According to figures from Construction Products Association, this industry is forecast to rise by 13.7% in 2021 and 6.3% in 2022. The continued growth has had a knock-on effect on all suppliers from conception and creation to production and delivery of homes across the UK. One business that has seen this spiralling trend increase its turnover is The Oracle Group, which specialises in providing communication solutions to its broad property and housebuilder clients.
The increase in client activity, alongside a flurry of new business wins has resulted in a recruitment drive, with the organisation expanding its team by adding six new members of staff to support and drive its strategy. New client wins in 2021 include one of the largest independently owned housebuilders in the UK – Hill Group, alongside Andrew Henry Interior Design, Chase New Homes, Love To Rent and Burrington Estates.
To manage this rapid expansion in staff and clients, the Oracle Group has made some board changes with Claire Grant retiring to a Non-Executive Director position and Caroline Coskry taking up the position as Chairman. Emma Holden has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer and Zoe Murzell has been promoted to Chief Communications Officer. Both Emma and Zoe will be supported by Clare Sanderson who started at the beginning of the year as Chief Development Officer and previously worked at ThinkBDW.
The Oracle Group’s founder and Chairman, Caroline Coskry, comments: “Our clients’ demand for help has burgeoned over the past year. The initial strike of the pandemic saw several of our housebuilders pause retainers and batten down the hatches, but the tide very quickly turned as the demand for new homes with outside space escalated and in turn their need for PR and communications support increased.”
“With this increase in work we have revised our own internal structure to ensure our clients receive the best possible level of service. We are delighted that Clare Sanderson has joined the board and feel the outlook for 2022 / 23 is very positive.”
There have been several other new appointments including Gemma Cole who joined as client services director at the end of last year, coming to Oracle with 20 years’ experience working in the property sector with 12 years at estate agent, Knight Frank.
Caroline continues: “I am delighted to welcome our new members of staff to the team. Each of them will play an invaluable part in delivery of PR, digital, marketing and events to our expanding client base. We also have plans to expand regionally to support our national clients, further news on this will be available later the year.”
Oracle Group was founded in 2011 and celebrated its 10th birthday last year. The organisation has moved from a purely property PR business to offering a full marketing, events, digital and communications strategy to a variety of industries across London and the South East.