People: Richborough Estates; Lanyon Bowdler; CrowdProperty

Birmingham-based land promoter Richborough Estates has welcomed two new divisional planning managers to support business growth.

Ian Long has joined the Eastern division and Matt Dugdale has joined the Western division.

Previously, Long was a senior land and planning consultant at Boyer Planning and Dugdale was an associate director at Nexus Planning.

They will support Richborough’s regional directors on site identification and acquisition; managing applications and appeals; and ensuring sites are effectively promoted through the plan-making process.

Richborough Estates’ chief executive Paul Campbell said: “Following our recent investment from Terra Firma, we have embarked on an ambitious growth phase and will be significantly expanding our pipeline of 30,000 new homes and 5 million sq ft of employment space.

“I’m pleased to have Ian and Matt on board to support this growth and supply much needed consented land that benefits all stakeholders.  They both bring excellent experience and local knowledge of their regions.”

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A Shropshire law firm has congratulated a former trainee who has qualified as a solicitor and joined the family law department.

Rachel Tomley started her career at Lanyon Bowdler following the completion of her Legal Practice Course and LLM in Professional Legal Practice in 2020 and is now a new member of the family team in Oswestry.

Sue Hodgson, head of Lanyon Bowdler’s family team, said: “As a firm, we are proud to provide opportunities for lawyers starting out in their legal careers and it’s always a wonderful moment when a trainee qualifies as a solicitor.

“Rachel has proved herself to be a very capable lawyer and I am delighted she has joined the family team in Oswestry where she will be a great asset to the firm and our clients.”

Tomley said: “I have experienced a wide range of legal cases and issues during my training contract at Lanyon Bowdler, completing seats within the court of protection, clinical negligence, family, and personal injury departments.

“Everyone at the firm has always provided me with a great level of support and supervision, and helped me develop my skills that will last my entire career. After spending six months with the family department, I am very pleased to be returning on a permanent basis as a newly-qualified solicitor.”

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Birmingham-based CrowdProperty has appointed Adrian Gurnell as chief technology officer and Sid Khan as programme manager.

Gurnell has led technology transformation at national and international level for Accenture, Barclays, Fiserv and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Since 2017, he has focused on the Fintech sector, leading DivideBuy Technology through a significant three-year growth period as the fastest growing UK Fintech, and more recently as CIO at Chetwood Financial, the disruptive digital bank backed by Elliot Advisors.

Khan is a highly experienced programme manager and IT leader, having developed and delivered change programmes for businesses including Misys Asset Management Systems, Dealogic and EDM Group over the last 20 years. Sid’s expertise in managing projects as a result of implementing technical and behavioural change is backed by certifications as an MSP Practitioner, P30 Practitioner and AGILE PM Practitioner.

Mike Bristow, CEO at CrowdProperty, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Adrian and Sid to CrowdProperty.

“Adrian’s track record of building key capabilities to deliver exceptional performance will support and elevate our excellent team of engineers to further develop our proprietary technology and scalable operating model. His passion for technology and the opportunities it creates, alongside his credentials, will be a great addition to the Executive Team and Board of Directors as we continue to focus on the rapid growth of the business.

“The experience Sid brings in planning and executing change initiatives will be key to the delivery of both operational projects and the overall strategy in order to robustly scale the business. His ability to coach and motivate teams through embedding the necessary processes and controls will enable the business to maintain its high performing culture through this period of expansion.”