BOB Dyson, the property mastermind behind many of Manchester's biggest developments, has left Dunlop Haywards to join rivals Jones Lang LaSalle.

Mr Dyson, who had been with the Mosley Street-based firm since 1972, will now create a é2.8bn development portfolio for JLL. The appointment will mean JLL expects to achieve its three-year business plan in just 18 months.

The move has sent shockwaves round the Manchester property community, and adds to difficulties at Dunlop Haywards where he was executive chairman. He will now be north west chairman at JLL.

Dunlop Haywards, once independent Manchester firm Dunlop Heywood - was bought last year by Erinaceous Group, with the aim of creating a multi-disciplinary property consultancy.

Mr Dyson is probably best-known for putting together the deals which led to the 4m sq ft Spinningfields development in Manchester, and to the creation of a commercial development at Great Bridgewater Street which helped fund the building of the Bridgewater Hall.

Speaking exclusively to the M.E.N. he said: "You get to the stage in your career when you take stock, you think you've done this for an awful long time, and there's also an acceptance that Dunlops has changed its form, structure and direction.

Emotions

"I won't pretend I haven't got mixed emotions, leaving behind trusted colleagues like Peter Gallagher and Stephen Pressman, both guys I've worked with closely for two-thirds of my life.

"My job at Jones Lang LaSalle will be to push the firm's commercial property development programme to the point where we hit a capital value around the é2.5bn mark. The firm is well out of the blocks already in the race to achieve that figure."

Jonathan Mills, partner in charge at JLL Manchester, said: "We approached Bob because we've never had a person who can link development and strategic consultancy with agency, and pull everything together.

"We want to free Bob from administrative work to help us grow our development consultancy work, which already includes working on Spinningfields and the 7m sq ft Omega development at Warrington. The appointment means that we can do what we've done in other parts of our business in the UK which is to separate the role of chairman from chief executive, so that Bob can be a marvellous face, eyes and ears for the business.

"Bob is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures on the Manchester property scene.We are delighted to be able to attract someone of Bob's calibre into our business to complement our existing team. His great experience and track record in development and regeneration projects and his breadth of senior-level contacts will be a terrific asset as we grow our business."

The Jones Lang LaSalle team in Manchester is over 50 strong, with further growth planned over the next two years. Mr Dyson is expected to join the business early next year.

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