The director of a well known Birmingham property company that has been beset with tragedy and legal problems has decided to launch his own business.

Edward Siddall-Jones owned 50 per cent of NG Commercial alongside Chris Booth but he decided to move on from the firm he joined straight from university.

“The company is currently heading in a different direction and I always liked the idea of being completely my own boss so I decided to go it alone,” said Mr Siddall-Jones.

“Work is picking up, particularly on the industrial side and I thought it would be a good opportunity so I just resigned from NG Commercial and set up the next day.”

The move brings to an end Mr Siddall-Jones’ association with the company which he joined from university when it was Nattrass Giles – originally founded by the MEP Mike Nattrass almost 30 years ago.

“I finished the degree on Friday and started work at Nattrass Giles on the Monday,” he said.

He was soon identified as a rising star in the sector and worked closely with Rick Adams who was tragically killed in a car crash in 2006.

“Things were going really well, I was doing some land deals for good money and we were looking at opening an operation in Wolverhampton – I was made a partner at 23,” he said.

Following the death of Mr Adams, who had been Mr Nattrass’s business partner and was being groomed to take over the business, Mr Booth rejoined the company where he had worked for seven years previously and acquired the business with Mr Siddall-Jones in 2007.

The company remained one of the best known consultancies in the city specialising particularly in industrial property but earlier this year it was liquidated and reformed as NG Commercial to escape a series of crippling costs from a previous legal case which had taken place before they bought the company.

Mr Siddall-Jones said he learned a huge amount during his time at the company but felt the time was right to start his own venture, which he has launched out of the Big Peg in Jewellery Quarter, a development owned by the Gray family who also own the Custard Factory among other schemes and are long-time clients of Mr Siddall-Jones.

“It’s just me on my own at the moment and I am in the process of recruiting a secretary but it is great to be building something from scratch.

“It is scary but I am up for the challenge – I get up in the morning with a spring in my step and drive to work knowing that I what I make today is mine. I love agency work and love doing the deal.”

He said that while the market was still very tough – the office market particularly – about 75 per cent of the stock he had on his books was industrial and it was a portfolio that was right for the economic environment.

“Our strength is the secondary stuff,” he said.

“The big boys want big shiny kit and that just doesn’t shift in a recession but there are good deals to be done on the secondary market.

“The good news is that I don’t think it can get any worse.”