Angus McQuhae – Celebrating 23 years at Octagon

‘I started my career early in the property business, at my local estate agents AC Frost and Co. I was a Saturday boy, doing all the initial viewings. It was the bottom of the agency food chain, however I loved it from day one!’

After leaving school, Angus decided to make his position at Frosts full time. He rapidly crossed from being a residential sales negotiator to joining the agent’s flourishing land department. This was a sector of the industry he found very much to his liking, because during the nineties, the new homes market was booming which put pressure on land agents to keep up with developers’ demand for prime sites throughout the Home Counties.

After several years at Frost, Angus moved to volume housebuilder Berkeley and became a member of the land buying team responsible for the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire regions.

During his stint at Berkeley, Angus developed a strong network of contacts in the housebuilding world, which is how he came to join Octagon in 1999 to take on their new area for development.

Angus continues, ‘Of course I knew all about Octagon since joining Frosts.  As the true pioneer of luxury new builds, they had already made a name for themselves on the exclusive estates in neighbouring Surrey. My brief was to extend the company profile and profits by acquiring land in the sought-after Buckinghamshire and Berkshire neighbourhoods such as Windsor, Ascot, Sunningdale, Henley, Bray and Beaconsfield.’

This he duly did, resulting in some notable successes, including an award-winning elegant terrace of super large townhouses opposite The Long Walk leading to Windsor Castle, and a 20,000 sq ft mansion with gatehouse close to Ascot Racecourse which achieved near £30m – a significant achievement some fifteen years ago.

Today, Angus, a senior member of the company and main board director, oversees land acquisition and joint venture opportunities across the company’s ever-expanding regions. Although land buying has become more complex and complicated in latter years, the thrill and satisfaction of securing the right plot has never waned for Angus and indeed his fellow colleagues.

Married with two lively teenage children, Angus’s spare time to relax is rather restricted – he enjoys nothing more than a paddle board down the quieter stretches of the Thames or an evening at Brixton Academy listening to one of his favourite bands.

Angus concludes with his top tip to anyone embarking into a land buying career, ‘Never ever delete any of your phone contacts from day one in the business and make a habit of talking to all of those you come across, however remotely connected at the time, as your network is your ‘passport to success’.  It has been mine.’