Celebrating 10 Years of NovaLoca!
NovaLoca is proud to announce its tenth year in business; supporting agents, occupiers, landlords and developers from across the UK!
Amongst all commercial property searches, NovaLoca stands proudly as one of the longest-running, longest-surviving of its competitors, maintaining long-lasting relationships with its clients, and working alongside some of the most prolific names in the industry. We’re incredibly proud of our history and independence, and would love to share the journey with you as we look back at the company’s eventful ten-year journey.
Though registered in 2007, NovaLoca’s conception can be traced as far back as 1996, when the company’s managing director, Miranda Munn, started work at Bedfordshire-based Waltons Direct. Experiencing for herself the difficulties in locating the perfect commercial property, the concept of a bespoke service dedicated to exactly that task began to form.
After leaving the company in January 2001, Miranda opened MJM Marketing, a direct mail company working exclusively with commercial agents, but continued to lay the groundwork for what would later become NovaLoca.
Eventually, in 2006 Miranda discovered a development company which was managing websites for dealerships, with individual dealers feeding their listings up to a main search site. It was just the sort of solution NovaLoca was looking for. Although this company was unable to deliver the final website, it was through them Miranda was introduced to Earthware – whose mapping solutions immediately impressed. With the help of Mark Gill, then of GVA Grimley, among others as the agency/surveying consultants, they took upon the task of creating the website the company truly needed.
In August 2007, NovaLoca was finally registered with Companies House. The company officially launched in January of 2008 – initially offering listings for free. GVA were the first to register, listing all their properties; our next clients were Chancerygate, divisions of CBRE, King Sturge, and Cushman & Wakefield–all of which are still listing with us today. Now, we proudly represent around 300 companies, with over 1,000 agents between them.
Our services continue to inspire: Scottish Enterprise requested a comprehensive list of available properties to help them with their inward investment enquiries. Over a three-and-a-half year term, we offered free property listings to for all Scottish properties – and by the end of the period, we retained almost 80% of those listed, with satisfied agents returning as members of our paid service.
But it’s not just our clients who value long-lasting relationships with NovaLoca. Much of the team have been with the company from its early years, right on up until today. Chris has been with us since the beginning, with Nicky joining us in 2009 from her tenure at Waltons Direct. Martin Fox, having been with MJM Marketing since 2001, soon moved into the NovaLoca offices and remains with us to this day. They’re all joined by our latest members; Michelle who joined in 2014, Jenny Duff who joined in 2015, and the refined, loveable and handsome Ryan Scully – who joined Christmas of 2016 and definitely isn’t the person writing this. Between its members, the team boasts an impressive 91 combined years in the industry.
Jenny – I have been working at NovaLoca for nearly two years and I can genuinely say that I really enjoy my job.I previously worked with Miranda and Nicky many moons ago (approximately 20 years) and it is like our little family has been reunited.
Nicky – I have been working at NovaLoca for nearly 8 years, I left my previous job to get away from Jenny, but 6 years later she followed me here. I think she’s stalking me – please send help.
Martin – Working at NovaLoca is fabulous. I have been with the company for a few years now and the job is varied, the people I work with are amazing. This is what I believe makes NovaLoca such a splendid place to be. The office dynamic of being professional yet fun and its rural location make this the ideal company to work for.
Ryan – NovaLoca took me on and gave me the opportunity to pursue the dynamic, creative work I’d wanted for years. In my short time here, I’ve learned a lot about the industry, and had a chance to talk to a number of respected agents and employees. This is all done from the comfort of an office where everyone shares an exceptional work ethic, a tight sense of camaraderie, and the same crippling addiction to Wine Gums.
Chris – As the first employee of NovaLoca I feel I have pretty much seen all there has been to see over these first, hugely eventful 10 years.
The fact I am still here speaks volumes for Miranda and the people I work with. The staff really are a unique and wonderful group; both supportive and passionate, together we have been through much – both in and outside the office.
The location offers peace, clean air and a sense of freedom; where else could you charge around on a hobby horse and not feel like you should be locked up!
I’ve pretty much ticked every event box and seen the Company and website develop from infancy to what it stands for today.
I have dished out ice cream at 1am, handed out chocolate bars to Taxi drivers, carried an inflatable crocodile in Kensington, scored (a great goal!) under the Wembley arch and struggled to return home from more than one event! Along with meeting many great people, enjoying the award winning Celtic Manor Resort and being entertained by some of the circuit’s top comedians, it’s rarely been dull.
The success of NovaLoca to date is something all involved can be tremendously proud of and we look forward to the next 10 years and what adventures lie in store!
Throughout their time with the company, the team have witnessed NovaLoca innovate with a great many technological solutions. We launched our own street view ahead of Google’s own, and offered various property search solutions for clients starting with iframes. We introduced our own apps, followed by our mobile –friendly website. We produced Blackberry, Android, Windows Phone and iOS apps for clients and most recently, we launched our own mobile-friendly, commercial property website service with ZipBox.
Ask the team what their most memorable moments are, however, and they’ll likely tell you of the many big industry events they’ve been involved in; sometimes as guests, and others, such as the yearly Property Awards, as proud sponsors.
In 2009, we partnered with Property Week as their official search provider, and, in the years since, have been regulars at their prestigious Property Awards ceremony. Whilst they’ve always been nights to remember, few matched the year we waited outside to greet the year’s participants in a hummer, treating them to champagne and ice cream! We also enjoyed an exceptional evening on the rooftop gardens in Kensington– an event in which the only member of the team to emerge completely unscathed was, arguably, an inflatable crocodile. We had a tremendous evening on the HMS Belfast, celebrating Hindwoods’ 2011 rebranding. Our team loves the IAS annual 5-a-Side Football Tournaments (final results notwithstanding!) and had a great time at the 2008 ShedS conference at Celtic Manor – defiantly surviving through the industry’s slip into austerity.
As for what the future holds, we’re dedicated to keeping our listings as broad and as up-to-date as possible. We’re experts in technology, and can’t wait to explore more solutions for our growing list of agents. But more than anything, we want to continue providing the industry’s most concise, comprehensive commercial property service, and improve upon this year after year, like we have since our first venture those ten years ago.
Here’s to another decade.
The NovaLoca Team x
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