People: Castle Green Homes; Rhino Doors; OHS Group; Broudie Jackson Canter; Cityheart; Mills & Reeve; AJ Bell
Castle Green Homes has welcomed three new faces to its commercial team to support the growth of the business.
Alex Bramley, Glyn Saunders and Megan Lewis recently joined the homebuilder, which has offices in St Asaph and Preston Brook and operates across North Wales and the North West of England.
Senior quantity surveyor (QS) Alex started out as a bricklayer, before gaining a BSc (Hons) in quantity surveying from the University of Salford in 2012. Since then, Alex has worked for a small subcontracting company and gained his most valuable experience at a large national housebuilder based in Manchester where he spent seven years.
Glyn started as a trainee QS at a small building contractor in Wrexham in 2006 and has worked for a number of housebuilders in North Wales and the North West of England working on sites of up to 350 plots.
Junior quantity surveyor Megan Lewis recently graduated from Liverpool John Moores University with a BSC (Hons) in quantity surveying.
Commercial director, Rhys Jones, said: “‘I am really looking forward to supporting our new colleagues and encouraging their development within Castle Green Homes. Our team is growing and is now well equipped to fully support our expansion plans in North Wales and the North West of England with numerous new developments in the pipeline.
“Having a strong commercial team is key to maintaining strong relationships with subcontractors and suppliers to ensure we deliver high quality new homes within budget in a competitive market.”
Earlier this year Castle Green promoted two colleagues within the commercial team, with Tom Fletcher becoming a quantity surveyor and Jacob Edwards an assistant quantity surveyor.
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Matthew Richards
Rhino Doors, which manufactures high-performance engineered doors at sites in Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, and Port Talbot, South Wales, has appointed a new managing director to steer the direction of the firm and drive its plans for business growth.
Matthew Richards is now in situ, following the departure of Jon Walters in June 2023.
Walters’ appointment in April 2022 was intended to be an interim one, with the aim of implementing certain manufacturing improvements and leading the expansion of the business into new sectors.
With this work now complete, Rhino Doors will transition to a more permanent management structure, with Richards stepping up as managing director with immediate effect.
Having spent more than 10 years working in engineering project management roles within the oil and gas industry, Richards joined the firm in June 2022 as project engineering director, tasked with developing Rhino’s product offering, systems and processes.
Now, his focus will shift to driving Rhino’s commercial growth, working with the wider team to ensure the continued delivery of world class, engineered door systems for the firm’s growing client base.
He said: “I’m very pleased to be leading Rhino into the next stage of its growth journey, working alongside a brilliant and dedicated team. After a year of experience with the firm under my belt, I’m looking forward to finding ways to add value, increase revenue and expand our technical capabilities – in partnership with my colleagues across the wider group.”
Stuart Lawrence, group managing director at Rhino Engineering Group, said: “Matthew’s broad industry knowledge and experience, coupled with his aptitude for identifying areas for improvement, made his appointment a logical choice for us.”
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Nick Bye
OHS Group, an integrated safety solutions consultancy, is preparing for future growth with the appointment of Nick Bye as its new managing director.
Nick, formerly group commercial director at OHS Group, takes over from Andy Fowler who will remain involved as an advisor to the business and will, in the short term, continue to oversee the business’s growing asbestos division.
Aaron Dodd will move into the position of group compliance director after being with the company for three years and playing a pivotal role in the winning, and retention of market-critical accreditations, and Gareth Cooper will also return to the firm as head of operations (asbestos).
The Manchester-based firm operates throughout the UK and in the past six months has doubled its workforce.
To support its continued growth, OHS Group has also appointed Steven Lahire as principal consultant for compliance services in Scotland, Michael Cowan as a Legionella risk assessor, Shannon Griffiths as business development manager for London and the South, and Lisa Batley as financial controller.
Nick Bye said: “I’m proud to take on the role of group managing director and build on the great work Andy has already done, as well as developing what is an historical market-leading asset compliance legacy , going back nearly three decades.”
OHS has officers in Manchester, Leeds, London and Glasgow.
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Barbara McNamara
Liverpool-based law firm Broudie Jackson Canter has expanded its housing law team with the addition of a new litigation executive.
The team has welcomed Barbara McNamara, who has more than 16 years’ experience in all manners of legal aid casework including possession, disrepair and homelessness. She has also worked on other related issues including welfare rights and debt matters and making appropriate referrals.
Associate director and solicitor, Jonathan Davidson, said: “We’re very pleased to have Barbara on board. She has a wealth of experience of court advocacy having previously worked on the duty scheme at Liverpool County Court.”
Barbara’s new role will cover all aspects of possession and eviction. She said: “I will be covering all aspects of possession and eviction and in particular will be providing court advocacy often where timescales are tight enabling advice and representation where perhaps previously capacity was an issue. I will be taking on cases from service of notice right through to issue of warrant of eviction in relation to both rented (private and social landlord) and mortgaged properties.”
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Greg Ball
Cityheart, the regeneration and placemaking development specialist, has further strengthened its in house team with the strategic recruitment of Greg Ball who joins as development director.
Greg, who has a long track record for working on and delivering large scale regeneration projects during his time at Muse, U+I and Urban Splash, will be part of the Cheshire-based team working on the company’s projects nationally.
Warren Taylor, director at Cityheart, said: “Greg is an ideal fit to our growing in-house development team as he has the skills and knowledge to understand and help realise the large scale, multi-phase regeneration projects that we are working on together with local councils. Our ambitions for the coming months will see us significantly raise our current long term £650m development pipeline with new projects being announced and are continuing to look for the right senior level people, who share our vision, to join us.”
Greg said: “Cityheart has a strong reputation for delivering exceptional communities through its ambitious regeneration and placemaking schemes. Working in partnership with local councils to create thriving communities has been the most role that I have enjoyed the most throughout my career and Cityheart has some very exciting and inspiring schemes in the pipeline that aligns perfectly with this.”
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Nick Helm
National law firm Mills & Reeve has appointed Nick Helm to bolster its projects, renewables and net zero practice in Manchester.
Nick has more than 20 years’ experience gained in the UK and internationally in advising on major infrastructure and transport projects. His practice has more recently focused on renewable generation, energy storage and heat networks with net zero being a consistent theme.
Nick has joined as a partner from Squire Patton Boggs where he led the infrastructure projects team in Manchester. As a partner in the Mills & Reeve Manchester commercial team, he will work closely with the environmental, real estate and corporate teams to accelerate the growth of the renewables/net zero sector and capitalise on opportunities both in the North West and across the UK.
Chris Ross, head of Mills & Reeve’s Manchester office, said: “Nick has heavyweight projects and renewable credentials. The sector is poised for huge growth as the Government has committed to deliver on its pledge to reduce carbon emissions. Nick’s appointment and reputation in the local market will enable the firm to grow its Manchester-based national renewables practice and gain a strategic foothold.”
Nick Helm said: “This is an exciting time to join Mills & Reeve as we launch our projects, renewables and net zero team. It’s great to see the senior commitment to this area and the excitement of colleagues at all levels about net zero projects in particular.”
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Les Platts
Les Platts has been appointed a non-independent non-executive director at Manchester-based investment platform, AJ Bell.
Les, a former Deloitte senior partner, was the chair of the company before stepping down at the conclusion of the January 2022 AGM, having then served for more than nine years on the board.
He currently has an interest in 310,447 shares in the company which represents 0.0753% of the issued share capital.
He has been appointed following his nomination by founder and former chief executive, Andy Bell, as part of the agreement when he stepped down from the board in September 2022.
Fiona Clutterbuck, chair of AJ Bell, said: “Les’s in-depth knowledge of the financial services sector generally and AJ Bell in particular will further enhance the experience on the board and help us drive the future growth of the company.”
Les Platts said: “I am pleased to be joining the board and look forward to playing my part in the continued success of AJ Bell and in supporting the relationship with Andy as a major shareholder.”
