Cardoe Martin’s 20th Anniversary Address

With Graham Cardoe FRICS

Firstly,  I’d like to extend a warm welcome to you all. Thank you for joining us today to celebrate   Cardoe Martin’s 20 years in business.

We are especially grateful to you,  our clients, friends and colleagues for your loyalty and support over the past twenty years –  without you none of this would have been possible.

As you can imagine over the past twenty years there have been challenges but also some exciting times for the business. We acquired the business in a management buyout in 2001 and a few months later the world was rocked by the events of 9/11.

Over the course of the next few years we expanded the range of professional services we were able to offer by acquiring professional practices, undertaking valuation, expert witness and party wall work.

In 2006 we appointed Kevin Marshall as MD and its fair to say that before Kevin’s arrival the company had too many senior professional staff. Kevin brought in a young team of surveyors which enabled us to compete for a broader range of work and offer additional professional services such as CAD and design work. One member of this young surveying team was a 20 year old, and fresh faced, Alex Hayward. If you think Alex looks young now you should have seen him then. When he walked into the office  I thought what’s this kid doing here – must have got lost on the school run.

We survived the worst property recession in 50 years in 2008 following the banking crisis and our survival was in no small part due to the loyalty of our clients. I remember chatting to one of our pension fund clients at the time. He asked me how things were going and I said things were tough and we were short of work.  He said Graham we’ll find you work  – and if you re ever short of work again just let me know- and he was true to his word.

In 2010, Chris Martin lost his brave fight with cancer. Chris, at 6′ 4″, was not only a big man physically but he was a big personality too – unflappable and someone you would definitely want on your side in a crisis. For those of us who knew him, we still share some amusing stories – so in a way he is still with us. His contribution to the business in those early years was immense as Chris won and managed the largest instruction the company has ever undertaken – a £6 million refurbishment in Edgware Road.

In 2014, the business was purchased by Rendall and Rittner and we are grateful to Duncan, Matt and Richard for their loyalty, invaluable business expertise and continued  support, not to mention introducing their clients. We as a company are committed to repaying their loyalty and support by making the acquisition of Cardoe Martin a long term success.

In 2015, the fresh faced boy who had got lost on his way to school was appointed Managing Director. Alex immediately breathed fresh life and energy into the business and set about recruiting a truely talented team at director level in Alexandra Redmond, Richard Pegman , Sajid Rehman  and Lee Rhodes. Alex has also assembled a competent and energetic team of professional staff underpinned by a hard working and well organised business development and administrative team.

Alex has taken the business to a new level not only in terms of turnover and profitability but also the range of services offered by the company and extending to regional offices in Sheffield and Manchester which have gone from strength to strength – driven forward  by Sajid and Lee. The business continues to thrive despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and we look forward to more prosperous times ahead as restrictions begin to ease.

Its incredible what can be achieved when everyone is working together towards a common goal.  Alex and his co-directors have ambitious plans for the business and I wish them every success in the future. Cardoe Martin is, without doubt, in safe hands.

Thank you so much for joining us in our celebrations, listening to the short podcast with me and reading the Journal – we are so grateful  to you, our  clients, business associates and colleagues, for  your continued support of the business and we are looking forward to continued success together.