People on the Move: Legat Owen; Cumbria LEP; Chester Grosvenor; Mayfly Internet Marketing; Leonard Curtis

Legat Owen’s Chester office has expanded its building surveying department to meet the growth in demand for its services.

Chris Marsh, an experienced chartered surveyor, has joined Legat Owen and brings more than five years’ knowledge to the building surveying division, including expertise in development monitoring and party wall matters.

Chris has moved back from Birmingham where he worked for Bruton Knowles and Fusion Building Consultancy, with public and private clients across niche and large infrastructure projects.

The new appointment has taken the number of chartered building surveyors within the department to three, plus two graduate surveyors.

Returning to the North West, Chris, who is originally from Merseyside, said: “Legat Owen is a well-established business in Chester, Merseyside and North Wales particularly, with many long-standing clients across the regions.

“I had no hesitation in taking this opportunity to join the team and hope to contribute to the further growth of the building surveying division.”

Mark Atherton, director of the building surveying department, added: “We are delighted that Chris has joined the team, his breadth of experience is a great fit for us and with his roots in this region he has been able to hit the ground running to provide commercially-focused advice to both new and existing clients.”

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Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership has appointed a new manager to take forward the development of the county’s Careers Hub and help transform careers education for young people.

Caroline Ledward will lead the Cumbria Careers Hub project, one of only 20 to be piloted in England.

It is designed to improve the quality of careers education and guidance and give young people more and better access to effective work experiences by connecting schools and colleges with employers and careers programme providers.

Working with the Careers and Enterprise Company, local education and skills providers and employers, the LEP is set to formally launch the county’s Careers Hub in the coming weeks with Caroline at the helm.

Caroline has previously worked for Inspira, its predecessor Connexions Cumbria, the county’s 14-19 development team and Cumbria County Council.

As Cumbria LEP’s 16-19/NEET manager in the past two years, she has worked with employers and partner organisations to address skills issues and support direct training provision for young people not in employment, education or training.

Caroline Ledward

She said: “My role will be to ensure that the Careers Hub effectively co-ordinates activities between our schools, colleges, enterprise advisors and employers, as well as evaluating progress as it becomes established.

“I’m passionate about supporting young people to achieve their personal and career aspirations. I cannot wait for the official launch of the hub in the coming weeks and starting to work with colleagues and partners.”

Cumbria LEP head of employment and skills, Craig Ivison, said: “The Cumbria Careers Hub will contribute to our careers strategy for Cumbria, improve local careers education and help prepare young people for the world of work.

“Caroline’s appointment is a strong one and will be integral to the development and successful delivery of our own Careers Hub. The aim is to provide support to schools and colleges in developing high quality careers and enterprise education programmes, building on the excellent practice evident in parts of the county, and secure greater consistency and depth.”

A Careers Hub is a group of 20 to 40 schools and colleges working together with universities, training providers, employers and career professionals to improve careers education.

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Sarah Ballam, formerly rooms operations manager at The Chester Grosvenor, has been promoted to hotel manager.

Sarah joined the hotel in 2013 as head receptionist and has shown immense commitment and capability over the years, rising through the ranks to reception manager, front of house manager and latterly rooms operations manager, before now leading the day-to-day operation of the hotel.

Her promotion will involve overseeing all of the hotel’s departments.

General manager, Richard Grove, said: “Since joining the team in 2013, Sarah Ballam has established herself as a vital part of the hotel’s ongoing success.

Sarah Ballam

“With her wealth of experience in structured leadership and impeccable customer service, she will build on the improved guest experience with an emphasis on attention to detail across all service areas, whilst helping to retain the accolades that the hotel has held for many years.”

In the past two months alone, The Chester Grosvenor has earned its place on The Sunday Times’ ‘Top 100 British Hotels’ list, in addition to Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor ranking in the Waitrose and Partners ‘Top 50’ Good Food Guide 2019.

“In another proud moment last month, the restaurant retained its Michelin star for the 29th consecutive year – one of only a handful of UK restaurants to do so.”

Sarah said: “Being part of such an exceptional team has always been an immense privilege, and to now evolve into hotel manager is an exciting opportunity to lead, develop and inspire individuals to grow on their own journey with The Chester Grosvenor.”

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Mayfly Internet Marketing has added two recruits to work on the firm’s account with Huyton-based drinks maker Halewood International.

Elena Hubert, 23, and Thomas Abbate, 26, have both recently completed their Masters in Digital Marketing at John Moores University, and have their roots on the European continent.

Thomas hails from Belgium and spent a brief time as a freelance marketer before specialising in the field of SEO. Elena, from Germany, has joined the team with a focus on the expanding social media services that the company is now offering.

Halewood is set to open its first drinks experience venture, The Liverpool Gin Distillery, on the city’s Castle Street, on November 26, and Elena and Thomas will be working on this account.

Thomas Abbate and Elena Hubert

Mayfly will be promoting this new venture through a multi-tiered social marketing campaign, featuring a series of targeted competitions and events promotions that will be raising awareness for the distillery, and encouraging positive engagement from Liverpool Gin’s current audience base.

Liam Patton, Mayfly director, said: “Liverpool Gin is synonymous with this great city, so to be responsible for pushing the distillery through social media activity is a great honour for us, and dovetails nicely with the other marketing work we do with Halewood.

“Thomas and Elena’s appointments have come at a perfect time as we are securing new clients regularly, as well as working with our long-standing client base.”

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Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group (LCBSG) has further strengthened its UK operation with the appointment of Helen Boylett-Smith to its Reach Commercial Finance division.

Taking a senior business development role in the Liverpool and Preston offices of LCBSG’s bespoke brokerage offering, Helen’s remit is to meet the region’s ongoing demand for commercial finance expertise.

She is helping to build on Reach’s impressive 500+ transactions and £250m raised since August 2014, while further strengthening the LCBSG service offering among the region’s accountancy network and SME owners and lenders.

Helen brings with her some 25 years’ financial and business development experience gained in senior positions within some of the world’s leading financial and professional services firms.

Helen Boylett-Smith

These include AON and JP Morgan, where she was client director and vice president for business development, respectively.

In her new role, Helen is responsible for analysing client requirements and being the connection between borrowers and lenders – to achieve the best client solutions.

Helen Boylett-Smith said: “I’ve always been passionate about client service and satisfaction – it’s all about clients, for me – so I am delighted to join Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group as it shares this very same ethos.

“I’ve brought with me some great experience gained at some of the world’s leading companies – all of which stands me in excellent stead to further strengthen and grow the Reach CF offering across the North West of England.”

Daniel Booth, director at LCBSG, said: “We are delighted to welcome Helen on board and we look forward to her playing a key role in our ambitious strategic expansion programme. To make an appointment of this calibre is testament to our reputation and plans for the future.”