People: PWA Planning; Qbunk; Cole Waterhouse; University of Manchester; Northern Gritstone; IMD Solicitors
North West planning consultancy PWA Planning has expanded its team with the appointment of Paige Linley and Lewis Baldwin.
Paige joins the Preston-based firm as a planner from Leith Planning, while Lewis has been appointed as an assistant planner, having joined from Mono Consultants.
With more than five years’ experience in town planning, Paige’s career highlights include achieving planning consent for an alternative provision school in Greenwich, project managing a mixed-use development scheme on Kensington High Street, London, as well as assisting with securing approval for a hotel near Heathrow Airport.
In her new role at PWA, Paige will work alongside the firm’s 18-strong team to prepare planning statements, manage the pre-application process, attend planning committee meetings, and negotiate with public bodies to progress applications in the commercial, industrial, housing, energy, sport and leisure sectors.
Paige is a student member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) and recently completed a postgraduate diploma in Town Planning at Leeds Beckett University.
Meanwhile, Lewis, who is from Bolton, most recently worked as a graduate planning and acquisitions surveyor in Manchester city centre.
His new role as an assistant planner at PWA will see Lewis help secure planning permission for new housing, leisure and sports developments that the firm is bringing forward.
Lewis graduated with a Master’s degree in planning from the University of Manchester in 2020, while he also holds a degree in geography.
Stella Walton, director of PWA Planning, said: “We’re excited to have both Paige and Lewis on board and are pleased to welcome them to the PWA Planning team.
“Their enthusiasm and expertise will help the firm deliver the surge in planning submissions that we’re helping our clients with – especially in the energy sector where we’re seeing increasing demand for new alternative energy schemes, including energy storage projects.
“I’m sure both Paige and Lewis have a bright future ahead at PWA.”
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Continuing to grow its team from its Liverpool HQ, tech firm Qbunk has announced the appointment of a new experienced head of sales strategy manager, Liam Henderson.
With almost a decade’s worth of experience in a number of high profile business development and sales roles, the former Leeds Trinity University graduate has worked with national brands including Tattu, Gusto, Thai Leisure Group, Alchemist and the Individual Restaurant Group since 2012.
Previously at Cisco and Oracle in respective sales roles, the 38-year old has already built great relationships with owners, buyers, directors and bar managers alike throughout the UK, with his key focus now at Qbunk, to create and maintain partnerships in the hospitality and leisure sector.
Liam Henderson
Paul Wilson, director, Qbunk, said: “Having already demonstrated a best in class product for the hospitality sector, with a vigour and intelligence unlike any other technology in the market, we will continue to work around the clock to drive efficiencies in hotels, bars and restaurants around the country.
“Liam’s acquisition is another step in the right direction to showcase our product to the widest possible market, and I am now looking forward to seeing the impact he will have on our team and the company in the upcoming weeks and months.”
Liam Henderson said: “Paul and the team have fantastic visions for where they want to take the company in the next 12-18 months, and I am privileged that I can now play my part in taking Qbunk to the next level. With extensive sales experience, I will be utilising all of my experience to ensure we enter new and existing markets and sectors in 2022/23.”
Qbunk has pivoted over the past 12 months to support the leisure and hospitality sector throughout the pandemic, with the company working with, and within, some of the Liverpool City Region’s most loved venues, such as Chester Racecourse, 62 Castle Street Hotel and the Bling Aparthotel by U-Stay.
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Property investment and development company Cole Waterhouse has appointed David Nuttall as managing director of its industrial and logistics division.
Nuttall joins the company from Tritax Symmetry where he was development director for three-and-a-half years. Prior to that, David was senior development manager at St Modwen and has also held positions earlier in his career at surveyors Knight Frank and Nolan Redshaw.
The senior appointment finalises the re-structuring of the company to two distinct property sectors – industrial and logistics, and residential. In April 2021, Simon Gallanders was appointed as managing director of Cole Waterhouse’s residential arm that has grown to include more than 2,000 apartments across Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds.
David Nuttall
The logistics team, led by Nuttall, is developing more than two million sq ft of industrial space with a number of international joint venture partners. Working with funding partner Henderson Park, Cole Waterhouse is delivering Konect 62, a 136-acre tri-modal logistics development at the former Kellingley Colliery site in Yorkshire. At 735,000 sq ft, ‘Big K’ is the largest of four units in phase one and will be the North’s largest speculatively-built warehouse to be delivered in 2022 and will be targeting a BREEAM Excellent rating.
Cole Waterhouse has also acquired a 15-acre development site adjacent to Salford’s AJ Bell Stadium and has submitted a planning application for 300,000 sq ft of logistics space across two units, measuring 170,000 sq ft and 130,000 sq ft, which will be delivered in 2023.
Damian Flood, CEO of Cole Waterhouse, said: “The creation of this new position is a key part of our long term business strategy and David joining our business further strengthens our growing team. With a strong pipeline of development projects already under way, David will be instrumental in helping to develop the business and unearth new opportunities for us moving forward.”
David said: “I have known the team at Cole Waterhouse for many years. They have already amassed an enviable range of schemes and the opportunity to lead the industrial and logistics division was something that I couldn’t turn down. Our focus will be on delivery and working hand in hand with our funding partners to secure end-users and maximise the value of these assets. We also have the appetite and backing for further projects, and we will be actively looking to add new opportunities across the UK.”
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The University of Manchester has appointed Jeffrey Boakye as a senior teaching fellow in Manchester Institute of Education (MIE).
Originally from Brixton, Jeffrey has taught English to 11- to 18-year-olds since 2007. He is a high profile author, broadcaster and journalist whose most recent book, I Heard What You Said (2022), explores how racism in the classroom can be dismantled.
Jeffrey’s previous titles include Hold Tight: Black masculinity, millennials and the meaning of grime (2018) and Black, Listed: Black British culture explored (2019).
Within MIE, Jeffrey will offer guest lectures and seminars, and take on learning support roles that provide bespoke mentoring for individual students and trainee teachers.
Jeffrey Boakye
Jeffrey has previously given keynote presentations for MIE conferences at which he encouraged students to express themselves throughout their future professional lives, to remain aware of the transformative power of education, to maintain their intellectual curiosity, and to challenge educational orthodoxy where appropriate.
Head of Manchester Institute of Education, Prof Steven Jones, said: “This is an important appointment for the MIE community. In addition to a wealth of teaching experience, Jeffrey brings insight and challenge to a department that is always open to new ideas.
“His arrival will particularly benefit the 600 trainee teachers that we prepare every year for careers in teaching, and who mostly end up in the classrooms of Greater Manchester schools.”
Jeffrey said: “I’m both energised and excited to be joining MIE. This appointment reflects a commitment to teacher training and education that runs at the core of my work. I’m fully looking forward to working with colleagues in this direction, helping shape the conversations that education needs to have.”
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Northern Gritstone, the university spin-out investment business based in the North of England, has unveiled Alison Maughan as investment manager.
Alison joins Northern Gritstone’s growing investment team, led by chief investment officer, Marion Bernard, who joined the company in January. Alison joins after nearly four years at Deepbridge Capital specialising in life sciences and will bring deep experience and expertise in this area to the team.
Her appointment follows that of Mark Wyatt, who joined Northern Gritstone as investment director earlier this month from Mercia Asset Management.
Alison Maughan
Launched in July 2021 by the Universities of Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield and chaired by Lord Jim O’Neill, Northern Gritstone is dedicated to investing in university spin-outs and start-ups in the North of England, while delivering its philosophy of ‘profit with purpose.’
In May, it announced its first close of £210m after its initial fundraising attracted a broad and diverse base of investors encompassing local authority pension funds, high net worth individuals and institutional investors.
The company has since announced initial investments in life sciences company, Imperagen, immersion cooling technology producer, Iceotope, and biological engineering firm, Opteran.
Alison will be responsible for helping guide the company’s future investments and will be based initially in the company’s Circle Square office in Manchester’s Tech District.
Northern Gritstone CEO, Duncan Johnson, said: “I am very pleased that Alison has joined our investment team as we continue to attract top class, early stage investors to Northern Gritstone’s ambitious vision of helping to catalyse a Silicon Valley of the North. I look forward to Alison having a long and fulfilling career with us.”
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Manchester-based law firm IMD Solicitors has welcomed two new consultant solicitors to its team.
Zoya Burbeza joins as a senior consultant solicitor and brings with her 11 years of experience across many areas of commercial law, with a specific focus on acting for high-net worth individuals in cross-border disputes (litigation and international arbitration).
Zoya Burbeza
Zoya has an international focus with language skills in English, Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and Italian and professional membership accreditations across Europe and internationally, including with the Law Society of England & Wales, London Court of International Arbitration, International Bar Association, British-Ukrainian Law Association.
She has acted in a number of high profile and high value cases, including for defendants in successfully setting aside a stay application and eventually striking out a claim brought before the High Court (Chancery Division) by a well-known Russian oligarch for more than $150m.
Stuart Darlington is also now consulting for IMD. Stuart is a commercial property lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience.
Stuart largely acts for corporate occupiers but also has extensive experience acting for institutional landlords and on the real estate side of company acquisitions/disposals of large multi-site companies.
Stuart Darlington
Past clients include a wide range of global commercial occupiers in relation to their offices, warehouses and retail and leisure premises including a Danish retailer, an Italian designer, a Romanian fashion retailer, a large US footwear and fashion group, a large Middle Eastern retail and restaurant franchise operator, a large global coffee shop chain and various other large retail and restaurant chains.
Marcin Durlak, managing partner of IMD Solicitors, said: “We are thrilled to welcome two highly experienced consultant solicitors to our team at IMD. Both Zoya and Stuart bring with them an impressive CV and examples of going above and beyond for clients.
“Crucially for IMD, both Zoya and Stuart also have fantastic experience of advising international clients in the UK, which is really our firm’s specialism. For example, Zoya has successfully defended clients against Russian oligarchs and Stuart has advised a wide array of international retailers on their UK operations.
“Our consultant model is continuing to grow, allowing us to work with solicitors with unrivalled expertise and enabling us to match our clients with a solicitor with the perfect experience and language skills to assist them.”
