Land and property specialists Strutt & Parker has bolstered its rural business with three new senior appointments – Oliver Harwood, Head of Rural for Cambridge, Duncan Glen, Director of Environmental Land Management, and Mark Robins, Head of Shared Services.

Karl McConville, Deputy Head of Rural, Strutt & Parker, says: “Oliver, Mark and Duncan are superb additions to our rural business and will add to the strength and depth of advice we can deliver to our clients. The rural sector is facing a period of rapid change and we continue to invest in hiring people to reinforce our first-class offering to the land-based sector. Our objective is to continue to offer clients insightful and innovative advice to help them explore new opportunities and address the challenges that the future brings.”

With over 30 years’ experience as a Rural Chartered Surveyor, most recently as a partner of RH & RW Clutton LLP, Oliver Harwood joins the Strutt & Parker Cambridge office as Head of Rural.

Oliver has a successful track record in property management, development and renewable energy, as well as most areas of rural practice. He is also a former chief surveyor for the Country Land & Business Association. He will utilise his wide experience developing client relationships and establishing opportunities that add value to clients’ businesses, across Cambridgeshire and beyond.

Oliver says: “I’ve joined an extremely accomplished team who are experts in their disciplines. I look forward to playing a role in the continued growth of the team as part of the wider business, whilst ensuring our clients are receiving market-leading, expert advice to deliver outstanding results.”

Duncan Glen joins Strutt & Parker as Director of Environmental Land Management based in the Morpeth office, to drive environmental strategy across the rural business to best serve our clients. With 30 years of experience in rural and environmental land management across charitable, public and private sectors, he will support the wider team to deliver environmental land management solutions based on best practice and cutting-edge research.

Duncan previously led on delivering sustainable rural estate management on the UK Defence Training Estate, focusing on the natural and historic environments and public access issues, as well as natural capital and climate resilience. This included SSSI improvement, scheduled monument and listed building management, public access management, hazardous tree management and commercial forestry harvesting.

Duncan says: “I am joining the rural team at a pivotal time for the industry. As net zero targets drive change in the countryside, it is an exciting time to look at new opportunities such as biodiversity offsetting, peatland restoration and other natural capital initiatives. Joining Strutt & Parker presents a fantastic opportunity to find innovative ways of helping clients maximise their assets to achieve sustainable solutions, which are also profitable.”

Mark Robins joins the rural business as Head of Shared Services. Mark will be based initially at our Cirencester office, working to support the wider rural business by overseeing property management and client finance systems, as well as working to support our regional offices on compliance in an ever-more regulated industry.

Mark brings a wealth of estate management experience joining from the Southill Estate where he advised on strategic decision-making as Estate Director. The Bedfordshire-based 11,500-acre rural estate spans residential properties, commercial units, an in-hand farm, plus woodland and tenanted farmland. He is currently Chair of Council of the Institute of Agricultural Management (IAgrM), and was formerly a member of the NFU Mutual South East Regional Advisory Board.

Mark says: “In recent years, the sector has undergone a period of increased regulation and therefore it has never been so important to manage this effectively. Having led on strategy for a number of large rural estates across the UK and sat on various governing boards, I feel well placed to assist in steering the rural team through this new era of opportunities and challenges.”