Award for hugely successful agency chief who started in spare room

Belvoir’s very first franchisee, Andy Campbell, has been awarded the prestigious Belvoir Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of 27 highly successful years in business.

Campbell set up the company’s offices in Moray and Inverness after retiring from the RAF: Belvoir had advertised in one of the military resettlement magazines. He says he had rented properties before that time and had never been impressed with the service he had received from agents, so thought it was something he could improve upon. 

“Mike Goddard, who started Belvoir and was also an ex-military man, was running the business from his own home in Lincolnshire and I had to go to his house for my training. 

“I built Belvoir Moray up from nothing. I initially worked from a spare room in my own home, with only a chair, a desk, computer and a filing cabinet! The business soon got too big for this, so I found an office in a nearby town and then bought out a small company in Elgin, took on a staff member, and the business took off. I bought our existing premises in 2006 and today we’re one of the biggest agents in Moray. 

“We are now a team of nine and many of the staff have been with me for years, including office manager Lynn Roger, who has worked here for 20 years. Without such a great team it would not be possible to do this job. I was considering retiring, but then we were offered two separate opportunities to manage large portfolios and I decided to forget about retiring and expand the business! My son Steven came on board and is running the Inverness office, which we bought out in February 2022, and my daughter Emma is now working at the Elgin office, which is great.

“Being part of the Belvoir franchise has given me the support and back up of a national organisation, together with the freedom of being self-employed. It’s also fantastic to have access to the support of fellow franchisees. I’m delighted to have won the Belvoir Lifetime Achievement Award and I’m looking forward to the future.”

Belvoir chief executive Dorian Gonsalves says: “This is a superb achievement for Andy, and testimony to his commitment and business skills that he has such successful offices. So much has changed within Belvoir and the wider industry since Andy joined us in 1996, but one thing that never changes is Andy’s passion and enthusiasm and his ability to attract and retain new clients. 

“Andy is a much-valued member of the Belvoir family, and highly deserving of the Lifetime Achievement Award. We are delighted that Andy has recently been joined in business by his son Steven and daughter Emma. 

“One of the great things about being a Belvoir franchisee is having the opportunity to create lucrative assets that can either be sold on when business goals are achieved or passed on to family members so that the business can continue to grow and thrive, which is exactly what Andy is doing. We wish Andy and his family every success for the future.”