People: KKA; Ultimate Products; Kingswood Homes; Rhino Doors

Liverpool-based architecture firm KKA has made three promotions.

Having been appointed to a number of new schemes, including the Silverstone Hilton Garden Inn which features a new bridge over the iconic racetrack, the 70-year-old architecture firm has strengthened both its interiors and architecture teams.

Chloe Bliss Buckley, who is part of KKA’s interiors team KKAI, has been promoted to senior interior designer after being with the company for over four years.

She has worked on a number of high-profile projects across the country including Downing’s Vega student accommodation in London, BOHO student accommodation in Glasgow and the award-winning Robins High Performance Centre for Bristol FC.

On the architecture team, Matt Kerrod and Jamie McAllister have both been promoted as associates.

Having been with the firm for four years, Kerrod joined the firm after receiving his Master’s in Architecture from Liverpool John Moores University and played an instrumental role in the 700-bed True student accommodation development in Swansea, as well as the Hilton Garden Inn at Silverstone and Hampton by Hilton in Rochdale.

Fellow graduate from Liverpool John Moores University, McAllister has been with the firm for more than six years and continues to play a key role in a number of developments including La Grande Mere resort in Guernsey, the £100m Ashton Gate Sporting Quarter in Bristol and the wider Longmoor masterplan.

Chris Long, director at KKA, said: “As a Liverpool-based firm, KKA continues to support Liverpool’s next wave of graduates as they look to find a way into the industry, without having to leave the North West. Chloe, Matt and Jamie have all been with KKA for a number of years now, and it is great to see their own growth and progression mirroring that of the overall firms.

“After a really exciting start to the year, KKA continues to be appointed to deliver state-of-the-art developments across a range of our specialist sectors, including hospitality, sporting facilities and venues, student accommodation and co-living. The second half of the year promises to be a busy one as the whole firm continues to grow.”

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Oldham’s Ultimate Products, the owner of a number of homeware brands including Salter and Beldray, has welcomed Simon Hathway as an external adviser to its European business.

Hathway is an experienced independent adviser, consultant and NED with more than 25 years experience in international retail.

His previous executive roles have included commercial director for Action (the Netherlands-based international discount store chain), head of multichannel for Wilko, business solution director for A.S. Watson Group in Asia, and a variety of senior roles for Sainsbury’s.

Recent advisory roles have included proposition development with a leading French hypermarket chain, strategy and sourcing development for a pan-European discounter, and category management planning for a German retailer.

Europe is becoming an increasingly important part of Ultimate Products’ strategy, and the group has a number of strong and growing relationships with leading supermarkets in the region. Recent customer wins include Kaufland, one of the leading hypermarket chains in Germany, and Biedronka, the largest chain of discount supermarkets in Poland.

In the last financial year, the group’s international revenue represented 34% of total sales, and it currently sells into 38 countries worldwide.

Germany, where the group has an office and a showroom in Cologne, performed particularly well with revenue up nearly 27% on the prior year. In March this year, Ultimate Products also announced that its Petra brand had received its first substantial order from one of Germany’s leading retailers.

Simon Showman, CEO of Ultimate Products, said: “We are hugely excited about the prospects for Ultimate Products in Europe. We already have a strong business in the region with a number of leading European supermarkets and also have a growing online presence there. Simon’s appointment will add even more strategic focus and operational-know how to our European operations, and we are delighted to have someone of his vast international retail experience on board.”

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Kingswood Homes has announced Adele Lewis-Ward as its new business development and funding director.

She first came into contact with Kingswood in 2018, helping to secure three finance loans for the developer.

“My new role at Kingswood is to assist this successful and multi-award-winning company to grow, through diversification and securing additional funding,” she said.

A chartered surveyor, Lewis-Ward has experience in all professional categories of the private sector including valuations, portfolio management, investment, landlord and tenant and development. The majority of her career, however, has been spent in the public sector with Homes England, initially in a corporate role, acting as national lead on several national programmes.

During the pandemic she led her team to successfully contract 52 loan transactions with SME housebuilders, committing £114m loan finance to facilitate the building of around 2,000 homes across the North West and Midlands.

Managing director Paul Jones said: “Adele is as passionate about building homes and communities as ourselves, so she is a perfect fit.

“Her previous roles and the strength of her experience will ensure that we can continue our efforts to grow and to have a primary role in the quality property development industry, while maintaining an interest and concern for those around us and the charities we support.”

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Jon Walter

Rhino Doors, the manufacturer of high-performance engineered doors, has made two new senior board level appointments.

Jon Walter joins the company as managing director, with extensive experience in senior leadership roles at manufacturing and engineering organisations in Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the US.

Matthew Richards takes up the role of project engineering director after spending over ten years in engineering project management positions within the oil and gas industry.

Walter’s appointment will see Stuart Lawrence stepping down to focus on his role as group managing director of Rhino Engineering Group, driving the expansion of the wider business.

The arrival of Richards will allow the company’s chief engineer Dr Chris Norris to lead on design across the group.

Both Lawrence and Norris will remain directors of the business, with Lawrence assuming the role of chairman of Rhino Doors.