People: Rodgers Leask; Isio; Principle Estate Management

National engineering consultancy Rodgers Leask has announced the promotion of the experienced Howel Morris to its board of directors.

Morris – who joined the firm in 2017 as a principal consultant – is based in the firm’s Longbridge office, and will add his expertise in brownfield and contaminated land regeneration to the company’s board.

The land regeneration director has worked on some of the business’s biggest projects over the last six years, including the regeneration of the 500-acre former MG Rover plant in Longbridge, and the redevelopment of former Llanwern steelworks, which has seen more than 2.6 million cubic metres of earth assessed and redistributed.

Morris said: “Our business has gained significant momentum over recent years, and that has been reflected in our continued expansion, both in our regional locations and the disciplines we are able to offer. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to join the board of directors, and I’m looking forward to sharing my expertise with the team.

“I’m fortunate to be supported by an amazing team both in Longbridge and across the Rodgers Leask family. We describe ourselves as a small business with large projects, but most importantly, people stay with the team because they enjoy the work we do. I worked with Rodgers Leask on projects before joining the business and could see this notion shine through.”

Following pension consultancy firm Isio acquiring KPMG’s reward and benefits business, two senior promotions have been made in Birmingham.

Emma Hudson, Isio

Emma Hudson who is part of the investment team has joined the Partner Group and Kristy Cotton becomes a Director.

Hudson joined Isio’s investment advisory team from Mercer two years ago, and leads the Midlands investment team. Whilst she provides investment advice to a wide range of clients, she has significant experience of working with larger DB pension schemes, having advised 3 £10bn+ schemes in the last few years.

The appointments follow Isio’s announcement that it has completed its acquisition of Deloitte’s Total Reward and Benefits business, cementing its challenger status in the pensions advisory market.

Richard Birkin, Head of DC Pensions at Isio also heads up the Birmingham office. He commented on the promotions: “The acquisition is very exciting for Isio as a company and for us in Birmingham. In the first 3 years of our existence we have doubled our company wide headcount and we are delighted to welcome 24 new team members to our Birmingham office taking us to a 165 strong team based at 1 Colmore Square including at a senior level four partners and ten directors.

“Isio was formed to disrupt the status quo and since our formation we have committed ourselves to create the best outcomes for our clients and seek out opportunities to empower our people”.

Emma Hudson, Partner at Isio also added: “My aim when I joined Isio two years ago was to advise significant clients and to be involved with winning new clients.  Moving here has certainly delivered on both elements. I look forward to working with Emily and the wider Isio team to drive the continued high growth of our business.

“I will also continue to have a role in the training and development of our people; it is important to me that as we continue our rapid growth, we maintain our strong culture and develop our people.”

A property operator with more than eight years’ experience has been recruited by Principle Estate Management to help the company’s expanding lettings management portfolio.

Principle Lauren O’Brien

Lauren O’Brien joins Principle from The Tenant Management Hub (The TM Hub) in Wolverhampton, where she has worked as a property management team leader for nearly three years.

O’Brien has previously worked for Virtu Property Management and Centrick, as well as a previous role as a property maintenance manager at The TM Hub.

She is qualified with a Level 3 certificate in Lettings and Property Management from the National Federation of Property Professionals (NFoPP).

Stephanie Jobson, operations director at Principle, said: “We are pleased to welcome Lauren onto our management team to help look after our lettings portfolio, which we are eager to continue expanding.

“Principle already has a proven track record in residential block management, building its portfolio in this sector to more than 11,000 units in five years

“We are already managing many fully let blocks of flats for a number of large portfolio landlords, and have recently won several more contracts to look after high-profile managed properties such as The Strata in London”.

With offices in Birmingham and London, Principle now has approximately 60 staff and is managing more than 11,000 units at more than 300 developments across the UK.