People: Mercia Real Estate; Hayfield; Centrick

Birmingham based property and development investor, Mercia Real Estate (MRE) has appointed Alan Green as Development Director.

Previously Senior Commercial Manager for St Francis Group, Green has more than 20 years’ experience as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor working in the UK and overseas.

In his new role Green will contribute to the continued growth and expansion of the business, with a remit to manage the current development pipeline of £350m GDV.

Green said: “Following a few years of diverse acquisition, MRE have built up a substantial and varied portfolio of assets and development opportunities. The delivery of our projects provides the next stage of growth for the business and I look forward to working with the wider team to contribute to this success.”

Sam Clark, MRE CEO added: “We have a significant commercial pipeline and Alan’s appointment will not only strengthen our ability to deliver current projects but also support our vision of securing new development opportunities”.

Homebuilder Hayfield has strengthened its production team with the appointment of three contract managers.

David Naish, Kevin Schwaben and Sam Baker each bring a decade of construction industry expertise to the business, with the trio set to oversee developments across middle England.

Hayfield’s new Contract Managers, from left: Sam Baker, Kevin Schwaben and David Naish

Hayfield is on track to deliver 350 new homes this year and increase turnover to £150m and is currently on-site at nine developments across Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Wiltshire, and Worcestershire.

Production Director Liam Gilbert said: “As our business continues to grow it is essential that we have the right people in key roles who are able to help deliver our ambitions, maintain our high health and safety standards and support our operational site teams.

“David, Kevin and Sam each have a wealth of experience, and their appointments will be pivotal to ensuring our – production team meet the exacting standards expected by our customers.”

Naish joins from Bloor Homes, where he was a contract manager for two years. He began his career as an assistant site manager with Bovis and moved to other volume housebuilders followed where he gained insight and experience in a variety of roles.

Schwaben was a senior project manager at Lucy Developments before joining Hayfield, having previously worked for Crest, Redrow, L&G and CALA.

And Baker has also worked for several housebuilders including Taylor Wimpey and most recently CALA where he was contracts manager.

Residential property sales specialist Alex McCormack has found a new home at Centrick in the West Midlands.

Alex McCormack, head of new homes and investments for Centrick

McCormack has been appointed head of new homes and investments for Centrick and will be operating from the company’s Birmingham offices.

With more than 16 years’ experience in the property sector, McCormack spent eight years in Dubai where he worked for Cluttons and Allsopp & Allsopp, selling apartments and villas.

He joins Centrick from ODG Estates, in London, where he advised Middle East investors on UK property investment opportunities.

The role includes being responsible for managing sales agents, winning new business and working alongside developers, helping them with advice on pricing, advertising and bringing properties to market.

McCormack said: “This is an exciting time to join the Centrick team and I’m looking forward to helping to drive the excellent new homes team to even greater heights. 

“The residential market is still busy and equally attractive to investors and homeowners alike. Our aim is to work with more and more housing developers across the region and to showcase their properties to a wide audience in the UK and overseas.”

Centrick chairman James Ackrill said: “Alex has gained a huge amount of experience in the residential property sales market both in the Middle East and here in the West Midlands. 

“His appointment will bolster our talented new sales team as we continue to grow the business, working with many of the leading regional and national residential developers.”