6 August 2016 – by Amber Rolt
John Grimes, Land Securities’ retail leasing director, has left the firm to join Hammerson.
He is the fourth person to leave the LandSec London team in a month. Grimes will become head of development leasing at Hammerson, and will work on preletting the firm’s retail schemes in Brent Cross and Croydon.
Grimes has more than 20 years of development leasing experience, working on UK shopping centres including the Bullring in Birmingham; Whitefriars in Canterbury, Kent; Princesshay in Exeter; and Trinity Leeds.
He has also worked on major mixed-use London schemes such as Cardinal Place, SW1; Bankside, SE1, and One New Change, EC4.
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Grimes said: “I am looking forward to working with the teams on delivering two world-class retail destinations for London. Retail is constantly evolving and it is important not only to understand everything about our target retailers, but also to deliver an exemplary consumer experience.”
Brent Cross recently got the green light from Barnet Council to form part of a £4bn town centre redevelopment. Hammerson and Westfield will start work on their £1.4bn shopping centre in Croydon in 2017.
Grimes’s departure follows that of three of his former LandSec colleagues. Last month head of investment Tom Elliott, West End portfolio director Ben Ridgwell and head of development management Oliver Gardiner left to join other firms. LandSec is looking to replace them.
