Member Article

Astir reveals trio of new hires as it looks to expand London development footprint

London residential developer Astir has made a trio of new hires as it looks to grow its development footprint in the capital.

Percy Mullany, John Lahiff and Chris Chapman have all joined Astir focusing on new land acquisitions across the capital.

Astir is a newly established developer, owner and manager of multi tenure places aspiring to transform the living sectors in the UK. Its vision is for mixed use multi tenure developments at scale, that are designed, built and operated in a highly sustainable way.

Percy Mullany joins Astir as Land Director to head up the land and planning team. Percy brings a depth of experience sourcing and gaining planning on major residential developments all across London. Most recently Percy worked with Countryside as Development Director for Countryside’s West London Partnership business. Prior to that Percy enjoyed a successful career over 11 years at the Berkeley Group working his way from a graduate position to land director.

Percy said: “There are not many opportunities to join an innovative and dynamic new company, so I jumped at the opportunity to be part of Astir. The team has a hugely impressive track record with aspirations that align to my own ambitions.”

Travis Crawford, partner at Astir, added: “Having worked with Percy previously I know he can help drive Astir with his excellent experience, broad skill set and entrepreneurial spirit. I am very pleased that he has joined Astir and look forward to many successes in the future.”

John Lahiff joins the Astir team as Senior Land Manager.

John has over 15 years’ experience acquiring both unconsented and consented land across London predominantly on an off-market basis. John brings with him an extensive network of personal relationships with agents and introducers.

John said: “Having met the guys, I immediately felt a great rapport, and I was extremely impressed with their experience and track records, but also the vision they had for the company. What really interested and excited me was the opportunity to join that journey at an early stage and bring that vision to reality.”

The most recent addition is Chris Chapman, who joins as Senior Land Manager. Chris has a long-established career securing numerous land opportunities for multiple tenures through a variety of structures across London and the South East. Chris has an excellent reputation across the industry and long-term relationships with landowners, agents and funders.

He said: “I am thrilled to embark on this new chapter of my career and join Astir. I am genuinely excited about the opportunities this role will bring and look forward to contributing my expertise and knowledge to further enhance the company’s success.”

Alan Shad, partner at Astir, added: “Both John and Chris bring an excellent network of personal relationships across the industry. Their depth of experience uncovering off market deals in all Living sectors makes them an excellent complement to our existing team and help drive our ambitious land acquisition programme in London. We are delighted to welcome them on board.”

Astir is nearing completion of its West Hampstead Central scheme – an exclusive collection of 94 high-spec one- and two-bedroom apartments in the heart of West Hampstead village. The scheme, Astir’s first, also includes flexible office and retail space.

Astir has also acquired Tesco’s 4-acre superstore site in Lewisham where it is working with Tesco to secure planning consent. Astir plans to bring forward a multi-use scheme including a new Tesco store, rental housing, a hotel, student accommodation, alongside co-working and community uses to support the retained Tesco store, that will continue to trade on site and serve the local community throughout the redevelopment process.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Walker .