People: Promotion for experienced planner; Appointment at security specialist; and more
A PLANNER behind some of the highest profile developments in Yorkshire and Humber has achieved a significant promotion.
Chris Atkinson is now associate at Leeds-based planning and design consultancy Barton Willmore, having previously been in the role of senior planner.
The move follows his successes in delivering planning consents for a range of important developments in the city and across Yorkshire and Humber.
Those developments include the Skelton Gate new community with its 1,800 homes; a major commercial property scheme at Temple Green with 260,000 sqm of space; the sustainable redevelopment of the 32 acre Esholt Waste Water Treatment Works site in Bradford, and the conversion of the historic grade II listed 17 Wellington Street in Leeds city centre.
Atkinson said: “The Barton Willmore team is second to none and together we’ve secured some planning consents for a range of developments that are central to driving the regional economy.
“We’re working with ambitious developers across a range of sectors – including energy, education, commercial property, leisure and residential.
“This promotion is an important step in my career and comes at an exciting time for development in Yorkshire. Barton Willmore is at the forefront making our region a great place to work and live.”
James Hall, partner at the company, added: “I’m delighted Chris has stepped up to the role of associate. Having worked in Yorkshire and Humber for more than 13 years, his knowledge of the region is great and has resulted in scores of significant planning consents and allocations.
“As part of our expert team based in Leeds, Chris will continue to deliver for the developers we work with.”
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Bradford-based Kings Secure Technologies has appointed Dawn Summers as strategic business development manager to join its Security Personnel Division.
She will join the sales team and report directly to its head of security personnel, Carrie Eastwood. Summers brings with her a decade of expertise and knowledge working within the corporate sector. She has a wealth of experience managing worldwide clients across the full range of Security, Cleaning and Facilities Management services.
Her forte is designing security solutions that best address customer needs and where possible, exceed account performance objectives and expectations.
Summers said: “After a 10-year career in the security sector and designing bespoke security solutions across single and multi-site contracts, I am over the moon to be joining Kings Secure Technologies. It couldn’t be at a more exciting time.
“The need for quality security personnel supported by the latest technology has never been greater and I look forward to meeting prospective customers across the country soon.”
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A former firefighter with three decades’ experience is to spearhead a fire & security firm’s latest Yorkshire branch.
Henryk Matysiak, 57, has been appointed director of Jackson Fire & Security’s new Sheffield branch – the company’s second Yorkshire base having opened in Leeds in 2016.
Born and bred in Barnsley, Matysiak spent 30 years in the fire service, becoming an operational incidents officer as well as an instructor and health and safety officer before leaving six years ago to open a Subway franchise.
Joining him at the Sheffield branch as operations director will be son Alex, 29, who boasts more than ten years’ experience in the construction industry covering a wide range of trades in a project management role. His most recent role has involved working for a local electrical contractor installing a wide variety of fire and security systems for large retail chains across the UK.
Henryk Matysiak explained how a conversation with Jackson Fire & Security’s managing director Steve Jackson encouraged him and his son to use their years of fire safety training and installation work once again.
He said: “We always wanted to diversify and we wanted to do something else, so we went along to meet Jackson Fire & Security to discuss their growth plans in Yorkshire.
“We like the local branch emphasis but I initially thought ‘I’ve had enough of fire’ but Alex persuaded me to give it some thought and we got talking to Steve Jackson and got on really well which made us think we’d give it a go and join the group.
“We set out what we were looking for and put our skills together and realised we could build a good relationship. My background will certainly help and Alex’s installation experience will too.
“It was down to trust, building relationships and the skill-set we had. We’ve found Jackson Fire & Security very accommodating and we like the head office structure as it gives us the support we need.
“We know the South Yorkshire area and the people in it, and every time we came away from any meetings with Jackson Fire and Security, it all just seemed to fit together. We like the fact that we are a family run local branch with a great national support network.
“I have an understanding of the end product from a fire safety point of view as well as managing people while Alex knows the building industry well and his experience in that and the electrical industry will be invaluable. We both bring the very highest standards of workmanship and customer service and we pride ourselves on these two key aspects of our business which gives us a good solid base to grow.”
Jackson Fire & Security employs over 50 people across branches in North Wales, North West England, Yorkshire, Teesside, the Midlands, Cambridgeshire and Surrey.
