People: SAS Daniels; McLaren Construction; Blueprint Housing & Investments; Travel Counsellors; Westmorland Homecare

In its latest round of promotions, North West law firm, SAS Daniels, has announced two new partners across its dispute resolution and private client teams.

After joining the business three years ago as an associate, Anna Sharp, has been promoted to partner and is also head of litigation and dispute resolution for the firm’s Stockport office. Litigation is a growing practice area for SAS Daniels, and Anna will continue to give Stewart Burrows, the head of the firm’s litigation team, valued support.

Genevieve Powrie, who has been with SAS Daniels since 2007, has been promoted to partner in the elderly, care and mental capacity team.

Genevieve Powrie

Based at the Macclesfield office, Genevieve is a fully accredited member of the Association of Lifetime Lawyers and treasurer of the Court of Protection Practitioners Association. She is also a trustee for Age UK Cheshire.

Further strengthening the litigation team, Leon Gagnon of the Chester office and Holly Wilkinson of the Stockport office have recently progressed to trainee solicitors.

Jeremy Orrell, chief executive and business owner at SAS Daniels, said: “As a business, we are keenly focused on continued career development, and providing opportunities for our colleagues to develop new skills – whether through training or undertaking the work itself – is a key aspect of our core values.

“Anna, Genevieve, Leon and Holly’s promotions reflect their dedication and contribution to the success of our business, and on behalf of the firm, I would like to congratulate each of them.”

SAS Daniels is a Cheshire-based law firm with offices in Stockport, Chester, Macclesfield and Congleton, servicing both businesses and individuals throughout the local area and nationwide.

::

Adam Craven

Three new senior roles have been announced within McLaren Construction’s Midlands and North division.

Operations Director, Luke Arnold, Divisional Director, Darren Harding, and Regional Commercial Director, Adam Craven, have been appointed to positions within the Midlands and North team as part of its continued growth strategy.

Luke Arnold will be working alongside managing director, Gary Cramp, to expand the Midlands and North business – developing into new sectors through public sector frameworks, alongside building the current teams to deliver success.

Darren Harding

He brings 25 years of experience to the role and will be concentrating on building and motivating high performing teams alongside maximising both operational and commercial performance within the region.

Luke said: “I am extremely proud of my client relationships and my ability to develop long standing relationships with supply chain and customers.”

Darren Harding will be responsible for the full day-to-day responsibility of all PBSA (Purpose Built Student Accommodation) schemes across the Midlands and North regions, continuing to build on the success of the contractor’s completed schemes, while building new high-performing site teams for opportunities in the pipeline.

Darren said: “In my new role I will continue to reinforce my client relationships across the Midlands and North region, whilst pursuing a variety of varied workload opportunities. The future is looking very positive for the business with a full pipeline of new opportunities.”

Luke Arnold

Regional Commercial Director, Adam Craven, will lead and oversee the commercial function within the regional business. Bringing more than 22 years’ experience to the role, his position will include ensuring that consistent commercial performance is delivered across the board within the commercial team, at both pre-construction and delivery stages.

Adam said: “I will be pushing to support and develop our people and will be part of continued growth, ensuring it is done so in a sustainable and profitable way.” 

Gary Cramp, Managing Director at McLaren Construction Midlands and North, said: “We are pleased to welcome Luke, Darren and Adam into their respective roles and are confident that their expertise and capabilities will drive the positive change we are spearheading, as part of the division’s growth strategy.”

::

Connor O’Rourke

Blueprint Housing & Investment, a Bolton-based developer in the sustainable housing sector, has appointed three new members to its board of directors.

Paul Greaves, Richard Hirst and Julian Wiley bring decades of combined experience in renewable energy, business growth, and corporate governance to the company.

These strategic additions to the board underscore Blueprint’s commitment to driving innovation and sustainability in the UK’s social housing sector.

The newly appointed board members bolster Blueprint’s ability to meet its ambitious growth target. Julian Wiley, a veteran in the renewable energy sector with 23 years of experience, has managed large-scale projects that have achieved remarkable energy cost reductions. His work includes overseeing initiatives involving 7,000 properties, resulting in an average 70% reduction in energy bills. 

Complementing Wiley’s expertise, Paul Greaves brings six years of focused experience in renewable energy, specialising in social housing roll-out and improving Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings.

With a broader 30-year background in building sales channels and expertise in IT and telecoms, Greaves adds a valuable perspective to Blueprint’s operations.

Rounding out the trio is Richard Hirst, who contributes more than 35 years of business growth experience. With a technical background as a chemist and extensive experience as a non-executive director, Hirst offers a well-rounded perspective on sustainable business practices and corporate governance.

Connor O’Rourke, director at Blueprint Housing & Investments, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Paul, Richard and Julian to the Blueprint board. Their wealth of experience and skills are invaluable as we aim for significant growth in a market demanding innovative social housing and renewable energy solutions. Their support will drive meaningful change in the sector.”

::

Ricky Gudgeon

Travel Counsellors For Business, the UK’s largest and fast-growing personal technology platform for travel entrepreneurs, has unveiled the latest appointments to its corporate sales and business development team.

The Manchester-based company welcomes Ricky Gudgeon and Athenee Graham, who alongside the now seven-strong team, will focus on supporting and driving new business to the corporate travel arm, enabling new clients to continue to enjoy seamless onboarding experiences and transition their employee travel requirements to Travel Counsellors for Business. 

Senior Business Development Manager Athenee joins the company following a 10-year tenure at Corporate Travel Management and Newland Chase in senior sales roles.

Athenee Graham

Similarly, Business Development Manager Ricky’s previous role at Corporate Travel Management followed a decade-long career at Corporate Traveller USA.

The new hires join the company’s corporate sales and business development team, spearhead by Wayne Durkin, with Louise Jones joining the business earlier this year from CWT and Click Travel, and business development managers Ashley Averill, Hamid Ali, Joe Vickers and Joseph Higson continuing to bid and win new business in the SME sector. 

Travel Counsellors for Business Director of Corporate, Mel Quinn, said; “Alongside our latest hires, the wealth of experience, passion for corporate travel and dedicated skillset between the team will be essential in not only supporting new corporate travel business, but also sees them work closely with our corporate Travel Counsellors to ensure that the strong relationships we forge with our clients right at the beginning of their journey with us continue to grow.”

::

Holly Carruthers

An expanding homecare provider has taken on two new staff as it looks to further increase its client base in the Preston and South Ribble area.

Westmorland Homecare’s Preston branch is also aiming to soon being able to offer clients night-time care as well as services during the day.

Branch care manager, Liz Logan, said: “Our prime focus now we have these two new members of staff is to continue offering exceptional quality care to existing clients and to build our client base in the area.”

Holly Carruthers, who lives near Garstang, is one of two new homecare assistants, taking the branch’s total to six. She said: “I wanted to work in the homecare sector because I have patience and understanding. I have a lot of knowledge about medication and I am now taking the next step from dispensing medication at the pharmacy to administering it to clients at Westmorland Homecare.”

Rodlyn Sharkey

The second new homecare assistant is Rodlyn Sharkey, who lives in Penwortham. Rodlyn grew up in the Philippines, where she took courses in graphic art and design and tourism, worked in a four-star hotel and then set up her own small restaurant and karaoke bar.

She moved to England with her husband in 2015, working in hotels in Preston before moving into homecare.

She said: “I enjoy the flexibility of the job and building relationships with clients. There is a lot of job satisfaction. You can go into someone’s home and they can be having a bad day but seeing you brightens their day and it is great to know you are making a difference to their lives.”

The two new members of staff are further to the three office appointments made in August, when Liz Logan became Care Manager, Lisa Hall was appointed as Training and Recruitment Coordinator and Julia Smyth as Care Coordinator Client Experience.