People: PHX Training; Fisher German; Hall Brown Family Law; Morgan Sindall; gunnercooke; 21Digital
A North West training provider has expanded its leadership team with a new senior appointment.
Anita Dale has joined PHX Training as head of Lancashire, where she will support PHX’s business managers in helping people learn new skills and gain employment, while developing partnerships with businesses to facilitate the company’s growth across the county.
Anita, from Blackpool, has more than 20 years’ experience in the training sector.
Her industry experience includes working on the Entry to Employment (E2E) programme, providing opportunities for young people aged 16 and over who are not yet ready to take up an apprenticeship, further education or employment, in addition to the management of apprenticeship schemes.
PHX Training has centres across Lancashire and Cumbria, and runs training courses to help people get back in to work, as well as upskilling employees across the North West.
Anita said: “I’m excited to join PHX Training to support adults in achieving their full potential and assisting their journeys into employment, which in turn will help businesses across Lancashire to recruit skilled staff and develop their existing workforces.”
Briony Fawcett, managing director at PHX Training, said: “Anita has a vast amount of experience and her passion for making a difference aligns perfectly with our company ethos. Having her lead our Lancashire team and helping to drive growth across the county is really going to benefit both individuals and employers.”
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Property consultancy Fisher German has announced 10 promotions across its North West offices following a period of growth.
It has made the promotions, including two partner promotions, at its Knutsford, Chester, Liverpool, and Manchester offices.
Simon Geary
Simon Geary, who joined Fisher German’s Knutsford office in 2005 and works in the firm’s commercial property management team, and Hugh Platt, who joined the same office in 2016 and works in the rural property management team, have been invited to join the partnership.
Other promotions include Rebecca Hannah, based in Knutsford, who was promoted to associate partner, while at the Chester office there were promotions for Nia Borsey who has progressed to associate and Katherine Lewis to senior surveyor.
In Liverpool, Jonathan Young was promoted to associate partner, Rebecca Rouse to associate, Tom Parry to senior associate and Gabriel Davies to senior surveyor, and Libby Clarke, in Manchester, has progressed to associate. There was also one progression within the partnership in the North West.
The news follows Fisher German’s merger with Matthews & Goodman in June last year – a deal which has created one of the largest providers of multi-disciplinary property services in the UK, with 28 offices and a turnover approaching £60m.
Simon Geary said: “We have a fantastic team across the North West, and these promotions highlight the hard work and expertise demonstrated by colleagues.
“Hugh and I are extremely pleased to join the partnership and look forward to supporting the firm’s strategic growth plans, working with the wider team to continue to drive the business forward.”
Hugh Platt
Hugh Platt said: “It is fantastic to see Fisher German grow and expand both nationally and strengthen our office presence more locally in the North West.
Fisher German has made a total of 54 promotions, including 10 partner promotions, through the firm’s career progression framework, which gives employees a clear pathway to advance within the business. There have also been 20 progressions within the partnership.
Duncan Bedhall, senior partner, said: “I would like to congratulate all of those who have received promotions, and it is fantastic to welcome 10 colleagues to the partnership.
“It is excellent to see a number of colleagues who joined us from Matthews & Goodman receive promotions. I look forward to announcing further promotions across the firm later in the year.”
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Manchester-based Hall Brown Family Law has revealed that its success in managing a permanent shift to hybrid working has delivered further robust results, including three promotions.
Emma Dewhurst and Sarah Hewitt both become senior associates and Rebekah King has been made associate.
Co-founder and managing partner, James Brown, said: “It’s immensely satisfying to see Emma, Sarah and Rebekah all enjoying great personal progress. Rebekah was our first trainee solicitor, while Emma and Sarah joined us as newly qualified solicitors.
James Brown
“The strides which they and others have made fully justifies our desire to invest substantially in home grown legal and administrative talent as well as bringing other very senior and very capable individuals on board whenever they become available.”
The firm has its headquarters at the Grade II-listed Ship Canal House in Manchester and a London team based at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Within the past 12 months, it has opened a new office in Leeds and seen its rapidly-expanding Sheffield operation double in size and relocate to much larger premises.
Over the course of the last full financial year, Hall Brown has grown to employ a total of 60 people, 45 of whom are fee earners. The firm has also seen turnover increase from £5.4m to £6.3m.
Mr Brown said: “The seven years since we opened have flown by. Each one has brought further significant forward momentum.”
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Morgan Sindall Construction has appointed Simon Arnott as its new managing director for the North West. Simon replaces Barry Roberts who decided last year that he would be stepping down.
Simon joined the Morgan Sindall Group in 2014 and has been part of the leadership team at Morgan Sindall Construction for the past five years.
Prior to joining the business he gained experience in management and leadership roles in construction, services, logistics and manufacturing sectors.
Simon began his new role at the start of April, with Barry remaining with the business for a period of time to support a full handover.
The North West team is an integral part of Morgan Sindall’s decentralised construction business, delivering high profile, strategic projects that address the needs of local customers across sectors including education, healthcare, office buildings and residential.
Barry Roberts and Simon Arnott
Morgan Sindall delivered a range of landmark schemes during Barry’s tenure, including Paddington Village in Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter, the Science, Engineering & Environmental Building at Salford University and the redevelopment of Lancashire County Cricket Club.
Current North West projects include Wirral Growth Company’s two Grade A office buildings in Birkenhead town centre and Waterside Places’ 11-storey and 16-storey block of flats in Manchester’s Islington Wharf.
Simon said: “The North West is a vibrant market, where we’ve proven that great things can be achieved through collaboration with local authorities, framework partners, developers and other key stakeholders.
“I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead the team, who are passionate about developing intelligent solutions and delivering fantastic projects for our customers, whilst enhancing the communities in which they live and work.”
Barry said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 18 years with Morgan Sindall. I’ve worked with some inspiring people within the business and throughout the industry, and together we’ve achieved some amazing things. Simon’s internal appointment is a great example of our succession planning, and will enable our North West business to continue to prosper.”
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North West-based law firm gunnercooke has strengthened and expanded its cryptocurrency expertise with the hire of partners Will Foulkes and Gareth Malna, which it said cements its position as the biggest legal crypto team in the UK.
Will Foulkes
Will, who has worked for more than 10 years in the field, has developed an in-depth knowledge of corporate, commercial and regulatory law in relation to blockchain technologies. He has expertise in blockchain, NFTs, cryptoassets, DAOs and Metaverse law, with clients such as Minima Global.
Gareth joins gunnercooke after gaining nearly a decade of experience in financial services regulation and having first interacted with blockchain systems in 2011. He works at the bleeding edge of the UK’s cryptoassets legal and regulatory landscape and joins the firm with a deep understanding of cryptoasset regulation, securities laws and their practical implementation, having also occupied MLRO positions in this space.
The appointment of two new cryptocurrency partners has further strengthened gunnercooke’s offering in this growing sector. The firm said it has built up the biggest and leading FinTech, crypto and blockchain full-service practice in the UK and last year became the first law firm to accept payments in cryptoassets.
Gareth Malna
The team also includes senior associate Kathryn Dodds as well as specialists from a range of pratice areas working in the crypto space, including competition partner Alexander Waksman and intellectual property partner Rosie Burbidge.
Gareth and Will join fellow crypto experts James Burnie and Wolfgang Richter and the wider team, who have a client base of more than 100 cryptocurrency developers, platforms and exchanges.
Current FinTech partner, James Burnie, said: “Will and Gareth further strengthen our position as a leading international crypto firm. Their unique specialisms complement the current expertise we have in the team, and I look forward to working with them to support our growing client base in this space.”
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21Digital has made two senior appointments to help support its ongoing growth.
Bilal Esmail joins the Blackburn digital agency as senior PPC (pay-per-click) executive, while Mark Lyons has been appointed as senior SEO (search engine optimisation) executive.
Esmail brings with him more than seven years’ experience in digital marketing, with previous PPC roles at organisations including PrettyLittleThing, Embryo Digital, McCann and Social Nucleus.
Bilal Esmail and Mark Lyons
With a career in advertising dating back to 2009, Lyons has specialised in search engine optimisation since 2014, working as an independent SEO consultant for a range of businesses in a wide variety of sectors.
21Digital managing director, Sam Fletcher, said: “It’s great to welcome Bilal and Mark into these senior posts, with both of them bringing such high levels of long term experience and expertise.
“Leading up the delivering of search marketing solutions for clients in a variety of sectors across the North West and in our specialist home and garden sectors nationally, they will also be helping train and develop apprentices learning their skills through our inhouse Search Academy.”
21Digital specialises in lead generation and ecommerce, with a range of digital marketing services including web design, web development, SEO, Google Ads, digital consultancy, social media marketing and email marketing.
