People: Two solicitors join Devonshires; Senior hire at BDO; Former PwC team member becomes trustee representative; Three new board members at the LEP; and more

Law firm Devonshires continues to expand in Leeds with the appointment of two solicitors. The new recruits mean that the firm has quadrupled its team since opening in the city centre just nine months ago.

Julie Hargreaves joins the firm’s securitisation team and was formerly a managing associate at Addleshaw Goddard prior to moving to DAC Beachcroft. With more than 12 years’ experience, she advises on the full spectrum of social housing property work, together with landlord and tenant asset management including lease renewals, acquisitions and sales. Her client base is diverse and she regularly acts for funders, institutional landlords, housing associations and local authorities.

Natalie Swales has been appointed as a solicitor in Devonshires’ banking team. She joins from Addleshaw Goddard where she was an associate specialising in advising banks and institutional investors in the social housing sector on multi-million-pound financing transactions.

Devonshires, which is headquartered in London, chose Leeds as the location for its northern office in February 2017. Founding partner Chris Drabble was joined by banking Partner Gary Grigor in April. Drabble and Grigor have since been joined by Kirsty Thompson, a partner who specialises in employment and pensions matters, and who relocated from London in September.

Drabble said: “In direct response to our growing workload, we are seeking to expand our team and practice areas, ensuring we have the right people in place to further cement our position in the north. Julie and Natalie’s skills will help us achieve this aim, bolstering capacity in our banking, securitisation and real estate teams.”

Swales said: “The market has responded really positively to the firm opening in the city, so it’s an exciting time to join the team and a great opportunity to help expand Devonshires’ real estate offer across the north.”

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Fletcher Adamowicz joins BDO as a director following seven years with Grant Thornton, bringing with him significant experience of working with mid-sized businesses, management teams and shareholders of fast-growing owner-managed and private equity-backed businesses.

Adamowicz is passionate about high-growth potential companies and working closely with business owners to achieve their business and personal ambitions – whether that’s through providing advice to them personally, or the business they own.

In his new role, Adamowicz will also be working closely with the region’s private equity market, further developing BDO’s transactional tax services.

Adamowicz said: “Yorkshire and the wider region is producing some brilliant business success stories at the moment. I’m delighted to say BDO is right at the centre of this. Whatever stage businesses – and business owners – are at in their own growth story, proper tax planning can take them a step closer to achieving their goals.

“BDO’s combination of talent and technology made the opportunity to join the team a compelling one. I look forward to working with Terry and my colleagues to grow the practice and our clients’ businesses.”

Partner and head of BDO in Leeds, Terry Jones, added: “I’m delighted with our latest hires and promotions within our team. The experience and expertise means that we’re able to add significant value to any scale of business or individual. Fletcher’s experience with fast-growth businesses and private wealth expertise will allow us to develop this area of our business out further.”

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Dalriada Trustees has appointed of Jo Harris as a Trustee Representative.  Harris was previously a senior member of the Deals and Employer Covenant team practice at PwC.

This move sees Dalriada establish a new office in Princes Exchange, Leeds, to support development of Dalriada’s business across the North.

Brian Spence, director, said “We continue to grow and develop the Dalriada business to meet the needs of the evolving pensions landscape.  Understanding the employer covenant is vital to DB pension schemes.

“Dalriada operates a uniquely team based approach to trusteeship and Jo’s experience and professional background supplements our strong pensions management, actuarial and investment and governance expertise.”

“In addition to assuming a broad range of trustee appointments, Jo adds significant additional resource and experience to the team Dalriada can now bring together to assist with all varieties of corporate transactions, and where the affordability of a DB scheme is challenging.”

“Jo joins Dalriada’s existing restructuring and employer covenant specialists, Richard Favier (formerly Head of Restructuring and Insolvency at the Pension Protection Fund), Tom Lukic (formerly Restructuring and Covenant Advisory Partner at EY), Adrian Campbell (formerly a Senior Case Manager at The Pensions Regulator) and me.  We are all delighted that he is coming on board to deliver what is now really an unrivalled team among professional trustees.”

Jo Harris commented “I am excited at the vision of Dalriada’s genuinely team based approach which I have seen work to great effect as an advisor. Dalriada’s clearly differentiated approach has the potential to bring a depth of capability that is generally not available to the average trustee board and I am particularly pleased to lead Dalriada’s effort in Leeds and the North East where there has not previously been an established presence.”

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The Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) has appointed three new members to its Board to help drive the continued growth of the region.

Joining the board are Nicola Greenan, Director of East Street Arts; Amir Hussain, Managing Director of Yeme Architects in Bradford; and Professor Adam Beaumont, CEO of telecommunications firm, aql.

They will work with the rest of the LEP Board and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to champion the City Region’s interests on a national and international scale, develop policies to grow the region’s economy and boost jobs, and deliver the City Region’s £1bn plus Growth Deal, the largest of its kind in the UK.

Roger Marsh OBE, chair of the LEP said: “Effective public-private partnership working has been fundamental to our success as a City Region and will be vital as we look ahead to the challenges and opportunities facing our region. I’m delighted to welcome three new LEP Board members of the highest calibre, who will no doubt make significant contributions towards our ambition of making our City Region the best place in the UK to live, work or grow a business.

Greenan said: “I am thrilled to have been appointed and look forward to working towards building a city region with creativity, culture and innovation at its heart.

“With my background – having been raised in Seacroft and more recently with my roles at the LS14 Trust and East Street Arts – it shows the LEP’s desire to create an inclusive board that listens to alternative opinion and shape a truly pioneering future for the city region.”

Hussain, said: “I am delighted to be appointed as a new LEP board member. As a proud Bradfordian, a business founder and owner, and as someone who recognises the crucial link between economic development and wellbeing, I look forward to working with the new and existing membership to connect people and place to improve the social, physical and financial wellbeing of our people.”

Beaumont added: “I am thrilled to have been appointed to the LEP board, both as representative of the digital sector but also as an entrepreneur and business owner.

“Leeds City Region is home to some of the biggest and most innovative digital companies in the UK, I look forward to helping to ensure we have the right skills to maintain and grow that position as well as helping to promote the region nationally and internationally to allow even more opportunity for City Region businesses to grow, at home and overseas.”

This month has seen the approval of a £20m proposal for the Leeds Aire Valley and M62 Corridor enterprise zones, which are forecast to create almost 15,000 jobs and add £5 billion to our economic output by 2025.