Principle Estate Management had a special welcome for an important member of staff who returned from maternity leave: they promoted her as part of the company’s expansion.
Rebecca Gibson joined Principle back in September 2019, working on compliance, client reporting and business integration.
She has now become client services manager, still focussing on compliance and client reporting but also overseeing what has become a nine-strong customer services team, responsible for their performance and strategic planning.
Ms Gibson reports to Principle’s property operations manager Andrew Winstanley, which forms a strong link between the property manager and customer service teams.
Mr Winstanley said: “We’re thrilled to be adding Becky back into the business and are very happy to be a family focused employer that is flexible for staff who have young children.
“As Principle continues to grow, the customer services workload has expanded and we needed someone to take on the responsibility of managing the bigger team.
“This coincided with Becky’s return to work and we felt she was ideally placed to do a great job for us in this crucial area.
“She will also oversee compliance within the property management team, tracking every asset in each building with either a statutory or best practice requirement for testing or maintenance.
“Becky will also oversee the final integration of this crucial process into Qube, our property management system, which will improve its operational property management efficiency.”
Ms Gibson said: “It has been amazing to take a year out and watch my baby Rosie develop so much in that time.
“At the same time, I’ve been keeping in touch with Principle and am impressed by the firm’s continued growth, and by the carefully planned structural and operational changes that have taken place.
“It’s great to be able to come back and continue to play an important part as the business continues to develop and evolve. There are lots of news faces, but they all know what they’re doing for our customers and clients.”
The new shape of customer services now has Michelle Cox as team leader, using her extensive experience with overall day-to-day responsibility for training and procedures, plus looking after her own properties to support property managers.
The structure then sees pairs of customer services team members working with two property managers.
Team members include Adam Kightley, a senior customer services executive, who oversees Principle’s residential rented portfolio, maintenance matters, client liaison, compliance and appointing letting agents to oversee relets and void management.
Mr Kightley also has some of the higher profile and detailed properties within his portfolio which require additional communications compared to some more routine developments, as they benefit from his experience in the sector.
Other customer services executives include Jay Chauhan, and the apprentices include Kiera Hall, Henna Nawaz, Alanis Griffin and Seran Fitzpatrick.
Ms Fitzpatrick has been at Principle for some time and also oversees all resale enquiries: pre-sale enquiries from solicitors, Qube amends and issuing welcome letters to new customers.
Emily Spencer joined in December to work closely with Ms Gibson and with the whole customer services team at times of peak work or to cover absences.
Brittany Crump joined in January, and forms one of the customer services pairs.
Ms Gibson added: “Our reason for reshaping the team and boosting numbers is to ensure we continue to provide the highest level of service to our customers and excellent support to the property managers.”
Principle employs 40 staff looking after approaching 8,000 units in around 300 developments across the UK, as well as rented commercial and residential properties
