A day with Humphries Kirk Solicitors

I have been working as an Environmental Consultant at Groundsure since 2015.

My role consists of looking at environmental data and assessing the potential contaminated land liability in relation to residential and commercial property transactions.

As Consultants, we look at approximately 200 historical maps a day and multiple data sets including those for landfills, permits and data related to current potential contaminative land uses. Personally, I have done more than a few hundred calls to clients or solicitors who are going through the property transaction process and every time I have always wondered what happens next?

Back in August my colleagues and I had the opportunity to spend a day with Humphries Kirk Solicitors, as part of our ‘customer day’ programme. The purpose of ‘customer day’ is to spend time with organisations that use our products and learn about their day to day work and the challenges they might face and improve business relationships. In this particular instance, we visited the Bournemouth team who works within the residential market and use Groundsure products as part of their due diligence.

We were all really excited about the day ahead of us, especially as some of us have either recently bought a house or are in the process of buying a house. We felt like this was the perfect opportunity to ask as many questions as we could and see what happens on the other side of the business. When we arrived, Tom, Jack, Russel and I met our host, Sean Reeves.

The team and their host Sean Reeves on their Customer Day.

The office was exactly how I imagined with a lot of paperwork spread around the room and a phone which never stopped ringing. Sean gave us an insight into how he orders our reports and which platform he uses. We discussed potential issues and feedback from their clients and looked at what the future looks like for Humphries Kirk.

It was great to see the amount of knowledge he had about legislation, contaminated land and environmental data in general and to get his view on certain situations as a solicitor.It was a great day for us, largely because we felt that it was a good opportunity to learn what areas to focus on to improve our relationships with users. Our main take away from this day is that communication is key, and there is nothing better than spending time in other people’s shoes to understand the key points that make you a better worker within the company. Thank you, Sean, for your time and making us feel so welcome, it was a great experience!