People on the Move: Applethwaite Homes; Liquidity Club; Croft Transport Planning & Design; Network Space; pro-manchester
Applethwaite Homes, the residential development arm of Preston-based Eric Wright Group, has expanded its team to support a period of significant growth in its home building programme.
Stuart Redfern has joined as commercial manager from Wainhomes (NW), bringing with him more than 20 years’ residential property experience.
Architectural technician David Devine has more than 30 years’ experience and has been recruited from Lovell Partnerships as planning and design manager.
Commenting on the new appointments, Applethwaite managing director Colin Hetherington, said: “Initially set up to deliver executive homes in the Lake District in 2004, our move to provide quality family homes across both Lancashire and Cumbria has seen the team deliver in excess of 200 homes in the last five years.
“With two more sites in planning for start before the end of 2018 and a further five sites in the pipeline for next year, we have continued to invest in our team with these strategic appointments.
“Between them, Stuart and David bring over 50 years of experience and will be instrumental in helping us to achieve our ambitions over the next few years.”
Stuart will be actively involved in all commercial aspects for Applethwaite, including assessing land viability, sub-contractor and supplier appointments, and cost reporting. In addition, he will be mentoring and developing additional members of the commercial team.
David has extensive experience within the residential sector and is involved in bringing forward new development sites for planning and construction.
He will be working closely with the senior management team and consultants to meet quality standards, implement health and safety and manage contractual and commercial constraints.
Applethwaite Homes has built more than 250 properties across the region, including areas such as Windermere and the South Lakes. The appointment of Stuart and David brings the team based at Bamber Bridge in Preston to 16.
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Liquidity Club has expanded its team in the North of England with the appointment of Chris Carter as the regional director for the North West region.
Chris’ appointment highlights the successful growth of Liquidity Club, which was launched a year ago as an alternative business channel for business funders to assist SME’s looking to raise finance to support growth and present impartial financial solutions that are tailored to suit each individual business.
Chris will concentrate across the North West region and will work alongside colleagues in the Birmingham and Leeds teams.
He has extensive experience in the banking and financial services sector having recently worked for Mercia Fund Managers, and prior to that the Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest.
Adam Simpson, left, and Chris Carter
Chris said: “I am very excited to join Liquidity Club to expand their presence across the North of England.
“The North West is a thriving region and I am looking forward to spending time with business owners to understand their business plans and structure the appropriate finance solutions with the right funding partners.
“The ethos at the Liquidity Club is very much around simplifying what can be a daunting process and by working in partnership with businesses we can achieve a tailored funding package to support their future aspirations.”
Adam Simpson, commercial director, Liquidity Club, said: “Chris’ appointment comes at a time of growth for Liquidity Club as we look to increase our presence in the North West to meet the increasing demand for our services.
“We work strategically with our clients to ensure they find the right business partner to fund their business needs.
“Chris has a great network of contacts across the Manchester and North West business community and brings considerable experience in the financial sector and local market to the Liquidity Club team.”
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Manchester-based Croft Transport Planning & Design has appointed Lee Worthington as principal transport planner.
Lee joins from AECOM, in Manchester, where he spent more than 12 years in a variety of roles working on high-profile projects across the UK.
During his time with AECOM Lee provided advice on transport planning, feasibility studies, masterplanning and traffic assessment work for the HS2 project in the East Midlands and Manchester.
He also spent five years on secondment to Manchester City Council’s highways team providing advice on highways and public realm aspects of planning applications and decisions.
Phil Wooliscroft, founder and director at Croft, said: “Lee is an incredibly experienced and knowledgeable transport planner. He has the skills to help us win and deliver more large-scale projects and will be a real asset to our clients.”
Lee Worthington
Lee will be responsible for providing transport planning, travel planning and development control advice for a wide range of projects, including junction and network modelling and report preparation.
A chartered member of Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transportation, Lee said: “After more than a decade as part of one of the world’s largest building and infrastructure companies, I’m looking forward to taking a more hands-on role at Croft.
“It’s a respected transport planning business with a strong presence in the North West, but also working on complex planning issues on major schemes further afield.”
Croft now has a team of 10 working from its offices in Manchester city centre. Clients include major housebuilders, developers, land promoters, leisure and hospitality operators, and health and education providers.
Recent key projects include two successful appeal wins for Bellway Homes in Bamber Bridge and Lymm, as well as commissions for two new villages in the North West and Midlands.
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Network Space Holdings has appointed a new head of property, Dave Harrison.
He brings more than 25 years’ of industry experience and will be heading up the company’s North West property team, responsible for the management of the regional network space portfolio.
Dave, who previously worked as a chartered surveyor and associate director, has a wealth of experience working across all sectors of the commercial property spectrum.
Dave Harrison
He will be one of two principle client leads working with an institutional investor, delivering asset and property management initiatives across a substantial industrial investment portfolio.
Dave said: “I am delighted to be joining the Network Space team at what is a very exciting time in its history as the company continues its expansion.
“I have developed a successful track record and expertise in delivering development, investment and property management services to external partners and I look forward to expanding my skillset further at Network Space.”
Network Space is a commercial property developer, investor and manager, specialising in the industrial sector across the North of England.
Headquartered in Newton-le-Willows, it retains and manages a proprietary modern investment portfolio.
Over the next five years it is forecast to deliver more than 2.5 million sq ft of new industrial property across the Northern Powerhouse region.
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After recruiting a sector group manager in March, pro-manchester has announced two new co-chairs to support their work with the 12 key sectors in Greater Manchester.
Suzanne Benson, regional managing partner at Trowers & Hamlins, and Heather Gray, business development manager at Bruntwood, will share the role of property and regeneration sector committee chair.
The 12 key sectors supported by pro-manchester have been identified as the fastest growing in the city region.
Sector group manager, Ilona Alcock, has identified pro-active pro-manchester members to fill the role of heading up the property and regeneration committee.
Suzanne Benson
Made up of outstanding individuals who are currently achieving great things in the property and regeneration sector, the committee steers pro-manchester’s activity of events and puts forward the best speakers from their network.
Ilona Alcock said: “I’m delighted both Suzanne and Heather have agreed to co-chair our property and regeneration committee. Both have been very pro-active at pro-manchester events, sharing their insights and putting speakers forward.
“Their first task as chairs will be our upcoming property and regeneration lunch, at which Heather is chairing, and Suzanne is sharing her wealth of knowledge on our placemaking panel.
Heather Gray
“I am confident we will achieve great things together and shout about the great things currently happening in Manchester’s booming property sector.”
Suzanne Benson said: “I’m really pleased to have the opportunity to work with Heather to take forward the work of the property and regeneration committee and to deliver some of the great ideas the group has already come up with for events in the next 12 months, starting with the event on Friday 23rd November.”
Heather said: “I’m delighted to co-chair the property and regeneration committee and help the team to carry out some of the great ideas, partnerships and initiatives that will really improve the sector and continue to make Manchester one of the best cities to live and work in.”
