Fitzrovia business group seeks a chief executive officer

The Fitzrovia Partnership, which runs two business improvement districts (BIDs) in the Camden and Westminster parts of Fitzrovia, is advertising for a chief executive officer.

Previously the Partnership was headed by a chief operating officer but has since the summer of 2024 been led by an interim CEO, Dr Julie Grail — who appears to have got the bit between her teeth.

In November last year David Whittleton, chair of the Partnership’s board, announced that Lee Lyons, their chief operating officer who had been with them for 15 years, was leaving the company.

“There are changes needed for The Partnership’s continued success and we have reached a mutual agreement for Lee’s departure, which takes place with immediate effect,” wrote Whittleton.

Now Whittleton himself has moved on and has stood down as both board chair and a director of the company which works in a public-private partnership with Camden and Westminster councils. David Byrne, who is chief executive of The Doctors Laboratory, is now in his seat but as its interim chair.

The Partnership set up its first BID in the Camden part of Fitzrovia in 2012 and expanded into the Westminster part of the neighbourhood in 2023. It provides business services for around 400 member companies who pay a mandatory levy on their business rates. This generates an income of around £2mn a year.

The BID says it aims to “enhance the sustainability and physical presence of the area and the range of services required to ensure that it looks and feels safe, clean and welcoming”. It runs promotional campaigns throughout the year in an attempt to cajole visitors to part with their money in the neighbourhood.

However the district is blighted by rubbish dumped at all hours with a multitude of waste contractors’ lorries rattling through the streets picking up bags that have often been left out for days.

An annual salary of up to £100,000 is on offer for the successful candidate for its CEO who will be responsible for the strategic leadership, management and development of the BID, and will report to the board of directors via its chair. Applications for the post are open until 7 March 2025, with interviews scheduled for mid- and late-March.

This year the Partnership is working with the London Festival of Architecture with a competition to deliver around a dozen temporary seating areas in the neighbourhood. The brief is to design playful and interesting seats constructed with sustainable materials that offer comfort but “deter anti-social behaviour and not encourage sleeping, skateboarding or acting as a bike stand”.

The winning designs for “Fitzs&Sits” will be selected later this month, installed in May, and removed at the end of the summer.

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