, being a long-term partner and helping places, business and people transform matters is what Tilsiter is keen to make an integral part of the firm’s purpose.
Tilsiter became managing director of Strettons in May 2019, taking over from Ben Tobin. Brothers Jack and Sidney Tobin founded the east London-based advisory in 1931 and, through a succession of Tobins at the helm, grew Strettons from a staff of 11 to more than 100 today.
The weight of being the first non-family member to run the business lies heavy on Tilsiter’s shoulders, but not unbearably so. Steering the business through Brexit, Covid, a disastrous mini-Budget – and maybe another to come – plus dealing with his own health issues, has taught Tilsiter to enjoy the responsibility, to take care of the purpose of Strettons and to push forward with its next phase of growth.
EG meets Tilsiter in a café in London’s East End. He hasn’t just chosen Music & Beans in the Shoreditch Exchange development for its ambience and tasty coffee. He has chosen it, he says, because it is part of the story of Strettons. The business has worked alongside the owner for decades, working with the family to ensure the buildings are always in use, moving from traditional trades of years gone by into more modern uses today. And that is what he wants Strettons’ story to be. He wants people to know it as an adviser that sits at the heart of regeneration, helping to create new places but never erasing the history and familial traits that make a place a place.
“Our purpose is all about taking our knowledge and using it at the right time for the right purpose and to add value,” said Tilsiter.
Part of that purpose is also to show the wider world that Strettons is more than just an auctioneer or an east London specialist. He describes the business as a “king of our area”, a true expert that has the knowledge to understand the past but the vision to see the future.
“I think people have pigeonholed us in a particular way. And that pigeonhole is a strength, as it is east London and it is often auctions,” says Tilsiter. “But what I think people don’t know is that we are at the heart of regeneration and repurposing.
“At Strettons we talk regeneration, repurposing, creativity, placemaking, neighbourhoods and community,” he adds. “And because we’ve got the history and we know how sites fit together and who owns what, that knowledge and applying it at the right time for the right purpose creates places like this.”
Placemaker
Places like this are the Shoreditch Exchange, a development by Regal, designed by AHMM, that comprises more than 184 flats, 120,000 sq ft of offices and 40,000 sq ft of shops and cafés. The now shiny development used to be a warehouse and for Tilsiter it is a perfect example of what Strettons is and does.
“We want to be a joiner of ideas and help to deliver these new spaces and new communities,” he says.
He points too to Florentia Village, a development by General Projects in Harringay’s warehouse district that has brought together a collection of makers, creators and producers, from florists to bicycle makers and photographers, into a single creative campus.
Other major regeneration projects Tilsiter is clearly proud that Strettons is a part of include Dane’s Yard, a 50,000 sq ft complex of office buildings in Sugar House Island, Stratford, E15; the 65,300 sq ft Bagel Factory development in Hackney Wick, E9, and Fish Island, E3; and the 100,000 sq ft Wickside development, also in Hackney Wick, on which it has just been appointed alongside niche agent Belcor, to find commercial tenants for.
Wickside, which will extend to more than 8.4 acres, is being developed by Galliard Homes and the O’Shea Group, with completion expected in spring 2026. The instruction is yet another example of the DNA that Strettons wants to showcase: that it is part of the regeneration of east London and is indelibly linked to its transformation.
The firm has been involved in Wickside from inception, having originally advised on the sale of the site in 2014 on behalf of a private client. Looking beyond Wickside, Strettons says it has advised on transactions totalling more than 1.5m sq ft in the Hackney Wick region, transforming the once rundown area into “a wonderful location for people and businesses to call their home”.
Tilsiter says it is about “being in it”. It is about the business being in the areas in which it advises, but it is about its people being in it too. He may have managing director as his title, he says, but he is still a managing agent and he still loves to do the day job. It is why he has stayed at Strettons so long (he joined in 1990 in the auctions department and has steadily worked his way up the ranks). And it is why he hopes the business will continue to attract good talent – maybe taking some away from its bigger rivals.
A new outlook
He hopes too that his leadership style will help bring fresh talent to Strettons and enable the company to continue to grow.
He knows there is immense pressure on anyone running a business, particularly in property where the sector has been through turbulent times. But, as a recent cancer survivor, Tilsiter says he has learnt a valuable lesson to “tread more lightly”, to enjoy responsibility and find balance.
“In the early stages of my MD-ship I did wear it heavily,” he says. “There was a lot of stress and a lot of pressure. But I have changed that. I have come back to fitness and wellness with a new energy and a new outlook which means that it is actually quite enjoyable.”
He adds: “I want to make sure that the legacy, the brand that we have reaches its full potential and that I continue the journey the Tobins started. I want to keep the Tobin ethos but I want to develop it into something that is light, that is fit-for-purpose, so that our colleagues know what they are here for and what our clients want to achieve.”
For Tilsiter, Strettons’ future lies in change. Not only in the make-up of the business with him as the first – but definitely not the last – non-Tobin leader, and the introduction of a number of non-executive directors to its board, but also in the services it provides and the places it operates in.
“It is about adapting to the challenge and using it to further our purpose of using the right information, the right knowledge and the right time to find the right solution,” he says.
He has his sights set on growing the business to at least 150 staff and says that, with the help of the new non-executive director and chairman Malcolm Nicholls, strategic plans are in place to make sure that Strettons expands sustainably. Tilsiter says that at any one time he is in talks with three or four companies about a potential acquisition but says the “marriage has got to work”.
Don’t expect to see Strettons spread into the West End but you might see it strengthen its presence in north London, urban Essex and Hertfordshire.
Nicholls, who joined the board in July, has more than 35 years’ experience. He is tasked with identifying exactly which markets and strategies will increase the firm’s revenues.
Turnover fell in the year ended 30 April 2023, according to the agent’s the most recently filed accounts, dropping by 10% to £9.5m, with the challenging economic environment cited as the main reason for the decline.
However, the business remains dedicated to evolving into a more “resilient and well-balanced organisation”, reveal the accounts. Resilience and balance that will come through investment in key personnel and technologies, says Strettons.
For Tilsiter, remaining focused on and true to the firm’s purpose of using its knowledge and experience to add value and deliver change will be key.
“We want to be known for creation and repurposing and placemaking,” he says, “and that all comes back to the why and our purpose.”
Image © Louise Haywood-Schiefer
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