Rapleys makes five Partner promotions

Rapleys has promoted five people to Partner as it continues its focus on becoming the industry’s Employer of Choice.

Tim Richards, Head of Agency, joined Rapleys in December 2022 as part of the acquisition of Aston Rose. Tim has worked in commercial property since the 1980s across lettings and sales, property management and development and planning. Tim has also held several roles at RICS including Chair of RICS England, Chair of RICS London and he sat on Governing Council for seven years and is currently a University Accreditor for RICS.

Debbie Scaife, Finance Director and Head of Central Services at Rapleys, also becomes a Partner. Debbie is responsible for all financial operations of the business and has been with Rapleys since 1992, holding several roles before her promotion in 2023. Debbie has extensive knowledge of the property industry and has been crucial to Rapleys’ expansion over the last few years. 

The three other new Partners are all based in Rapleys’ Bristol office. Richard Howard is a senior member of the Neighbourly Matters team (part of Building Consultancy) and is an expert in Daylight/Sunlight, Rights to Light, Party Walls amongst other services. Notable developments include 100 Bishopsgate, Greenwich Peninsular and Imperial College, London before moving to Bristol. Richard was one of the first rights of light practitioners to become chartered on the new Rights to Light pathway introduced by the RICS and he mentors candidates through the Assessment of Professional Competence. He is also a member of the Pyramis and Thisbe Club. 

He is joined by another Building Consultancy member – Adam Reed who is an experienced Building Surveying professional with particular expertise in contract administration, technical due diligence, refurbishment and dilapidations, advising pension funds, a range of investors and occupiers. Adam’s main expertise lies in refurbishment and insurance remediation contract work on commercial and residential buildings.

Ben Larcombe is also based in Bristol as part of the Planning division. Ben joined Rapleys as part of the CSJ acquisition in 2022 and has over 10 years’ experience and acts for a diverse client base across a number of development sectors with particular knowledge on the residential and student accommodation markets. He also has significant experience managing post-consent matters such as condition compliance, Section 73 and Section 96a applications, Local Plan representations and the preparation of evidence to support planning appeals, including Public Inquiries.

Justin Tuckwell, Managing Partner at Rapleys, said: “Congratulations to our new Partners Debbie, Tim, Adam, Richard and Ben. Rapleys takes its promotions process very seriously and our people work hard to get to Partner level via a robust pathway as part of our innovative People Plan which also offers wide ranging rewards and this is a great achievement for our successful candidates, and we thank them for their commitment and the value they add to our business. As the market will know, we have been rapidly expanding our business but our commitment to growth remains focused around our people and helping them to build their careers here, as well as new recruits and acquisitions.”

In addition to business-wide promotions, since January 2025 Rapleys has hired eight Partners, launched a new Cardiff office and acquired the Avison Young retail team. In the last three years, Rapleys has acquired five businesses including South West planning consultancy CSJ, commercial business Aston Rose, residential consultancy s106 Affordable Housing, building consultancy and project management specialists BlueBrick Consulting and Central London office experts Mellersh & Harding.

The strategic property consultancy has seen its revenue grow by 40% over this period of time and is continuing to recruit expertise and acquire businesses that fit the people and client focused partnership across the UK and all services.