Cushman & Wakefield launches new consulting team: Advisory+

Global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield has launched a new consulting practice in the Asia Pacific region.

Branded as Advisory+, the fresh consulting business will provide sector-specific advice to clients on complex built environment projects, covering their end-to-end support requirements from concept and planning through to execution.

Launching with a 25-strong team, Advisory+, comprises experts recruited externally (mainly from Big Four firms) and professionals tapped from Cushman & Wakefield’s technical and transactional advisory practices.

Leading Advisory+ is Ross Hamilton, who previously was with PwC’s real estate advisory team for the past eight and a half years, before which he spent two decades between Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. Hamilton’s former PwC colleague Alan Herrman has also crossed to Cushman & Wakefield as a partner, having spent time with the Big Four firm on an off dating back to 2004.

“Ross and Alan bring a heightened level of in-depth, sophisticated thinking and methodology to address challenges in the built environment, ultimately delivering customised and value-accretive solutions for our clients,” stated Cushman & Wakefield APAC CEO Matthew Bouw.

Bouw however remained cagey in a discussion with the AFR as to the identities of the practice’s other recruits, who the firm has been assembling over the past six months.

A third new Advisory+ partner, former Landcom development director Christina Hobbes, has also recently spent a brief period as a partner at PwC, joining in July as leader of the NSW real estate team.

The suggestion is that more PwC senior leaders could be set to follow, with dozens having already scattered.

KordaMentha had earlier picked off PwC Sydney real estate practice lead Tony Massaro, while national government and infrastructure boss Peter Konidaris – caught up in the government tax policy affair – also later joined the turnaround consultancy as a partner. Others have departed to public sector breakaway Scyne Advisory, along with the defection of partners such as Danijela Malesevic, Nicholas Tsirogiannis, Luke Westmore and Florence Riviere to various law firms.

PwC – like its fellow Big Four such as KPMG – has been building up its integrated infrastructure and real estate offering in recent times, especially with a view to the massive government splash on projects following Covid-19. By mid-2021, the practice had hit the 50-partnership mark, reaching the milestone through the addition of eight partners. One of those, Amber Stevens, recently crossed as a managing director to Alvarez & Marsal. Many more are on the move.

Speaking on his own switch, Hamilton stated: “We’ve joined Cushman & Wakefield as we look to harness their technical and transactional capabilities, backed by sophisticated data, analytics and AI platforms, to help our clients make the best possible decisions for their assets and the communities in which they are situated across the Asia Pacific. The Advisory+ team is perfectly placed to provide innovative and market leading solutions to the challenges they face.”