People on the Move: Urban Splash; Trident Building Consultancy; Landmark Group; Crowe; Trak Global

Having appointed land director Katie Dean in Spring 2019, Urban Splash has further strengthened its land acquisition team with four new hires – including a new head of planning.

The news takes the company’s total headcount to 210 colleagues, a number which has risen from 90 staff two years ago.

Recruitment has been propelled by Urban Splash’s acquisition of its modular construction factory in 2018, and its deal with Sekisui House and Homes England in 2019.

The latest appointments to the land team will be tasked with sourcing and acquiring new sites – allowing Urban Splash to deliver more of its House by Urban Splash homes – all of which are created using modern methods of construction.

With new sites already secured in Cambridgeshire, Cumbria and the Wirral, the team has appointed Birmingham-born Andrew Johnston as head of planning.

Having worked in planning and development for 15 years, Andrew’s former roles include director at Avison Young in Manchester as well as roles with Haines in Auckland, New Zealand and DTZ in Birmingham.

He said: “I am delighted to be joining Urban Splash’s growing land team, helping to streamline planning on House projects and take our innovative approach to housing to even more neighbourhoods across the country.”

Joining Andrew are Richard Dingle as acquisitions manager, Sam Thomas as bid manager and Laurence Chipperton as acquisitions surveyor.

Richard joins from the PJ Livesey Group, while Sam brings more than seven years of industry experience including roles at Morson International and Omni, with Laurence joining from Adlington, part of the Cheshire-based Gladman Group.

Speaking about her ambitious curation of the land team since joining Urban Splash, Katie said: “We have huge plans for our growth this year and, with so many House by Urban Splash sites now established and coming to fruition in places like Manchester, North Shields, Birmingham and the Wirral, we’re looking to take it to all corners of the country.

“Fusing more than 25 years of regeneration and design experience, the highest design standards, placemaking skills and modern methods of construction are setting us apart as we bid for new sites – our new colleagues are a great asset to us in achieving our ambitious plans for growth, and we are looking to continue building our team this year. It’s a really exciting time for us.”

The hires mean Urban Splash has welcomed more than 40 new colleagues to its business this past year, all of whom are helping the company in its national pursuit to create neighbourhoods, workspaces and innovative, architect-designed homes using modern methods of construction across the country.

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Danny McEvoy has been promoted to the role of associate director in Trident Building Consultancy’s Liverpool office.

Danny joined Trident in March 2019 having worked as an associate building surveyor at Matthews & Goodman, but prior to that he worked at Trident.

Danny McEvoy

Danny’s appointment is one of several throughout Trident Building Consultancy. Following a successful year, and in anticipation of a successful year to come, Trident its expanding its senior team by making several internal appointments.

Danny’s expertise is in dilapidations and project management and he will be responsible for leading and growing Trident’s Liverpool office.

Keith Richards, executive director, said: “Since Danny returned to Trident just under a year ago, the Liverpool office has gone from strength to strength.

“This promotion reflects the energy and dedication that Danny has put into the role.”

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Bolton-based Landmark Group has announced the appointment of two heavyweight board advisors, Steve Nobes and Alex Veys, to its board as well as a rebrand in its 20th anniversary year.

Landmark Group is now the umbrella brand for the various group entities which includes ground rent investor Landmark Investments, resi sales underwriter Landmark Development Solutions (LDS), management business Landmark Collections and fund manager Landmark Asset Management.

Steve is an experienced director in disruptive and unique businesses, having worked closely with both John Caudwell (Phones 4u, Caudwell Group) and Noel McKee (webuyanycar.com).

He has a proven track record as a highly successful CFO generating exceptional uplifts in stakeholder value for a range of businesses and sits on the board of a variety of private equity backed businesses.

Steve said: “I’m excited to join Landmark Group. I’ve known Mark for a number of years and have always been impressed with the constant innovation and progress demonstrated.

“The LDS business, in particular, has the potential to fundamentally change the way developers approach sales and funding in the £75bn new-build housing market.”

Alex Veys will be based out of central London.

Mark Hawthorn and Steve Nobes

Mark Hawthorn, Landmark Group chief executive, said: “The appointments of Steve and Alex have really brought home how far we have come since I set up Landmark in my bedroom back in 2000.

“We may be in our 20th year, yet we are only just beginning to realise our true potential. Our core investment portfolio will clear £100m of value in the coming months and our LDS business has the potential to become a multibillion-pound entity.

“We have had a great start to 2020 and are relishing the year ahead.”

Steve and Alex join non-executive chairman, David Lathwood, who was appointed to the board in 2016. David is North West chairman at JLL and a senior advisor to Rothschild & Co. He has been instrumental in Landmark Group’s expansion over recent years.

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Audit, tax, advisory and risk firm Crowe has expanded its national tax resolutions and investigations team with the appointment of dispute resolution specialist Grant Summers.

He joins Crowe from a top six accountancy firm to advise on dispute resolution work involving corporate, personal and employment taxes.

Bringing with him more than 35 years of experience in tax investigations and dispute resolution, both for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) and in private practice, Summers is also an experienced tax litigator in civil and criminal matters.

Based in Crowe’s Manchester office, Summers will work alongside Manchester’s office managing partner Michael Jayson and the tax resolutions team nationally.

Michael Jayson said: “Grant’s background and experience is a great fit for Crowe, further strengthening our ability to support individuals and businesses across Manchester and the other Northern Powerhouse cities.

Grant Summers

“Tax investigations and dispute resolution work can be hugely technical and complex, requiring specialist expertise.

“Grant’s experience will therefore be hugely valuable in helping clients to safely navigate this complexity and to resolve their tax affairs with HMRC.”

He added: “Our national presence and global reach means we attract the very best specialists like Grant, who has a strong understanding of the markets in which our clients operate and the challenges they have, to help them on their journey to success.”

Sean Wakeman, joint head of tax resolutions at Crowe, said: “The challenges that businesses of all sizes are faced with today are wide and varied.

“Unless properly dealt with, dealing with the tax authorities can expose individuals and businesses to sizeable and unexpected tax liabilities.

“HMRC is also becoming more litigious, which means that having the very best of advisors like Grant is an absolute must.

“Grant’s appointment will increase our geographic reach and consolidate the first class service that we already provide. Our focus continues to be on delivering quality and value for our clients, and we remain at the disposal of our friends in the accountancy and legal professions to protect and defend their clients as well as our own.”

Grant Summers said: “Crowe’s expertise and reputation in the tax investigations and dispute resolutions arena is widely recognised and I am proud to be a part of it.

“In particular, I was attracted to the Crowe brand and its history of producing excellent results for its clients. I very much look forward to continuing to help to grow the business and working with our talented teams nationally.”

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Ed Rochfort, co-founder and managing director of Carrot Insurance, part of Crewe-based Trak Global Group, is to join group company IMS as chief product officer.

Rochfort’s appointment coincides with TGG’s decision to extend the IMS brand internationally across both its insurance and mobility b2b divisions. This move reflects ongoing changes in the market, in which shifting patterns in mobility – such as the rise of ride sharing, car clubs, and connected car technologies – are converging with the evolution and digitisation of motor insurance.

IMS, the Canada-based telematics company acquired by TGG in December 2018, and which was formerly known as Intelligent Mechatronic Systems, will be rebranded with immediate effect as ‘IMS – Insurance & Mobility Solutions’.

Consequently, Trak Global will cease to operate as a trading brand in Europe, but Trak Global Group will remain as parent company to both IMS and Carrot Insurance.

Ed Rochfort

Nick Corrie, chief executive for TGG, said: “We want a single b2b brand that speaks with a unified voice to our diverse customer base – and as we enter a new decade it feels like the perfect opportunity to make this change.

“At the same time, having co-founded Carrot, Ed’s move into the newly-created chief product officer role at IMS will unlock eight years of unrivalled market experience and insight, and put it straight into the hands of our North American customers.”

Rochfort said: “US insurers have a real appetite to harness our learnings from the development of Carrot, from the driver scoring algorithms that have been engineered from real-world collision and claims data, to how we’ve been able to drive engagement, behaviour change and improved loss ratios through leveraging the power of rewards for good driving.

“I’ll be helping IMS customers in insurance and mobility to access our capabilities and build solutions that deliver game-changing outcomes.”

IMS recently announced that the technology platform that underpins Carrot in the UK would be made available to its customers within North America.

Many of IMS’s insurer customers are located in the US and, as a result, the company has also confirmed that it will be opening a satellite office in Boston, a centre for US telematics technology and with a strong insurance heritage.

Ed Rochfort is set to be replaced in the UK Carrot role by Norrie Erwin, a highly-experienced broking executive who started working with the company last year.