Shaun Simons – I left school at the tender age of 16 and went straight in the world of commercial property
agency. I’m now 28 so have 12 years of experience, making me a bit of a veteran at a young age. I am hugely ambitious and have always wanted to run my own business, so you could say I’m living the dream with Hatton at the moment!
G: Tell us about your business(-es): What do you do? What did inspire you to start? What is
your unique selling point/competitive advantage compare to competitors?
Our firm is called Hatton Real Estate and is a niche commercial property agency specialising in the City Fringes of London, in particular Shoreditch, Clerkenwell & Farringdon. I started the firm in June 2010 with my two business partners Michael Raibin and Ricky Blair both of whom I had worked with previously at another local agency.
The Hatton USP is how we are embracing modern technology in our day to day working lives.
With many occupiers and businesses adopting social media into their own working practices,
we established the business with the clear aim of adapting and improving upon traditional
marketing methods, fusing together with innovative digital techniques to promote and publicise
vacant and available properties to the market in a manner and method that is expected and
preferred by many businesses.
In early 2011, as a direct result of publicising a property on Facebook, a subsequent enquiry for
the office building and the resulting transaction is thought to be the first letting in the UK to
have involved the use of Facebook in this way.
We are very proud of the fact that he firm is now recognised by many as a leading exponent of
the use of social media within the commercial property market.
G: What are the main challenges maintaining your business and how are you overcoming them?
As present the main challenge is the low supply of offices throughout our area. The City Fringe
has become so popular over the past few years with companies migrating to the area, this has
meant that tenants who are looking for space have not got a huge amount of options.
We are fortunate that we have managed to secure instructions on a number of the key, large
developments that are taking place in Shoreditch and surrounds, which will supply us with a
good steady level or work for the next two years or so. We are always hungry for more work and
are in the process or expanding the agency to make this happen.
G: What would you say has been your most memorable experience while developing your
business? What were the most successful or unique projects?
We are very proud to have picked up the letting mandate of the popular Shoreditch office
complex The Tea Building which is owned by clients Derwent London. The Tea Building houses
some big names including Mother, Mind Candy, BD Networks, Method and WPP subsidiary
All Global. The building measured 250,000 Sq Ft and is the most prestigious instruction a local
agency could want to deal with.
G: What were the funniest moments that happened while setting up/running your business?
Every day at Hatton is a bit of an adventure so I don’t think I can pinpoint one specific moment.
The team at present consists of five people; we are all friends so coming to work doesn’t really
feel like coming to work…… Everyone is super ambitious and hungry so the atmosphere in the
office is incredible.
The success of any company is keeping overheads to a minimum and we work very hard to
ensure we don’t waste money that could and should be reinvested back into the business; this is
our number one rule! We don’t allow silly office politics to take place; it’s a team game at Hatton
where the whole team is fully responsible and reliant on one another.
G: Why do you choose Shoreditch to run your business?
Between the three partners of Hatton we have over 30 years’ experience of the Shoreditch
property market, we didn’t suddenly see value and move into the area, we have been here before
it was what it is today!
G: Is there anything Special about property market in Shoreditch?
Having worked in the Shoreditch market for so many years I feel very attached and of course think it’s very special, the location has a diverse mix of buildings ranging from new and modern to old and characterful. Landlords and tenants seem to be bolder with their refurbishment ideas than in other parts of London and this all adds to the incredible atmosphere and creativity the location has to offer!
G: Who/what are your favorite CEOs/Businesses in Shoreditch?
Over the past five years I have watched Richard Moross of Moo.com build an incredible business which seems to never stop growing, other favorites are Divinia Knowles of Mind Candy and Sarah Wood of Unruly Media. They are all clients of Hatton and have incredible growing businesses. Mr Start on Rivington Street is also a favorite at Hatton as he supplies all our work attire! We are all member of Shoreditch House which is great for almost every occasion, we also really big fans of The Breakfast Club, Pizza East and also Book Club in Leonard Street.
G: What does the future has in store for Shoreditch?
It has its doubters but Shoreditch WILL be the creative epicentre for London, there is an
argument to say that it already is. With the continuous infrastructure improvements and
the ever improving retail and restaurant line up, Shoreditch is the place to work, play and be
creative!
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Blog: www.hattonrealestate.co.uk/blog
Website: www.hattonrealestate.co.uk
