People on the move: Redrow Homes; Astraea Legal; CityBlock; MERJE; Trident Building Consultancy

Immediate land opportunities in the North West of England and North Wales will be the focus for the new land team at Cheshire-based Redrow Homes (NW).

Three new people, including land director John Cooper, have joined the team, alongside Paul Murray, senior planning manager, who has worked for the homebuilder for five years.

The other new recruits are Jonathan Steggles, as land manager, and Sarah Lewis, a land graduate.

And the team has been finding its feet in more ways than one, with three of them running together during their lunch breaks.

New land director John Cooper previously worked in a similar role for Miller Homes before joining Redrow’s Daresbury-based business.

The business operates throughout Cheshire, across North Wales to Bangor and in parts of Merseyside and Greater Manchester.

John, from Macclesfield, and a Leeds Metropolitan University graduate, said: “Redrow has a proven track record of successfully developing long-term forward land, which it brings through the planning system.

“To balance this we also need to focus on immediate land opportunities, particularly those with planning permission in place, so we can get on site building at the earliest opportunity.”

Land manager Jonathan Steggles has worked as a land buyer and land manager in Bristol, Cardiff and Greater Manchester after graduating from Bristol University.

“The main focus is identifying and securing immediate land, which is where my expertise is, so that we can progress sites as quickly as possible. South Manchester and Cheshire East are a key focus, but we’re looking for land right across our patch,” said Jonathan, from Chester.

Liverpool John Moore’s University graduate Sarah Lewis transferred from Redrow’s Lancashire business, in Chorley, where she was on the graduate rotational training scheme, to become a land graduate at the homebuilder’s Daresbury office.

“The land department was the first place I worked in during the rotational scheme and I loved it. When a specific role within the land department at Redrow NW became available I jumped at the chance,” she said.

The longest standing member of the team, Paul Murray, began his Redrow career five years ago after completing a planning masters at the University of Sheffield.

Senior planning manager Paul, from Liverpool, who first joined Redrow as an assistant planner, said: “I’ve benefited from Redrow’s policy to promote from within, where possible, and invest in its people. The market has changed since I started here and we have quite an ambitious target for the year with the aim of acquiring more new sites than we have done in recent years.”

Paul Moore, managing director of Redrow Homes (NW), said: “Having a strong land team in place is essential if we are to continue to grow the business and deliver much needed new homes.

“With John Cooper at its helm and a strong team ethic – helped I’m sure by their habit of running together – I’m confident they will deliver.”

::

The Liverpool boutique law firm Astraea Legal has doubled in size after just three months.

Astraea legal was established earlier this year by directors Nama Zarroug and Matt Reynolds, the practice that provides legal advice and services to high net worth individuals as well as consulting for other law firms has had a stellar launch with tremendous billings growth.

The firm, which is based in Liverpool’s Avenue HQ, has welcomed two new members to its ranks.

Jeremy Hawthorn

Jeremy Hawthorn a senior solicitor and High Court advocate joins to bolster the firm’s criminal defence expertise, while Peter Haney is an accredited police station representative.

Jeremy, who has extensive experience in criminal defence, has previously held positions with Kirwans, David Taylor and Malcolm Gregg.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with the launch – it’s far surpassed our expectations. Welcoming Jeremy and Peter to the team means we’re able to keep up our phenomenal growth for the rest of the year,” said Nama Zarroug.

::

CityBlock, a provider in the development and management of high quality student accommodation across the UK, has strengthened its senior team with the appointment of Samantha Davies as head of operations, as part of its ongoing growth strategy.

Samantha spent 12 years at Sanctuary Group, most recently as operations manager in its student accommodation business.

Prior to this she worked in social housing and hospitality before joining CityBlock in May 2018.

Samantha Davies

In a move set to further enhance CityBlock’s continued commitment to customer service and pastoral care for students, Samantha will oversee all health and safety procedures, ongoing operational budgets, resident satisfaction and partnerships with third party suppliers.

She will also manage the operations team to ensure all sites in CityBlock’s portfolio continue to achieve 100% occupancy.

CityBlock provides high quality purpose-built student accommodation for under and post-graduates, from both the UK and overseas.

It currently has sites in Lancaster, Reading and Durham, with a further two sites due to open in Lancaster in September 2019.

Samantha said: “CityBlock’s core values of providing excellent customer service and quality accommodation are what initially attracted me to the role.

“Its recent successes in the National Student Housing Awards and ANUK accreditation are testament to its hard work over the past few years and I am delighted to be joining CityBlock at this exciting time.”

Alison Bargh, chief operating officer of CityBlock, added: “At CityBlock, it’s crucial that we have a team in place with values that match our own.

“Samantha had not only these, but the exact experience we needed to further develop our offering at CityBlock and ensure that we continue to offer superior levels of accommodation and support to our residents.

“Our accommodation has a reputation for providing a high quality of service and we know that Samantha has the skills and attitude to enable us to continue this legacy.”

::

Trident Building Consultancy’s Manchester office has made a further three appointments to its growing team.

Following the appointment of director Russ Bennett in the spring, Trident has now appointed Michael Boyle as a senior chartered building surveyor in the Manchester office.

Michael was previously at Urban Design & Consult Limited.

Additionally, Muhammad Hamzah has joined as an assistant building surveyor, from Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, and William Thorpe joins as a graduate surveyor/project management, from AHR Global.

Muhammad Hamzah

::

MERJE has announced the appointment of Stephen Fletcher to manage a new division focused on the recruitment of procurement professionals.

Based in the specialist recruitment consultancy’s Manchester office, Stephen will be working with new and existing clients to recruit for their mid- to senior-level procurement positions across the UK, such as chief procurement officer, procurement director and category manager.

Stephen will work across both the permanent and contracts marketplace.

He brings with him more than 30 years’ recruitment experience and joins MERJE from PSD Group where he led the procurement and supply chain team.

Jonathan Abelson, director at MERJE, said: “Bringing Stephen and his extensive expertise in to join the MERJE team was an easy decision based on how the procurement market will complement our existing financial services offering, as well opening up new opportunities to us.

“MERJE is a growing company and following the successful launch of MERJE front-line talent earlier this year we wanted to continue in the pursuit of our growth plans, so it made perfect sense to add procurement recruitment services to our core disciplines.

“We welcome Stephen to the MERJE family and look forward to his team evolving as more talent joins this division.”

Stephen said: “This opportunity is a perfect fit. I can build a highly effective procurement recruitment offering with the support of a team of consultants who I already know and have the greatest of respect for, and all of whom are leaders in their specialisms.

“I am delighted to be back in the marketplace I know best and I look forward to building a team that provides the service and results that the procurement profession deserves.”

MERJE has had an eventful 2018 so far, and the year will continue to be a landmark one for the organisation as they plan to open their new purpose-built headquarters in North Manchester in October.