People: Beech Holdings; TLT; Prospect Homes; Cityheart; Vincents Solicitors; McEwan Wallace

Jonathan Griffiths, left, and Phil Rawlinson

Manchester PRS developer Beech Holdings has appointed Phil Rawlinson as building safety manager, as part of its action to adhere to expected rulings under the Draft Building Safety Bill ahead of the expected compliance schedule.

Following the devastating fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017, where 72 people lost their lives, the Government has brought forward a Bill that will improve building and fire safety so that people will be safer in their homes.

Beech Holdings and subsidiary company Manchester Apartments – Beech’s residential lettings and property management arm – has already appointed a building safety manager, a position that the Draft Building Safety Bill is expected to enforce by 2023.

The Bill is anticipated to be passed in the coming months, but Beech Holdings sees this appointment as fundamental to instilling trust in tenants and to demonstrate its level of commitment to the highest safety standards for every development it has completed and will deliver to market.

On the appointment of Phil Rawlinson, Manchester Apartments director Jonathan Griffiths said: “Phil is joining our team to constantly assess our standards and strive to make us a better developer. The horror at Grenfell Tower reminds people that the choices that are made in construction, before a single brick has ever been laid, are fundamental to the safety of the people that will eventually live in the properties we build.

“I am proud of the quality of our developments and the level of safety we adhere to, but as a business, we will never be arrogant to think that change and improvements are not part of our ongoing commitment to the communities we construct.”

Phil Rawlinson said: “Over my career I’ve had to consistently improve my knowledge and training in construction health and safety – it’s an ever changing landscape and I welcome this Bill and everything within it.

“Beech Holdings and Manchester Apartments, that has the responsibility for 1,000s of Manchester residents, really resonated with me because of the business’ forward thinking mindset and positive attitude towards health and safety – which is quite rare to see. The progression, ambition and growth of the company was not an opportunity to be turned down.”

Phil has worked within the property services sector for just under 10 years but his qualifications and experience specifically around health and safety are excessive. He will be based out of the Manchester office but will be tasked with assessing all Beech Holdings’ portfolio and maintaining the highest standards. He’ll be fully involved, once completed, with the recent new purchase of a landmark 18-storey building in Newcastle which will be home to 250 residents.

::

Law firm TLT has announced the promotion of five lawyers to partner.

The newly-appointed partners are financial services disputes lawyer Louise Chopra, litigation lawyer Emma Cork, real estate lawyer Sarah Hale, and technology and IP lawyers Juliet Mason and Ed Hayes.

TLT has also promoted 11 associates to legal director, including Manchester-based disputes lawyer Chantal Peters, corporate tax lawyer William Ngan and real estate lawyer Joseph Meredith. Seventeen lawyers have been promoted to associate.

Graeme Orchison

Partner and Manchester location head Graeme Orchison said: “I am pleased that we can celebrate the success of a number of our talented colleagues across the firm following an unpredictable and unprecedented 12 months. It is particularly pleasing to note the gender split in these latest promotions which demonstrates our efforts to improve diversity amongst our partner group.

“We are an ambitious firm with exciting plans for our people and our clients, and investing in our people is a key part of delivering against those objectives and crucial to our future success in the region.”

He added: “These promotions recognise the contribution our people continue to make to the development of the firm in Manchester as we continue to find new ways to meet our clients’ evolving needs.”

“Chantal, William and Joseph’s promotions are testament to their hard work and efforts in very challenging times and are richly deserved. I congratulate them.”

::

Liverpool-based Prospect Homes has recruited estimator Jay Elliot to assist its land team on sealing the deal for new sites across the North West.

Jay, 32, from Formby, will further strengthen the land team, providing them with the ability to bid for more work across the region. Jay will also look at the cost effectiveness of projects by reviewing architectural designs and material costs.

He said: “I’ll be working within the commercial team but I’ll be working closely with the land team, assisting them with bids for new land across the North West and Lancashire.”

Jay, who was previously an estimator at Keepmoat, also spent eight years in the Army as an infantry soldier before moving to study quantity surveying at Liverpool John Moores University.

Jay Elliot

Jay said: “My first role as an estimator was after I’d graduated and it was with Westbourne Civil Engineering. From there I went to Keepmoat where I was doing a similar role to what I’ll be doing at Prospect. I’d actually worked alongside Prospect while I was at Keepmoat as we were exploring working together on a potential site so I was familiar with the product and the company.”

He added that a big draw to Prospect was how it supports Army leavers: “Prospect actually work with a company called BuildForce UK who encourage military service leavers and veterans to take up careers in construction. Because of my background, seeing the company support an initiative like this was a huge plus.”

Nigel Yates, managing director at Prospect Homes, said: “We’re really pleased to welcome Jay to the team. He’ll bring in new expertise and knowledge which will be vital to the company’s growth plans so we can continue to deliver our high quality homes across the region.”

::

Cityheart has boosted its regeneration and residential expertise with two new strategic appointments and opened a new office in Wilmslow to house the growing development team.

Following a string of recent tender successes, the Chester-based public private partnership specialist has appointed Lauren Gavaghan as development manager.
Lauren, who joins from Genr8 Developments and previously worked at Peel L&P, will be working on some of the company’s existing schemes, including the recently secured £50m residential regeneration scheme in Widnes, as well as looking to secure new opportunities for the future.

Jonny Wrigley has also joined as director of the newly-formed, Cityheart Homes.

Cityheart has experienced its most successful year to date after a number of high profile bid wins, including the £80m redevelopment of Old River Lane mixed use site in Bishops Stortford, Herts, the £135m Galleries redevelopment in Wigan town centre, and the transformational new £49m Stockport Interchange residential scheme in the town centre.

From left: Lauren Gavaghan, Mark McNamee, Jonny Wrigley, Warren Taylor

This has led to it opening a second office in Wilmslow, Cheshire, providing a greater connectivity to service its projects in the North West and London.

Founder and managing director, Mark McNamee, said: “Lauren and Jonny’s appointment are pivotal to the continued growth of Cityheart. Jonny’s experience in the residential sector will help drive forward our mixed use schemes where residential is an integral part, we are currently developing a mix of more than 1,000 BTR, affordable and open market sales homes across the country.”

Jonny will continue his role as chairman of supported living specialist HBV, which has an established joint venture with Cityheart adding extra care housing expertise to its regeration offering.

Lauren said: “Cityheart is a dynamic and innovative development company. Having delivered the successful £80m Rochdale Riverside regeneration scheme with Genr8 last year, I felt that there was a lot of synergy with Cityheart’s track record of successfully working in public/private partnerships. Both its current and potential pipeline of new developments will provide an exciting array of new challenges.”

::

Lisa Nickson has been appointed as the new lead for the Yorkshire Building Society agency at Vincents Solicitors in Garstang.

Vincents has ensured the retention of the Yorkshire Building Society counter operation in Garstang by hosting the agency branch at its office for just over 20 years.

Lisa, who is employed by the law firm, provides the full range of Yorkshire Building Society services for the town’s customers, taking deposits and dispensing cash, setting up and closing savings accounts.

She takes over from Virginia Webster who has moved into Vincents’ legal administration, supporting the firm’s probate team. Formerly a change analyst with Hewlett Packard for more than 20 years, Lisa is enjoying her new position.

She said: “I am absolutely loving my new job. This is a really lovely place to work, all of my colleagues have been very welcoming and helped me settle in very quickly.

Lisa Nickson

“It is wonderful getting to know our customers. We still provide that traditional one-to-one service which the customers really appreciate, but which has sadly disappeared from most banks these days.”

Lisa Lodge, head of Vincents Garstang branch, said: “Many of our customers are older and they don’t want to do online banking, so without a branch in the town it could be very difficult for them to manage their money. We have been committed to providing the YBS agency branch for more than two decades and it’s a really important part of the service we provide for the community in Garstang.

“Having Lisa on board is fantastic, she’s a lovely welcoming face for customers to see when they arrive and she’s just brilliant with them.”

::

McEwan Wallace has announced the appointment of Matthew Ryan as a new director, to help support the continued growth of the firm.

Matthew, previously a manager at the firm for 20 years, is an expert in external audit and VAT. He also provides specialist advice to the franchise sector.

Managing director, Alastair Gould, said “We are delighted to have Matthew on board – he deserves this opportunity. He is loved by our clients and will be a real asset. We have always been a progressive firm and welcoming Matthew as a director can only bolster our approach.”

Matthew Ryan

Matthew said: “I’m excited about this new opportunity and keen to help move the firm forward in these challenging times. My clients have always been my main focus and supporting them now is my priority.

“I am proud to be part of a firm that puts client care and staff wellbeing at the heart of everything they do. It’s a real privilege to work here and to now be a bigger part of that picture.”

McEwan Wallace has seen unprecedented staff growth over the past year, including five new appointments and five promotions at its Argyle Street office in Birkenhead.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close