People on the Move: Fieldfisher; Northcoders; Anwyl Construction; {my}dentist; Public Sector plc
Fieldfisher has grown its Manchester team with a pensions partner hire
Jeremy Harris joins from DLA Piper to boost the North West’s rapidly growing employment & pensions team.
He is the first pensions partner to join Fieldfisher’s Manchester office, following an increase in client demand for this offering.
He will complement and support the existing work undertaken by the employment team and add another dimension and skill set to the firm’s existing expertise.
He has more than 29 years’ experience in the pensions industry and has acted for a variety of clients across a range of sectors, including manufacturing, chemicals, energy, utilities, mining, education and retail.
His particular expertise lies in advising on scheme benefit changes and on the employer debt implications of corporate transactions. He has also advised a number of clients in relation to the actual or threatened exercise of the Pensions Regulator’s moral hazard and scheme funding powers.
He also has extensive experience of advising in relation to annual and lifetime allowance legislation, including enhanced, primary, fixed and individual protection, the unauthorised payments legislation and defined contribution freedoms.
Jeremy joins Fieldfisher following the firm’s announcement of a third consecutive year of double digit revenue growth and total revenue having grown by 137% over five years and making a record 24 lateral hires during the year.
Ian Austin, managing partner of the Manchester office, said: “Our employment team has grown quickly and we are looking forward to building our pensions offering in the North West and beyond the region through Jeremy’s experience in the market.
“The capabilities of our Manchester office are constantly expanding and Jeremy has a reputation for being an extremely able practitioner in the pensions market. Adding his expertise to our existing team will strengthen our overall practice.”
Jeremy said: “I am delighted to be joining Fieldfisher and it is exciting to be the first pensions partner based in the Manchester office. The firm has a fantastic growth strategy and the employment team is already extremely well established in the North West and across the UK and I am looking forward to working with a team that is renowned for its high quality advice and excellent client service.”
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Manchester and Leeds-based Northcoders – the coding bootcamp for the North – has added three new members of staff to its teaching team.
The new tutors are Suneet Misra, Sherpal Singh and Natalia Megias. All three have industry backgrounds, are qualified coders and Northcoders alumni.
They will be responsible for delivering Northcoders’ curriculum, mentoring students on a group and one-to-one basis, as well as researching and staying abreast of industry news, technology trends and changes in tech.
Prior to joining Northcoders Suneet spent seven years working at Apple Retail in sales and leadership positions. After leaving Apple he completed an MSc in computing as well as a PGCE in secondary computer science and IT.
Sherpal managed her own small-scale cosmetic products manufacturing business and Natalia worked as a civil engineer.
Natalia Megias, Sherpal Singh and Suneet Misra
Suneet said: “Myself, Sherpal and Natalia are all incredibly excited to be joining Northcoders at such an exciting time in the company’s evolution.”
Chief executive, Chris Hill, said: “All three of our new tutors are talented coders and will, I’m sure, inspire and bring the best out of their students.”
Since its inaugural course four years ago, Northcoders has helped more than 400 people switch career into tech on average starting salaries of £25,000.
Over the past year it has opened a brand new campus in Leeds, was selected as one of the country’s brightest tech stars in Creative England’s CE50 list, and was named Business of the Year at the 15th Annual Chamber Business Awards.
It has also launched scholarship schemes and a deferred payment programme aimed at women and gender minorities, as well as those who identify as BAME or LGBTQ+, have a disability or have had limited access to education, to help address diversity in tech.
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Anwyl Construction continues to strengthen its thriving development and construction business, announcing a series of appointments across the division.
New recruits include senior land manager, Sam Oliver. Sam heads up the land & partnerships acquisition function to secure immediate land opportunities for mixed tenure and affordable family housing, PRS, extra care and retirement living developments across North West England and North Wales.
Sam Oliver
Sam’s appointment forms an important part of Anwyl’s strategic development, which complements the company’s well-established partnership with housing associations through procurement frameworks.
Tom Anwyl, managing director of Anwyl Construction said: “Sam has a huge amount of experience in the planning and development sector, including a role within planning consultancy and regional government.
“His understanding of this arena will be hugely important as we push on with our collaborative approach with social housing providers, creating quality and affordable homes for local people.”
Other appointments include: Contracts manager Bob Heaton; quantity surveyor Jack Donald; design co-ordinator Simon Maxwell; and architectural technologist Kevin Shone; as well as trainee design assistant and trainee QS, Megan Hughes and Calvin Fitzsimmons, respectively.
On site, Anwyl has also welcomed four new site managers and continues to invest in new entrants into the sector, with the recent appointment of two new apprentices within their in-house joinery workshop, while continuing to encourage and support its supply chain to create more sustainable apprenticeship/trainee positions.
Tom added: “We’ve made some fantastic appointments across the business in several departments and are attracting some very impressive talent. It’s important that we have the resources and people in place to be able to manage a growing operation, whilst supporting internal career progression through training and promotion.
“Now is a very exciting time for the business as we continue to partner with more social housing providers, delivering a complete turnkey solution and creating more quality homes within the North West and North Wales.”
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Kearsley-based {my}dentist, a provider of dental services with 600+ practices nationwide, has appointed Michelle Shambrook as its first permanent director of {my}orthodontist, its new specialist orthodontic division.
It was set up as a separate division on April 1, when 36 practices offering orthodontic services were brought together in one division to benefit from greater operational and clinical support. It has been led by Dr Julian Perry, commercial director of {my}dentist, since then.
Michelle Shambrook
Michelle joinswith more than 25 years’ experience in field-based operational and people-led roles for a variety of retail, healthcare and service organisations, and commenced her role as director, effective from September 2. Julian Perry will continue to provide {my}orthodontist with clinical support in addition to his other roles.
Prior to joining, Michelle was a regional operations director at The Vet Group, and before that, operations director for the South at Costa Coffee, Britain’s largest coffee shop brand.
Julian Perry said: “Orthodontics is a crucial part of {my}dentist, which is why we took the decision to invest in a new specialist orthodontic division in April.
“Since then, {my}orthodontist has grown from strength to strength and now is the ideal time to hand over the running of this division to a new leader, Michelle Shambrook, whose extensive experience will help the division build on this success in the future.”
Michelle said: “I am delighted to be joining {my}dentist at this extremely exciting period of growth and evolution and look forward to helping {my}orthodontist realise its full potential through the support of our committed, skilled and passionate teams.”
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Public Sector Plc has appointed Leena Gillespie as development manager as it strengthens its team in the North of England.
Leena joins from Investec and has more than 20 years’ experience in property finance, project management and commercial finance.
In her new role Leena will help Public Sector plc’s local authority partners to maximise revenue and value on commercial, industrial and residential property projects.
To date Public Sector plc has signed partnerships with 19 local authorities across England leading to an investment of more than £374m in new construction projects, including the development of more than 2,300 new homes and 110,000 sq metres of commercial floorspace.
Public Sector plc’s council partnerships are 50/50 mutually beneficial relationships, which allow local authorities to keep ownership of their assets and remain in control of the pace, style and type of developments being delivered.
Leena Gillespie
In the North of England Public Sector plc has established partnerships with five councils including Cheshire West & Chester, where the team is working with the council in delivering a visionary masterplan for the regeneration of Northwich town centre, as well as the development of 65 acres of land to create much-needed business and employment opportunities on a new industrial park.
At Investec, Leena project managed the development of residential and commercial property schemes and created strategies to maximise value through planning, change of use and the mix of properties on site.
Leena will be based in Public Sector plc’s Manchester office, which has grown over the past two years.
This growth was signified when the head of the Manchester office, Paul Brown, was promoted to chief operating officer and a position on the board of directors earlier this year.
Paul Brown said: “Local authorities across the North face significant and sustained funding challenges and need to look at new ways to unlock value from their assets in order to fill that funding gap without giving up control.
“We’re extremely pleased to have Leena’s expertise on board as we deliver more win-win property solutions for local authorities, local taxpayers and local communities.”
Leena Gillespie said: “Local authorities in the North have been increasing their investments in land and property in recent years and it is our mission to make sure they maximise income from these investments and their wider property portfolios.
“I’ve loved working in property and finance for the past two decades and am really excited about the opportunity to help local authorities deliver more for local communities.”
