Grant Management

Hiring Poles is fuelling business growth for Grant Management – and helping Polish people find accommodation

Grant Management is the largest and fastest-growing property management and investment company in Scotland.

Founded in 1996 by Peter Grant and his wife Colette, the company buys, renovates and lets property for landlords and private investors across the UK.

It currently turns over £12m across eight UK offices, including Glasgow, Newcastle and Nottingham, and employs 105 staff – a figure it expects to double by summer 2007 as it expands into new cities.

The company has recently employed several Poles, including Warsaw University graduate Jagoda Szabla, to help set up a dedicated division for the thousands of Polish people seeking accommodation in Scotland.

"We now employ two or three people who are Polish," explains Peter Grant. "We have one in property management who increasingly deals with all the Polish clients we have. Obviously Polish people need somewhere to stay and we can help them with accommodation. The number one issue is finding somewhere that's safe and is not going to cost too much to rent, so a group of people sharing is a good way to do that. We also have a Polish member of staff in our sales and lettings team who goes out, gets people involved and promotes the company to other Polish people looking to rent flats. We want to provide that service to them because they are good tenants."

The new recruits have created a Polish version of Grant Management's website and helped the company adapt its approach to references and deposits to make life easier for Polish workers. The company has also bought its first flat in Estonia and hopes its foreign language recruits will help it build a portfolio across the former Eastern Block countries, including Poland, by learning about the different legislative and cultural systems and processes.

"Buying a flat in every one of the former Eastern Block countries will help us learn the good, the bad and the ugly," Grant says. "We find that Polish people in particular work very hard and tend to have a very good attitude, so our experience of recruiting and hiring them is really good."

More information

• www.grantmanagement.co.uk