The office, branded McGrath Knight Frank Newcastle, brings together Knight Frank’s existing Newcastle franchise, led by Ross Cooper, and McGrath’s regional operations under Jaimie Woodcock.
Ross has headed the Knight Frank franchise in Newcastle for more than two decades, while Jaimie has been operating in the region for 26 years. Between them, they bring 46 years of local experience.
Knight Frank also has two Central Coast offices at Tuggerah and Gosford, while for McGrath, Newcastle becomes the 10th location across the Central Coast, Lake Macquarie, and Hunter Valley area.
“Knight Frank has a successful history in the Hunter, and we are looking forward to forming a dual-branded office in Newcastle with McGrath to build on this and provide the full gamut of real estate services across both the commercial and residential sectors,” Ross said.
“Expanding into residential services has always been part of our strategy, enabling us to offer clients a complete property solution.”
Jaimie said the two teams already had a connection before the partnership took shape.
“We already had a connection with the Knight Frank team and were impressed with the leaders of the business and it was quite quickly evident that there was a very unique opportunity to create a business that could leverage off both of our strengths,” he said.
Mark Lafferty, Knight Frank Partner and Head of Franchises & Investment Sales, said the network had been growing steadily since the first dual-branded office was announced in mid-2025.
“Our focus is on growing this network in underserviced regional areas, where we can create an office offering comprehensive real estate services across both commercial and residential property to clients in areas where that hasn’t previously been available,” Mark said.
Chris Mourd, Head of Franchise Network for McGrath, said a single location offering the full spectrum of commercial and residential expertise was a distinct proposition in regional New South Wales.
“Ross and Jaimie bring a combined 46 years of on-the-ground experience in the region — something that can’t be replicated,” Chris said.
The dual-branded model follows Knight Frank and New Zealand-based Bayleys completing a joint acquisition of a controlling stake in McGrath in June 2024.