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Arun Estates is to close six London branches under the Douglas Allen brand name from next week, with the majority of staff to be let go.
We are told that the offices to close are situated in Ilford, Chingford, East Ham, Barkingside, Chigwell, and Wanstead.
According to sources, up to 70% of staff will be let go by the company, with the rest to be pushed into what the firm refers to as ‘super hubs’.
EYE has been informed that staff members were taken into a hotel in Waltham Abbey yesterday and notified about the changes at the company, with many estate agents now facing redundancy, including some people who have been working for the firm for more than 20 years.
Arun Estates, when approached for comment, refrained from talking about the staff redundancies in East London, but were instead keen to share the news about the new business model being adopted in the capital.
Aldo Sotgiu, group managing director at Arun Estates, told EYE: “Within our Douglas Allen brand, which covers much of East London and Essex, we’ve decided specifically for the East London area to move ahead with an exciting hub model with three super hubs covering the whole of our East London region.”
Sotgiu points out that this not the first time Arun Estates has entertained a different business model. He says the firm successfully applied changes in a section of its Brighton Cubitt & West network several years ago.
He explained: “The three super hubs will continue to cover the same geographical area providing the same high level of service and commitment from three physical bases.
“What this means is that six of the existing offices now become virtual spokes feeding into the super hubs with a number of staff from the existing network being transferred to one of the three super hubs where we’re anticipating much higher levels of activity.”
Sotgiu confirmed that the three super hubs are now based in the firm’s existing offices in Woodford Green, Walthamstow and Chadwell Heath.
He continued: “This will provide a massive opportunity for growth within the hubs whilst, at the same time, providing a more efficient way of operating the business within East London where we have a high density of offices working in close proximity.
“The new hub model was a good fit for that particular part of our business and there are no plans to apply the hub model in other parts of Douglas Allen and Arun Estates’ overall business strategy remains a modern, traditional high street operation. Indeed, we have an appetite for expansion should the right strategic opportunities arise, with particular interest to add to the two recent lettings acquisitions we have made.”
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