People: The Construction Consultants; Ascom; Women in Planning

Birmingham-based The Construction Consultants (TCC) has announced its third senior appointment in as many months, with the recruitment of a new senior CDM consultant.

Health and safety professional Paul Woods has joined the expanding multi-disciplined construction consultancy to support a growing national demand for its services.

Woods has established a track record for the successful delivery of construction design and management services during a 25-year career in health and safety, spanning the public and private sectors.

He specialises in areas including pre-construction and construction phase planning and management, as well as auditing, inspection, safe systems of work and the production of safety management systems.

Recent experience includes the delivery of support services to the UK and North West Europe safety teams at Fujitsu, where he was a senior health and safety manager for more than a decade.

The appointment further complements TCC’s 18-strong specialist team and follows the recent recruitment of Allan Davies as director and Clint Howell as senior building surveyor.

Co-founder and director of TCC, Alex Pimley said that the firm had spent many months selecting the best candidate for the new role. He said: “Our success has been built on long-term client relationships and industry-leading services, so it’s crucial that we employ the very best professionals in our sector.

“Paul is hugely experienced in the built environment and well respected in his field, having delivered services in all aspects of health and safety for the likes of the Ministry of Defence and Croydon Council. His expertise will be an invaluable asset to us as we move into the next phase of our business growth.”

TCC is an independent, multi-disciplined construction consultancy headquartered in Cannon Street, Birmingham. Launched in 2017, it has developed a growing portfolio of clients including The Gym Group, Zone Developments, Ocado, Equation Properties, Panattoni, BentallGreenOak, Godwin Developments, Wolverhampton Council, University of Wolverhampton and St Francis Group.

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Lichfield based Ascom UK has appointed Paul McCann as managing director for the UK and Ireland.

He succeeds Paul Lawrence, who left the company in July.

McCann has a strong background across acute healthcare, which is one of Ascom UK’s key markets, alongside the long-term care and enterprise channel segments.

He brings extensive knowledge of the UK and Ireland healthcare markets and joins Ascom UK from KPMG.

Previous to this, he spent 18 years with Johnson & Johnson in a range of senior leadership roles.

“I’m really excited to join Ascom UK,” said McCann. “Ascom has been in the UK for over 60 years, and its expertise spans hardware manufacture, software development and system integration. We are focused on growing access to our vital communication and collaboration solutions in the acute and long-term care markets, where we are amongst the market leaders, and we continue to support the enterprise market, where we have a strong business heritage.

“We are serving customers in all corners of the UK & Ireland – we are proud to be enabling the digital transformation of healthcare in support of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and the NHS across England, Wales, and Scotland. We’re involved in leading acute care projects such as the New Hospitals Programme (NHP) and the Welsh Intensive Care Information System (WICIS).

“There is a strong, dedicated and skilled team here at Ascom. I am looking forward to building on the company’s success, allowing greater access to our technology solutions and addressing key needs of our healthcare & enterprise customers.”

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CBRE’s Beth Pywell has been appointed chair of the West Midlands branch of Women in Planning, with Rose Sanger of Avison Young taking up the position of vice-chair.

Pywell, a senior planner in CBRE’s planning and development team in Birmingham, takes over the role from Mandy Gill, a senior associate at Gowling WLG.

As an RTPI chartered senior planner, Pywell specialises in producing planning strategies, applications, objections and appeals across a range of sectors, including infrastructure, education, commercial, and the public sector.

She is a keen advocate for encouraging and supporting women in the property sector and in addition to chairing Women in Planning, she co-chairs CBRE Birmingham’s Charity Network and is a supporter of the Birmingham based Charity Suited for Success’ Return to Work Mums programme.

Sanger is a graduate planner at Avison Young. She is working towards her RTPI chartership while continuing to advocate for women in real estate and the workplace through her position on the committee of Avison Young’s Women’s Network.

Women in Planning is the independent network that promotes diversity and inclusivity in the planning industry. This year, the organisation is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

Pywell said: “I am excited to work alongside Rose and our excellent West Midlands committee to build on the success and momentum created by my predecessor, Mandy. As chair, my focus will be to ensure our events are accessible to all and of benefit to our members.

“It is an exciting time for the West Midlands, coming off the back of the success of the Commonwealth Games, and for the property sector in general, and I look forward to leading the branch over the next 12 months, especially in this anniversary year.”

Sanger added: “We hope to expand our current offer of events to bring a new focus onto professional development, whether this be through increased knowledge or the development of soft skills.”