‘I get my energy from meeting people’: Connells Group CEO plans expansion

Helen Charlesworth, the group CEO of estate agency Connells Group, has an in-depth understanding of every business on her CV. During her eight year stint as managing director of the Stonegate Pub Company, for example, she learned to pull pints and mix cocktails.

"That's where I get my energy from; meeting people and seeing customers have a great experience,’’ she said.

Ms Charlesworth, who has also held senior roles at Pizza Express and Your Move, is using her drive and impressive interpersonal skills to support the expansion of Connells, which is already the UK’s largest estate agency. She credits her parents with instilling a powerful work ethic.

"When people say they were born privileged, it means different things to different people,’’ said Ms Charlesworth. “For me, my privilege is having grounded, hard-working, loving parents who brought me up to be fair, kind and driven. I've applied these values throughout my life. I was head girl at at one of the largest comprehensives in Doncaster which was no mean feat.

"That gave me a fantastic foundation and my parents just wanted me to be the best version of myself."

“I love the sector Connells operates in,’’ she added. “We've got 14,000 people but it's also a sector which has had a bit of a bad name in places. I see that as a challenge to disrupt and improve the home buying and selling process.”

Connells made headlines earlier this year, when a BBC Panorama investigation found evidence that a Connells estate agent appeared to sideline a potential buyer in favour of someone else who had agreed to take out an in-house mortgage.

At the time, Connells, which is part of the Skipton Group, issued a statement to say it “set high standards to address the issue of conditional selling and we invest significantly in training and audit control to ensure that we reach these high standards of compliance”.

Ms Charlesworth said: "We have zero tolerance of conditional selling. It has no place in Connells."

In the latest full year results, which were published in February, Connells Group delivered profits of £61.3m, which was a significant increase on the £13.8m recorded the year before, and grew its total revenue by 12 per cent to £1,069m. It provided £20m of dividends to the society and the business grew its stock of houses offered for sale by 33 per cent while increasing its market share during the year, to 10.2 per cent.

Ms Charlesworth is determined to use technology and the skills of the group’s staff to speed up the property buying process.

“It takes an average of 152 days to complete the sale of a property in the UK which is just too slow, we need to do better than that,’’ she added. “It's one of the slowest rates of completion in the western world. I want to improve the reputation of the sector and along the way help people build great careers.

"People say there's only one thing worse than selling your house and that's getting divorced. I want that to change. I want it to be a great process so people want to move more. There were one million housing transactions a year last year, and we had 10 percent of them, I would like it to be more.

"I want to improve the culture of the group and its technical infrastructure,’’ she added. "It was a very traditional business that had grown through acquisition and integrating those businesses is an important part of the strategy but also ensuring the business uses common technical platforms.

"We've invested millions in tech so far this year. We've also invested in a nicer head office in Milton Keynes and our high street branches. I see the high street as an important part of the Connells strategy. We need to invest in our branches and modernise them.

"For us to have a modern, light airy, welcoming space for customers to walk over the threshold and genuinely engage with a team member is very important to me. We've done two prototypes of the branch of the future, one in Locksbottom (near Orpington) and one in Taylors in the Midlands. Both have been extremely successful. They've been open for just six weeks and paid for themselves already

"You're not walking into an office with big glass screens; we've introduced more comfortable seating. A property is somebody's biggest asset and we've made it easier for people to come and talk about selling them. We've got 1,250 branches so upgrading them will be like painting the Forth Bridge. We have 86 brands and have made 14 acquisitions in 2025. There is power in those brands so I want them to keep that identity. I want the teams to feel that they are underpinned by a common thread.”

She didn’t need to hire consultants to find out about Connells’ core values.

“I wanted the teams to tell us,’’ she added. “We went out and interviewed 4,900 team members and asked them what they loved about Connells. We've used that to develop a culture code which is written by the teams. We treat each other with respect and we grow. 25 percent of our workforce of 14,000 have been here for 10 years or more. Since I've been here the rate of staff churn is falling. People are staying with us, which increases the levels of experience to offer to the customer.”

Further expansion is on the cards because acquisition is one of her “favourite sports”.

"I anticipate there will be more of them,’’ she added. “We've just completed one in Yorkshire and we've got another one in Yorkshire about to complete. Growing the bottom line is obviously very important. With the cost headwinds we've had at the moment, that can be quite complicated. I want to grow market share year on year. If we get the process and people right then the growth in market share will come."