GCW founding partner to leave

David Gooch, one of the founding partners of niche retail agency GCW, is to retire after 30 years at the firm. Gooch launched GCW, which was recently appointed to advise Arcadia on its property strategy, in 1989 alongside Stuart Cunliffe and Keith Whale as a three-person surveyor practice. Gooch is involved in various areas of the practice, including agency, investment and shopping centres. He will leave on 28 June. Separately, it is understood the agency is planning a wide-ranging revamp to address ongoing structural changes in the retail sector and town centres. More details on the relaunch are expected to emerge in the coming months. Throughout Gooch’s career, he has advised retailers and landlords on matters including compulsory purchase orders, development agreements and head lease re-gearing. He said: “It will be nearly 30 years to the day when I leave, since we officially launched on 17 July. “We had a flying start in 1989 but the market was teetering at that point and in late 1990-91 it was tough for everyone. “Property consultancy was not a great market to be in back then, and we had little work in progress. “There was only so much you could do but it gave us a lot of time to work out how to provide the service we wanted to provide, and we have benefited from it throughout the past 30 years.” Key deals include advisory roles on Brixton Market’s revival and subsequent £37.3m sale last year, and on Feltham’s 1m sq ft town centre regeneration project, which was forward-sold for more than £65m in 2005. Gooch said the Feltham regeneration was the single deal he felt most proud of during his time at GCW. “We worked for 10 years to deliver a 1m sq ft, residential-led redevelopment of the whole town centre, which I oversaw from beginning to end. “Everyone talks of mixed-use but very few town centre redevelopments have [taken place] where that has actually happened,” he said. “It was ahead of its time – it had a hotel, medical centre, library and community facilities, as well as retail, offices and 807 flats.” Gooch is also a founding member and former chairman of the Shop Agents Society. After he leaves, Whale will be the only remaining founding partner at the practice, working as a consultant. Cunliffe is currently a senior director at BNP Paribas Real Estate, having left GCW in 1997. To send feedback, e-mail pui-guan.man@egi.co.uk or tweet @PuiGuanM or @estatesgazette