People: Marrons; Currie Young; Stepnell

Planning, design and architecture consultancy Marrons has announced two promotions within its planning team.

Reiss Sadler and George Smith – both based in Stratford-Upon-Avon – have been promoted to principal planners.

Sadler is a town planning consultant with more than nine years’ experience, helping developers and landowners negotiate the planning process.

He has a vast knowledge of planning policy having been heavily involved in development plan preparation in South Worcestershire, supporting and leading on a variety of topics and in the production of evidence base documents, while also supporting communities with advice on neighbourhood planning.

Smith joined Marrons in 2021 having previously gained six years’ experience in the public sector in Oxfordshire, working across a range of major and minor application types. George works on a wide variety of projects, including identifying the development potential of sites, writing planning statements and appeals.

Gary Stephens, partner at Marrons, said: “We are extremely proud to have promoted both Reiss and George who are hugely valuable and knowledgeable members of the Marrons planning team. Their contribution has been exceptional and they are both shining examples of how our people can build successful careers with us.”

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An expanding insolvency practice has welcomed two new senior staff members to its team.

Nicki Meadows joins Currie Young as an insolvency practitioner and Tracey O’Hare takes the role of senior manager.

The duo will work across the company’s three offices with Meadows primarily working in the East Midlands and South Staffordshire regions, having been previously based in Derby.

The new appointments follow the recent recruitment of Nicola Harrop as head of business development.

Director Steve Currie said: “I’m delighted to be able to welcome Nicki and Tracey to our team. We’ve grown with a strategy of taking on proven finance and insolvency professionals with the knowledge to provide the highest level of support and customer service. Nicki and Tracey add to that, joining us with a wealth of experience in the sector.”

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Adrian Barnes has been promoted to the role of director at construction specialist Stepnell following four years as a regional director of the business.

Since joining Stepnell in 2019, he has been the leader of the Midlands region. As a newly appointed director, he will now continue to grow Stepnell in the Midlands. He will also bring to the board sound strategic thinking, creative ideas and good governance around its structure alongside a wider remit.

He said: “I would like to thank the board of directors for appointing me as a director of Stepnell, and to express how determined I am to take this next step to further push myself and the business to achieve even more success.

“I have worked hard to oversee and deliver excellence on a number of successful construction schemes, grow and upskill our team, expand our expertise and look after our clients. This approach has led to us growing our presence and profitability in the Midlands region, and importantly contribute to the shared success of our business, which feeds into our ‘One Stepnell’ culture. I look forward to this next chapter of my career at Stepnell and what the future holds.”

Tom Wakeford, managing director of Stepnell, said: “I am happy to announce that the board of directors has promoted Adrian Barnes to be a director of Stepnell. From the very beginning, Adrian has been a key part of the business’ leadership and success. Upon joining Stepnell in 2019, Adrian’s leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic ensured that Stepnell was one of the very few contractors who kept all sites operating throughout that challenging period.

“I further commend Adrian for how he has built up our Midlands region. We have a strong Stepnell team in the Midlands with a good client base and well delivered projects, as well as a strong business pipeline of future work secured. As a director of the business, Adrian will be instrumental to the continuation of our success and further developing Stepnell’s teamship approach.”