People on the Move: Brabners; The Sharp Project; Growth Street; Suttons Tankers

The Manchester office of independent legal practice, Brabners, has strengthened its real estate and healthcare sector teams with the appointment of three new partners: Krista Powell, Helena Davies and Andrea James.

The appointments are the latest in a series of senior hires announced by Brabners in 2018 which includes the appointment of head of real estate, Paul Firth, earlier this year.

The firm’s real estate team, one of the largest in the North West, now encompasses more than 100 people and counts clients including Peel Land & Property, The Riverside Group and McColl’s among its portfolio.

Krista, who originally trained at Brabners, specialises in non-contentious commercial property law and joins the firm from Fieldfisher. She returns to Brabners to expand her real estate client base and to enhance the firm’s profile in the property market.

Helena has extensive experience in real estate litigation and joins from DWF. Her new role will see her develop and grow the real estate litigation team in Brabners’ Manchester office.

Andrea is a highly-regarded specialist in professional discipline and healthcare regulatory law. The main focus of her work is defending professionals, such as doctors, paramedics, veterinary surgeons, dentists, social workers and teachers, at fitness to practise proceedings before their regulatory bodies.

Her clients also include the likes of the National Pharmacy Association, College of Paramedics and Medical Defence Society. She joins Brabners from Knights, together with her colleague James Stewart who joins Brabners as a senior associate.

Nik White, managing partner of Brabners, said: “Our ambition to strengthen and grow the firm continues to gather pace.

“Building our presence in Manchester, investing in our real estate proposition, and strengthening our sector-based solutions-focused approach remain key drivers in our growth plan.

“Bringing Krista, Helena and Andrea on board signals another major step forward in our commitment to developing a best-in-class team and will boost the firm’s capability and presence in our key markets.”

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The Sharp Project, Manchester’s home for creative digital entrepreneurs and digital content creation, has announced that Dunstan Carter has been appointed the organisation’s business development manager.

In this newly-created role Carter will be charged with spearheading client retention for The Sharp Project, which currently provides workspace and community for more than 60 businesses across the creative digital sector.

These include CGI producers, film makers, gaming developers, animators, digital agencies, tech start-ups and graphic designers.

As The Sharp Project continues to evolve and the creative industries become increasingly collaborative in their approaches to business, Carter, at this crucial point in The Sharp Project’s evolution, will head up new business activity and office sales, while simultaneously promoting the facility to the North’s creative, digital, tech and broadcasting sectors.

Dunstan Carter

Through his understanding of the quickly-evolving competition in the creative office space market in Manchester, Carter will, as first point of call for internal and external new business enquiries, further secure The Sharp Project’s reputation as the place to create, found and develop business in a unique culture.

Previously expo sales director for Prolific North, where he launched and headed up sales and marketing for the media and marketing expo, Prolific North Live, Carter has a distinguished career in business development with a specialism in account management and sales and marketing. He was previously business development manager at Modern-English Digital.

He will report directly to The Sharp Project’s joint managing directors Colin Johnson (operations) and Rob Page (commercial).

Carter said: “The Sharp Project has, for 10 years, been viewed by many as the place in the North West to set up creative businesses.

“The opportunities available do make this very special environment stand apart from other offerings in the sector and I am looking forward to working with tenants, existing and new, as well as the brilliant team who have brought, and continue to bring, this space to life through hard work and original thinking.”

Rob Page added: “Dunstan is a most welcome addition to the team here at The Sharp Project.

“We have seen an increase in demand for space for an increasingly wide range of businesses, but we are also crucially aware of the need to maintain our individuality.

“Through a combination of his intuitive approach to this sector and a desire to work closely with the tenants, Dunstan is well placed to move us to the next level as we enter our second decade.”

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Alternative finance specialist, Growth Street, has announced the appointment of two new business development professionals as the firm targets significant growth in 2019.

Rob Kelly has been appointed as Head of Sales (South), and Rhys Price joins the company as Business Development Manager (North).

Rob will work from Growth Street’s London headquarters, while Rhys will expand Growth Street’s presence in the North West, working from Liverpool.

Rob and Rhys will be educating their markets on Growth Street’s flagship business finance product, GrowthLine.

Rob Kelly

GrowthLine works much like a traditional overdraft: Within businesses’ limits, they can draw down funds and make repayments as often as they like in a given month. Since launching in 2014, Growth Street has lent £70m to growing SMEs.

Rob Kelly said: “Too many high street banks have de-prioritised really intelligent support for growing businesses.

“Growth Street understands the challenges faced by SMEs, and the whole team share my passion for helping British businesses understand their options when it comes to finance.”

Julie Ashmore, Growth Street’s commercial director, said: “In 2019 we’ll continue building relationships around the country, not just with business owners but with finance partners like brokers and accountants.”

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Suttons Tankers has strengthened its team with two new appointments at board level.

Gary Oliver joins as operations director West, replacing Roger Parr, who has now been appointed the company’s new commercial director.

Roger’s appointment recognises his successful leadership in a series of continuous improvement projects for leading customers of Widnes-based Suttons Tankers.

Gary joins the company from DX Network Services where he has worked as a regional director and operations director since 2010.

Working with Steve Hassall, operations director East, Gary will be responsible for leading the business strategy, objectives and performance at Suttons’ Widnes, Eastham and Willenhall depots.

Gary brings significant experience from the freight and deliveries sector to his new role with Suttons, having also held senior management roles with Target Express and City Link.

Gary Oliver, left, and Roger Parr

Michael Cundy, managing director of Suttons Tankers, said: “I’m pleased to welcome Gary to the business and look forward to benefiting from his vast experience in senior roles, enhancing customer relations.

“And congratulations to Roger, who is making a natural progression having been an integral part of our commercial leadership team since joining in 2015.

“These two appointments highlight our UK strategy to continually improve the customer experience and add value at all points in the delivery chain.

“We look forward to reaping the rewards of this fresh structure and approach within our tanker division.”

Suttons Tankers operates in the UK with a fleet of more than 500 vehicles focused on the chemicals, gas and fuel sectors.

Suttons International operates globally with key business centres in New Jersey, Widnes, Antwerp, Ludwigshafen, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo and Khobar.