By David Garness, Managing Director, Garness Group
As we head towards the end of another year all at Garness Group have been reflecting in recent weeks on the journey the business has taken to reach where it is today – firmly established as a leading group of property specialist companies across Yorkshire and the Humber.
It has been a time for reflection as on the horizon is a significant milestone.
In 2026, the longest established company within our group, commercial property specialist Garness Jones, will celebrate 30 years in business.
I’m not sure I could have envisaged on the day that Garness Jones was formed back in 1996, having spent the early years securing any property related work we could, and mainly focussing on surviving, that we’d be where we are today, with four thriving specialist property companies.
Success and growth in North Yorkshire
Over the past 12 months it has been particularly pleasing to see our presence in York further established, with Garness Jones successfully working alongside Barry Crux & Company, which became part of the group in late 2023.
Moving into modern new offices in Micklegate, York, Barry Crux & Company continues to specialise in the licenced, leisure and hospitality commercial property sector, but has now become successfully aligned with the Garness Group culture, processes and systems.
It has been great to see our teams working seamlessly together to ensure we lead the market for all commercial property services across York and North Yorkshire.
Elsewhere in the group, Pure Block Management has had a truly standout year – recognised with a national commendation at the 2025 Property Management Awards.
The ‘Scale-UP’ Award recognised growth across North Yorkshire, where the team has been instructed to manage blocks in York, Harrogate, Whitby and Wetherby, adding to the many long-standing instructions across East Yorkshire, taking the number of properties managed by our team to more than 3,000.
At Gro Residential Management, it has been pleasing to see the quality of properties and portfolios we are being instructed to manage continue to improve, again, widening our reach into North Yorkshire, in addition to our Hull and East Riding heartlands.
As with the growth achieved by Pure Block, this was something we set out to achieve in our residential lettings management work when establishing dedicated businesses for services in 2022, splitting the away from under the Garness Jones brand and giving each specialist team their own identity.
Finally, Garness Jones continues to demonstrate its industry-leading expertise in supporting higher-end clients and developments across Yorkshire and the Humber.
Work in professional services has expanded significantly over the past 12 months, in a year where considerable market uncertainty has impacted on commercial property sales and lettings.
As ever, our team continues to play a hugely influential role on many of the region’s key developments to drive economic growth.
Of course, a successful year in business can only be achieved with the support of clients who continue to put their trust in our teams to provide the very best service to them.
We thank each and every client for their continued support, and having recruited across our companies to grow our and strengthen our teams, we feel well placed to maintain the standards people have come to expect from us next year.
So finally, thanks, and see you all in 2026.
You’ll be hearing plenty from us over the next year with regards our celebrations of reaching the milestone of 30 years in business. It’s something we’re all proud of.
David Garness
