People: FIREM; Hill Dickinson; Bioscript; Glaisyers ETL; HF; Rochdale Council; Pareto Financial Planning
North West-based property company FI Real Estate Management has made two key signings to oversee its multimillion-pound office refurbishment programme.
Senior project manager Andy Smith has worked in the commercial property refurbishment sector for more than 20 years and his role is UK-wide.
He’s joined by project co-ordinator Imogen Mason, who previously held a similar role at Premier League football club Brighton & Hove Albion.
Chorley-based FI Real Estate Management has property assets totalling more than £1bn.
The company is in the process of refurbishing 10 buildings at a cost of £21m and Smith has been tasked with overseeing the work.
He said: “I’ve been brought in to ensure that our buildings are refurbished to the highest possible standards so that our tenants get the best experience from the buildings.
“We’re trying to create exciting spaces that encourage people back into the work environment, improve the mental health and wellbeing of staff and are energy efficient.”
During her four years at Brighton & Hove Albion, Mason was involved in the stadium refurbishment, training ground extension and construction of facilities for the women’s side.
She said: “You don’t realise how big FIREM is until you work here. There is so much opportunity for career progression and so many exciting projects to be involved in.”
Managing director, Tim Knowles, who founded FI Real Estate Management (FIREM) in 1982, said: “It’s an exciting time as we have an extensive rolling programme of refurbishments of our buildings.”
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Law firm Hill Dickinson has appointed two new partners as it prepares to expand its commercial litigation and commercial, TMT and IP practices within the firm’s business services group offering.
James Lonsdale and Raj Pabla join the firm’s Manchester and London offices, respectively.
James Lonsdale, a commercial lawyer, joins from DWF as partner in Hill Dickinson’s Manchester TMT and IP team. James has more than 25 years of experience of advising a wide variety of clients on a range of different commercial arrangements including supply, distribution, agency agreements, IP acquisition and licensing, IT and outsourcing arrangements.
James Lonsdale
His experience spans a broad range of sectors including IT, telecoms, retail and manufacturing and he has acted for a wide variety of clients, from start-ups to large listed companies. He is ranked as a leading individual in the Legal 500 for IT and telecoms and in Chambers & Partners 2021 as a Band 1 lawyer within the North West for information technology.
Raj Pabla joins Hill Dickinson commercial litigation team in London (City) as a lateral hire from London law firm Teacher Stern, where he spent the past 13 years, becoming a partner in 2014.
Welcoming James and Raj to the firm, Craig Scott, Hill Dickinson’s head of business services, said: “Sustainable profitable growth over the past few years in line with our strategic plan for expansion in our key markets in London and across our regional centres has opened up opportunities for us to invest in further expanding our senior legal teams in key practice areas.”
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Macclesfield-based Bioscript Group has appointed Dr Gabrielle Silver as chief executive to further develop its scientific communications offering for its global pharmaceutical clients.
The provision of specialist data driven services is central to maximising the value of new medicines and ensuring patient access to innovative therapeutics. Bioscript Group’s healthcare clients benefit from specialist services, including regulatory and market access support as well as scientific communications across the product lifecycle. With the appointment of Gabrielle, there will be further development and acceleration of this successful strategy.
Gabrielle has extensive senior leadership experience in the global healthcare sector, across pharmaceuticals (Eisai, Bristol Myers Squibb), medical technology and software development (GE Healthcare), strategic communications (Brunswick) and healthcare services (McKesson).
Most recently, as CEO of CHS Healthcare, she oversaw a period of rapid growth through to an acquisition by Acacium Group last year. Gabrielle is also a director of Opiant Pharmaceuticals – a Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical business specialising in treatments for addiction disorders – and a non-executive director at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Trust.
Dr Gabrielle Silver
Gabrielle holds a medical degree (MBBS) from the University of London, a BSc in Anatomical Science from the University of Bristol and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine.
Bioscript’s founder, Andrew Medley, who continues in an executive board role, said: “Our five-year investment plan started in 2021 when we acquired Fortis, Meridian and Valid Insight. Bringing these excellent organisations together has already brought significant value to our existing clients and has enabled the creation of new capabilities across our business.”
He added: “Gaby shares our vision for developing a market leading business, with specialist capabilities at the core and building an environment where our staff can develop and deliver their best work for their clients. Gaby’s insights will be key to our future acquisition strategy.”
Gabrielle Silver said: “I’m excited to join this team. As I’ve seen first hand, the life science sector is delivering a higher volume of launches, each with more technical and niche needs – we are seeing real transformation in the commercialisation service offering to better meet these needs. I’m impressed by Bioscript Group’s scientific expertise and think the team is in a fantastic position to further translate their expertise into value creation across the drug development lifecycle.”
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Glaisyers ETL has appointed the highly regarded dealmaker Daniel Varney as a partner in its corporate team. Mr Varney joins from Clyde & Co, following its recent merger with BLM.
Mr Varney led BLM’s national corporate and commercial department and, during a career spanning more than 20 years, he has held the role of corporate partner at Clyde & Co, Clarke Wilmott and Pannone. He began his career at the latter firm, where he worked from 2001 to 2014.
Carrying out all aspects of corporate and commercial work, Mr Varney focuses on mergers, acquisitions and disposals, private equity and venture capital transactions. He has particular expertise in the property, digital, technology, leisure and e-commerce sectors, and his clients range from start-ups to international corporates, and from business founders to high net worth, sophisticated investors.
The Legal 500-listed corporate team he joins at Glaisyers ETL is led by William Pinnock, partner and head of corporate, and includes partner Julian Bond, associate Niki Polymeridou and solicitor Liliana Armitage.
Daniel Varney
Mr Pinnock said: “Daniel is one of the most highly respected corporate lawyers in the North West. He has built a great reputation, and client base, among independently-owned businesses and their shareholders – exactly the market on which we focus at Glaisyers ETL.”
Glaisyers ETL is a national law firm with its headquarters in Manchester and an office in the City of London. In 2018 it became part of the ETL Global group of professional services businesses, which employs 18,000 people across over 1,300 offices in more than 50 countries worldwide.
This global network was, according to Mr Varney, one of his key reasons for joining the firm. He said, “The people, ethos and ambitious growth strategy of Glaisyers ETL really speak to me. The team advises on high quality work for high quality clients regionally, nationally and internationally and, as a member of ETL Global, we have a fabulous platform for growth.”
In addition to Mr Varney’s appointment, Glaisyers ETL has, this autumn, awarded three new training contracts.
Grace Sloan, who joined Glaisyers ETL as a litigation paralegal in 2020, studied for her LPC at the University of Law while working for the firm. She has now begun her training contract with a seat in the corporate team.
Natalya McPartland has joined the firm on a training contract having recently obtained a distinction in her LPC with an MSc in Law, Business and Management at the University of Law. Her first seat sees her working with Glaisyers ETL’s Legal 500-listed private client team.
Ryan Baratzi has also joined Glaisyers ETL on a training contract, the first seat of which is within the firm’s fast-growing, Legal 500-listed commercial litigation practice. He recently achieved a distinction in his LPC, for which he studied at Manchester Metropolitan University.
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Richard Drinkwater has joined the restructuring and insolvency team at HF, adding his years of experience of handling contentious insolvency cases in England and Wales as well as overseas to the considerable skills base of the existing team led by the nationally recognised Mark Dennis.
Richard Drinkwater
He joins at a time when the team, as well as their colleagues in the commercial debt recovery team with whom they work closely, is seeing an increase in workflows due to the current economic conditions as well as the reaction to the pandemic.
The team is one part of a 35 strong commercial division and his appointment is part of an ongoing process to grow that area across the Manchester and York offices.
Ronan McCann, CEO and managing partner at HF, said: “I’m excited to welcome Richard to the HF team. As a well known and well regarded expert, his skills and experience greatly add to our offering in insolvency – a specialism increasingly in demand in the current economic climate and an area we’re looking to expand further in the coming months.”
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Another 27 new apprentices have taken up a new career with Rochdale Borough Council.
This is the second highest number the council has taken on in a single cohort following the 28 apprentices who started their council careers in September 2021.
The new intakes sees 15 new teaching assistants go into local primary schools, six new business admin apprentices, three horticulture apprentices, two landscape apprentices and a finance apprentice.
Almost half are aged over 25, the highest of any intake yet, showing that age is no barrier to starting an apprenticeship.
The new cohort
Cllr John Blundell, cabinet member for economy and communications, said: “We’ve always been really committed to apprenticeships and I’m delighted that we keep getting such keen uptake with teams across the council and schools seeing the benefit of them and local people applying for them. Times are tough at the moment and I’m delighted to see the council leading the way in recruitment.”
Three quarters of the new apprentices live in the borough of Rochdale.
Zach Hashmi, apprentice teaching assistant at Broadfield Primary School, said: “The council’s apprenticeship programme felt accessible and much more interactive and supportive than other routes such as university. It’s been a great start so far and I’m looking forward to learning more. Being part of the council community also allows me to give back to my borough.”
The council now has 70 apprentices currently working in its various departments or in schools. Recruitment to the council’s apprenticeships programme for the January 2023 cohort opened on September 26, 2022.
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Pareto Financial Planning, the Manchester-based financial services business, has appointed Phil Young as a non-executive director.
Phil joins Pareto having held senior positions, most recently as chair of Sense Network until its acquisition by Adviser Services Holding in 2020. He was also chair of Ludlow Wealth Management until its acquisition by AIM-listed Mattioli Woods 2021.
Phil Young
He said: “Pareto has a great reputation for its focus on people first – whether that be clients or its staff – and I hope that I can play a part in this next stage of the businesses’s development. I’ve always been interested in the use of technology, and both organic and inorganic growth, all of which are key ingredients to Pareto’s business plan going forward.”
Paul Stones, managing director, Pareto Financial Planning, said: “Phil brings a wealth of experience in operational and client excellence, which will help us capitalise on the momentum and growth we have, and continue to experience.”
Pareto Financial Planning recently announced that it had reported strong growth increasing turnover by 22% and exceeding £1bn of assets under its management for the year ending 21/22.
The business head count also increased by 20% in 20/21 bringing the total number of employees to more than 70.
