Dickie Dees to launch in Leeds with transfer of entire York office
Newcastle-headquartered firm Dickinson Dees is to launch an office in Leeds, transferring everyone in its York base in the process.
Jonathan Blair
The firm, which launched in York via the 2007 acquisition of corporate firm Philip Ashworth & Co, is to close its York office at the end of this year, when it will move into as-yet unidentified Leeds premises.
Managing partner Jonathan Blair said the move has come about following the completion of a 10-year strategic plan, which was drawn up over the course of last year (28 March 2011).
“Yorkshire’s been a success for us, but the logical next step was to position ourselves in Leeds,” he said. “We’ve more than quadrupled our turnover since we’ve been in York, but we believe that opportunities can be mined better by placing ourselves in Leeds.”
While York is seen as a commercial centre, Leeds is a centre for both commercial and financial work.
Dickinson Dees currently has five partners working in York, focusing on real estate, corporate, charities, construction and planning. Blair said that the move to Leeds would factor in space for expansion, but that the firm would not look to add “turnover for the sake of it”.
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Readers' comments (12)
Anonymous | 29-Aug-2011 9:47 am
This has another "Watson Burton, Leeds" disaster written all over it. Why move out of a loyal and niche market into a bear pit like Leeds, especially when you have missed the boat years ago ? I can assure you that the established firms in Leeds will be looking distainfully down thier noses and shaking their heads, while their local competitors will be looking forward to the project bleeding them dry.
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Anonymous | 5-Sep-2011 2:25 pm
I agree. Dickinson Dees are copying the Watson Burton blueprint.
What worries me is that they seem so reactive, so many of their decisions seem about "keeping up with the Jones's".
So they made a big play of making the most of the opportunities around ABS. However they spotted that other firms weren't interested, so they shelved that idea. They burst into York with lots of publicity, but then nobody followed, so they went back to the herd.
It's a shame as I think JB is the right man for the job.
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