Local historians with an afternoon to spare could do worse than delve into the archives of Lambert & Foster, the highly regarded Kent and Sussex surveyors, estate agents and, more recently, planners currently celebrating 125 years in business.

Such an activity would, though, come with a health warning, as anyone with an interest in the area would inevitably find themselves still leafing through the mountains of old documents several hours later, unable to drag themselves away from a fascinating glimpse into the rural history of this part of the world.

On director Alan Mummery’s first dip into the archives while talking to South East Farmer, he pulled out the particulars of one property sale and quickly realised that the map he was looking at showed the land just south of Lamberhurst on the Kent/Sussex border that went on to become Bewl Water reservoir between 1973 and 1975.

It was a fascinating and unexpected discovery and highlighted the wealth of history contained in the archives of a firm that has played a major part in the lives of so many people who have bought and sold land and property in Kent and Sussex since the first link in a long chain was forged in the year 1900.

But while history is important to the current directors and staff at Lambert & Foster, the team has not allowed that emphasis on the past to stand in the way of a dynamic, forward-thinking business that has moved with the times while being proud of its roots.

Pride in what they do, a loyalty to the local community and a sense of being part of farming history run through the entire Lambert & Foster team, with the word “privilege” cropping up in nearly every conversation with staff members at every level of the business.

That sense of heritage, but also of being part of a team that is not just proud of its past but committed to creating an even brighter future, runs through the organisation, as does the sense of responsibility generated by supporting, in some cases, four or five different generations of the same family.

The investment in planning consultancy Bloomfields Chartered Town Planners in 2013, an example of Lambert & Foster’s determination to continue to grow, created a whole that is considerably greater than the sum of its parts, bringing a synergy that is benefitting clients across its broad customer base.

While Lambert & Foster and Bloomfields share the same owners and work seamlessly together as one corporate unit, the two companies have remained separate from day one. This allows the businesses to offer different but complementary services.

Despite often not being aware of the link, clients regularly benefit from the close co-operation between the two firms. “Having specialist planning advice on tap can allow us to help clients who come in to talk to us about a sale or purchase, while Bloomfields’ planning clients can benefit from our expertise in selling land and properties,” explained Alan.

Director Tom Ogden applied to Lambert & Foster for a job back in 2013 and found himself heading up the planning side of the business, becoming a director of Bloomfields in 2015 and a director of Lambert & Foster three years later.  The business has since grown to 15 people, including a number of chartered town planners.

Bloomfields is now an established name in planning, architecture and development in the region and advises on major housing and commercial schemes across the South East. It offers a broad range of advice and support to rural landowners looking to unlock the potential of their land.

The consultancy’s success is highlighted by a short listing for the RTPI South East Planning in Excellence awards for mid-sized firms which Bloomfields achieved this month.

Expanding into a strategic development role is an example of the forward thinking that has characterised Lambert & Foster over the past 125 years. “We are rightly proud of our history, but we have never allowed it to limit our future,” explained Alan, who has been with the company for almost four decades.

“Of course history is important,” he explained. “We have built up 125 years of client trust and business profile and Lambert & Foster is now a household name in buying and selling agricultural land and property, as well as in domestic house sales.

“We have worked generationally for many families in Kent and Sussex, with some of our client families going back four or five generations. We have also built up a reputation for our community support and we work hard to continue to build that reputation.”

As an example of that commitment to the wider community, Lambert & Foster has sponsored the popular Paddock Wood Half Marathon since 2017.

While the firm is proud of its reputation, it is also determined to move forward, and continues to evolve its services to meet modern needs, positioning itself as a firm with long horizons and reflecting that approach by building a strong team of committed professionals.

That team is headed up by seven directors, of which five are comparative youngsters at under 45. “Importantly they all share the Lambert & Foster ethos,” said Alan. “They are aware of the history, but they are also driving the business forward. We don’t have the constraints that can sometimes hinder a family business, but we certainly reflect a family business culture.”

Other members of the team also praise the ‘family feel’ at Lambert & Foster, with director Jon Booth adding that he and his colleagues are “a group of unpretentious, straightforward professionals with a wide range of expertise and a proven record of providing high quality professional guidance and advice”.

Katie Hurley added: “There is a lot of cross over in the professional work we all undertake. As a result, there is a strong link between the departments, which makes for a good and collaborative working environment.”

When it comes to seeing Lambert & Foster as a long-term career, Alan sets a high bar, having only worked for that company since leaving the Royal Agricultural College as a surveying graduate.

“At Lambert & Foster we seem to attract people who want to leave a legacy and who enjoy being given the opportunity to forge good careers here without the need to move on,” he said. “Those people are committed to helping us build the firm’s 125-year legacy of serving rural landowners and homebuyers. It has a long and rich history and a reputation which is second to none.”

The firm enjoys a low staff turnover, which allows more senior staff to support younger members and watch them grow, ready for the baton to be passed to them.

One of the longest-serving members of the team is partner Tim Duncan, who has enjoyed a 30-year career at Lambert & Foster and describes it as having “a family feel and friendly atmosphere”, which is why he believes clients “return generation after generation”. Tim has been involved in a wide range of issues, from brokering major option and promotion agreements to helping provide a car park for the famous Winnie-the-Pooh Bridge near Ashdown Forest.

Lambert & Foster has its main rural office at Paddock Wood, with other agencies at Cranbrook in Kent and Wadhurst in Sussex and a planning and rural services office in Hythe, Kent.

It offers valuations, rural land and property sales, professional advice, support with grant and subsidy applications and estate management across Kent and Sussex. “When you combine that with the planning and development services on offer from Bloomfields, it is a full service offering that supports farmers and landowners across the patch,” said Alan.

It was with a touch of sadness that Alan admitted the auctioneering side of the business is not what it used to be, but he pointed out that the change simply reflected the way Lambert & Foster, which now employs around 50 people across the two businesses, had continued to evolve to meet the needs of the 21st century landowner.

One of Lambert & Foster’s biggest ever land sales came during a period of selling farms for brewers. The company sold the Whitbread hop farm and all of the farms in Kent owned by Guinness, which resulted in both land sales and machinery sales – major events at the time.

Another historic sale took place more recently, when in July 2021 Lambert & Foster sold almost 60 old farm carts, an event that has been preserved for posterity as the carts now feature on the Google Earth image of the auction site.

Tom Ogden, who worked on farms growing up and studied at the then Royal Agricultural College, worked for another well-known planning practice for six years before applying to Lambert & Foster and finding himself heading up the Bloomfields operation.

The planning consultancy has since amassed many big-name clients, including fruit growers A C Goatham & Son, Adrian Scripps, Clock House Farm and Cottage Farms.

Along with preparing planning applications for packhouses, polytunnels and other infrastructure for such rural clients, Bloomfields has been responsible for planning a number of large-scale housing developments across the region, including a number of urban schemes and some on the London fringe, which makes it well placed to undertake strategic reviews of estates and entire farmsteads.

An important part of the planning work is communicating with councils and encouraging them to understand and support rural businesses, as well as creating viable schemes that can win planning permission and release value from farm assets.

The link between the two arms of the business means that any crossover between the two areas can be handled seamlessly, with alternative ideas – often things the client hasn’t even thought of – able to be discussed with fellow professionals whose advice is just a phone call or a walk down the corridor away.

Director Dan Page could have been speaking for the whole organisation when he summed up: “Lambert & Foster is well rooted, with an excellent reputation in the county and a longstanding history of helping any customer who may come in through the front door.

“The firm is progressive and adopts and embraces new technologies to provide a more efficient and effective service to our customers.”

But the final word on Lambert & Foster’s vision goes to Tim Duncan, who declared: “Honour the traditions, but keep pace with the future.”

Read the full feature on Lambert & Foster

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