The UK's Most Active Agents 2011

Top 5 Agents in each category

*Lettings include occupational sales, and counts disposals and acquistions.
** Regional categories for Office, Industrial and Retail are based on lettings and occupational sales. Leisure & Hotel covers all transaction types. Both disposal and acquisitions are counted.
*** Regional overall title is based on all transaction types and covers all commercial sectors including land.

Top Regional Winners

 Top 5 East Anglia Agents in each category 

Savills has snatched the East Anglia crown on behalf of the nationals thanks to a storming performance in the office market. Last year’s overall winner, Barker Storey Matthews, has held onto its industrial title and another regional specialist, Roche, has made it a second year on top of the retail tree after first breaking into the chart in 2010.

Top 5 East Midlands Agents in each category

Once again Innes England has maintained its overall title in the East Midlands, although it was pushed close by Lambert Smith Hampton which saw a surge up the rankings in offices and, particularly, industrial. But this remains a market very much under the control of the regional agents, with FHP turning in another solid performance across all sectors and PPH scoring highly enough in the north of the region to make it into the rankings.

Top 5 London Agents in each category 

It is a case of all change in the capital’s individual categories, but the final destination remains the same – a CBRE overall win. Jones Lang LaSalle took CBRE’s London office title, but at the same time slipped right back in industrial to leave Colliers International with a clear run at the top spot. However, CBRE’s performance in retail - where it displaced Nash Bond at the top of the pile - proved critical in making it London’s most active agent. Also of significance in the retail market is Brasier Freeth leaping into the top five thanks to its Tesco and Albemarle & Bond acquisitions, while Davis Coffer Lyons notched up a win in the leisure & hotel sector.

Top 5 North Agents in each category 

Knight Frank has emerged victorious in the North despite GVA reclaiming top spot in the office market and Naylors putting in an all round performance strong enough to get within a handful of deals of the overall leader. It was its performance in the North East industrial sector which Knight Frank can thank for its success. Last year’s overall winner Sanderson Weatherall once again triumphed in retail lettings, which remains its key strength in this market.

Top 5 North West Agents in each category 

With King Sturge winning the overall crown in the North West last year – the only region in which it did so - it was always going to be a difficult task to knock it off top spot once it became even bigger through the merger with JLL. And so it proved, with the company consolidating King Sturge’s title-winning performances in the office and industrial categories to see off competition from Canning O’Neill and CBRE respectively. Savills, meanwhile, stayed top in the retail sector while in leisure & hotels there was an incredibly close tussle between Colliers International and Christie + Co.

Top 5 Scotland Agents in each category 

The Scottish market could be seen as providing a model of remarkable consistency in what has been a turbulent year for the industry. Not only have all of last year’s winners in offices, industrial and retail held onto their positions, but the runners up in each of those categories have stayed the same. It is testament to Ryden’s dominance in the office and industrial markets that it was Jones Lang LaSalle that finished in second place in those categories last year and, despite the merger, could still not get close to the regional giant’s totals. Similarly, in retail lettings Culverwell beat its rivals by a significant margin.

Top 5 South East (excludes London) Agents in each category 

The market may be changing, but it will take a seismic shift in the industry for any agent to displace Lambert Smith Hampton from its position of power in the South East. Once again, supreme showings in offices and industrial have been far too strong for competitors to live with. In retail, which has traditionally been a more close-fought affair, DTZ has held onto the top spot it won last year, when it came from outside the top five to claim the crown. In what is one of the UK’s most competitive areas, it is worth noting the number of regional players featuring in the top fives.

Top 5 South West Agents in each category 

In the eleven years since the EGi Deals Competition began, Alder King has won the overall title for the South West every time. It has been its strength in the office and industrial markets that has traditionally underpinned this, but in 2011 the company stepped up to win the retail title in addition to these two, meaning the competition stood no chance of removing it from its pedestal

Top 5 Wales Agents in each category 

Lambert Smith Hampton may have been forced to surrender its UK deals crown, but in Wales it can celebrate driving Cooke & Arkwright from the throne, mainly thanks to the former’s performance in office and industrial being enough to beat the latter’s showing in retail. Also notable in Wales is the fact Jones Lang LaSalle did not win the investment title – that honour going to Savills.

Top 5 West Midlands Agents in each category 

Both the East and West Midlands are heartlands for the independent sector, and this has only been underlined by yet another strong performance from Harris Lamb in the West Midlands’ industrial sector, which has been enough to see off the challenges from the nationals in offices and retail to claim the overall title. DTZ had a particularly busy year in the office market and took this title, although it lost its retail top spot to Cushman & Wakefield.

Top 5 Yorkshire Agents in each category 

PPH Commercial showed once more that many a mickle makes muckle in Yorkshire, with its flurry of activity in the east of the region landing it the overall title from the national chains. Impressively, it took the office title from Carter Towler, despite another strong performance from the latter in Leeds. PPH did, however, lose its top spot in industrial to Knight Frank, whose Sheffield office in particular remains a powerhouse in the sector. Savills did enough to ensure there was no change at the top of the retail category.

Northern Ireland Agents in each category

Competition is hotting up in Northern Ireland, which was introduced to the EGi Deals Competition for the first time last year. BTW Shiells has retained its overall title by some margin, but could not make it another clean sweep as McConnell Chartered Surveyors has triumphed in the office sector. CBRE, DTZ and Savills were the only national chains to make a recorded impact in this market.

EGi Deals Competition 2011 - analysis by SQ FT

For further information about this competition or EGi Deals please contact the Deals team on 020 7911 1872 or email deals@egi.co.uk. To submit your deals to the team please visit www.estatesgazette.com/egi-about/extras/