People: Former DLA Piper partner moves to Irwin Mitchell; Senior hire for science park; and more
The Leeds office of Irwin Mitchell has appointed senior lawyer Howard Davison to its banking and finance team.
Davison is an experienced real estate finance expert and during a legal career spanning almost 25 years, including six as a partner in DLA Piper’s Finance team, he has acted for funders on some high profile multi-million pound real estate finance transactions.
His main focus over the last five years has been to act for banks and also debt and insurance funds – these include ICG-Longbow, Bank J. Safra Sarasin, Aviva Commercial Finance, Santander, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank.
Davison will work alongside banking and finance partner Paddy Sturman and senior associate, Robert Farrell.
He said: “Irwin Mitchell is a law firm that I have admired for a long time and I’m very excited to have joined a very strong team, both in Leeds and nationally, with a first-class reputation for high quality real estate and finance work.”
Sturman added: “We are delighted to welcome Howard to Irwin Mitchell. He has a superb track record and a wealth of expertise which I’m confident will bolster our proposition, not just here in Yorkshire, but across the UK.”
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Janet Jay has been appointed as business development manager at York Science Park.
She will be responsible for supporting existing residents and attracting new businesses to the 21-acre science and technology park facilities.
Prior to joining York Science Park, Jay was a commercial manager at Autism Plus.
She said: “I am looking forward to the challenges ahead, particularly to my involvement in the new
strategy implementation. Also, due to a recent large resident move, we currently have over 3,500 sq ft of premium flexible laboratory space available and I will be dedicating time to find suitable residents to secure spaces.
“I aim to maintain and build upon the previous high levels of achievement whilst keeping abreast of fast-moving developments in the industry and ensuring York Science Park is firmly at the forefront of those developments. York has such a thriving science, technology and digital innovation community, it’s an exciting time for me to be joining the sector.”
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Leeds aparthotel brand Roomzzz has appointed Robert Alley as chief operations officer to assist with the company’s ambitious growth plans as it opens the eighth aparthotel in its fast-growing portfolio with six further developments across the UK coming soon.
Alley has previously worked with both new and developing brands, including some of the biggest hotel groups in the world. These include Hilton, IHG and, most recently, the development of Hallmark Hotels group as they established the brand in the UK.
He said: “Roomzzz is such an exciting brand, one that everyone in the group and our customers feel really strongly about. I’m looking forward to growing the team, developing the brand and the number of aparthotels we offer across the UK and beyond. It’s an exciting time for Roomzzz with two new openings this year and five more developments already on their way.”
