People: Senior appointment for £88m fit-out contractor; Law firm recruits department head; Host of hires made by communications agency

LEEDS fit-out contractor Morris & Spottiswood is targeting facilities management contracts across the UK after appointing an operations director.

John Murphy has joined the £88m turnover firm as divisional director of maintenance to target the facilities management sector.

The former Carillion, EMCOR, Balfour Beatty and COEFLY UK manager brings expertise managing nationwide mobile engineering teams.

Morris & Spottiswood UK group managing director Jon Dunwell said Mr Murphy’s role will involve ramping up the firm’s ‘soft facilities management’ offering including cleaning, security and health and safety.

“A key aim for the last two quarters in 2016 and beyond is to target facilities management, maintenance and technical services contracts,” said Mr Dunwell.

“Morris & Spottiswood has developed a strong reputation for delivering ‘hard facilities management’ work covering areas such as building fabric, mechanical and electrical services.

“However, we see great potential to increase delivery of softer services such as grounds upkeep, pest control, helpdesk, reception and janitorial services. We have brought in John Murphy to lead on this specific initiative due to his considerable knowledge and experience. John has coordinated facilities management contracts across the UK, including Public Private Partnerships (PPP), across many sectors including retail, healthcare, education, defence and manufacturing. He is used to managing large teams of up to 100 support services and technical staff around the clock in a variety of environments. In particular John brings exceptional experience within the healthcare sector.”

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LAW firm Michael Lewin Solicitors has appointed Tim Fieldhouse as head of industrial diseases.

Mr Fieldhouse joins the firm from Eatons where he has spent the last five years as an industrial disease solicitor.

Managing partner Abbie Keech said: “I am delighted to welcome Tim to the team; he brings valuable personal injury skills and experience and his appointment further strengthens our senior management team.”

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SHEFFIELD’S Counter Context has boosted staff numbers in a response to increased demand for its specialist PR and communications services.

After securing a number of new contracts with DONG Energy, Heeton Holdings, Quest Properties and Turner and Townsend, the company has created five permanent positions in three months.

July’s appointments include three new account executives, filled by recent graduates Sam Rowe, Gina Francey and Tom Mothersole. The trio will provide  support to deliver  PR campaigns and stakeholder engagement programmes the company is working on locally and throughout the UK.

Counter Context has also recruited its first marketing manager, Claire Fletcher. After holding similar roles in the legal and social care sectors, Ms Fletcher brings over eight years’ marketing experience to the team.

Joining her is Ellie Mason, the company’s new operations assistant. She previously worked at The Children’s Hospital Charity and will oversee the day to day running of the Counter Context office.

Rachel Sherrington, also a recent graduate, started in July on an eight-week summer internship.

Harriet Knowles, account director at Counter Context said: “The ideas, experience and enthusiasm our new recruits have brought to the team is really exciting.

“Not only does it enable us to continue delivering a creative, strategic and responsive service to our clients; this talented and dynamic team will help us to build on the strong reputation we’ve developed in the Sheffield City Region, and further afield.”