People: CBRE; SPG Resourcing; Hardies Property & Construction Consultants; and more

James Child, a former top English rugby league referee, has been hired by real estate advisor CBRE as associate director in the Development Advisory team.

He will be based in Leeds, but will work across the north of England.

Child combined his extensive 12-year role as an elite rugby league match official with his profession as a chartered surveyor.

He brings almost 20 years’ experience in the property industry, predominantly as principal land and property officer with Leeds City Council, where he brought his general practice skills to the fore through his involvement in multiple acquisitions and disposals across the city, including land assembly, development agreements and joint ventures.

He has been influential in the progression of high profile projects across Leeds, including the Arena Quarter and Temple District forming part of the South Bank Quarter.

Child joins CBRE’s senior director, Catherine Birks, to bolster and grow the Development Advisory team across the north, with particular focus on Yorkshire, the North East and East Midlands.

Birks said: “James is a fantastic addition to CBRE, bringing an invaluable breadth of experience, knowledge and a strong skillset across the regeneration and economic development sector.

“His appointment demonstrates CBRE’s continued expansion of Development Advisory services across the north, further boosting our offer and expertise to assist clients in successfully delivering complex development projects.”

Child added: “I’ll be building on the success of the established team, providing expert tailored advice to clients, and promoting the capability of the wider CBRE business in the strategic regeneration and development sector.

“With my largely public sector background in acquisition and disposal, options appraisal and delivery of economic regeneration through development, I am looking forward to assisting clients across the region to unlock and deliver complex schemes to achieve their development, regeneration and economic growth ambitions.”

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Leeds-based SPG Resourcing is supporting its growth plans with the appointment of Katie Menzies as client delivery director.

She brings a wealth of experience to the role and was most recently a client engagement manager at the IT recruitment firm Corecom Consulting. She also held positions in the US tech company Oracle.

She is responsible for managing and developing key accounts and helping clients benefit from the wider services within the Solutions Performance Group.

Menzies said: “SPG Resourcing bring something different to the industry, and it’s exciting to join the team during a rapid growth period.

“The expertise and rigour they bring to the recruitment process help them secure the best candidates in a highly competitive market.”

SPG Resourcing is a technology talent advisory business with offices in both Leeds and Newcastle. It provides interim and permanent technology resources to a wide range of businesses, from insurance and financial services to health, housing and large FTSE businesses.

Sam Hameed, co-founder and managing director, said: “Katie is a great addition to the team, and she will help us accelerate our growth plans. She has a rounded experience in the technology market and understands the pressures companies face when driving technological change.”

SPG Resourcing is part of the Solution Performance Group, which helps companies achieve their digital transformation goals by providing technology consultancy, software development and talent recruitment services.

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Hardies Property & Construction Consultants has appointed property expert and chartered building surveyor Colin Harrop as managing partner to lead its Leeds office.

Harrop has held positions in firms across the north of England. He said: “The property market in the north of England has come through a turbulent period in terms of the supply of property and materials and we see the need for expert property advice as a constant, and arguably more pressing at a time of economic uncertainty.

“I’m really excited about the new opportunities at Hardies. We already have a busy agenda and I’m pressing ahead with plans to rapidly expand our team here with an ambitious recruitment programme as we help push the well-known Hardies brand throughout the north of England.”

Senior partner, Danny McArthur, added: “Having established our Leeds office last year, we’ve taken time to secure the right person to lead this office and are happy to secure Colin’s services, who brings with him a wealth of experience of the north of England market.

“We have some exciting work in the pipeline which will be delivered from our Leeds office.

“Indeed, we have a large volume of work coming on stream throughout the UK, including Northern Ireland and, as such, are in the process of building our UK-wide office network to replicate the dominant presence we hold in Scotland to give us that local presence and expertise throughout the UK.

“Our ambition, of which Colin’s appointment marks a key milestone, is that, together with sister firm Shepherd Chartered Surveyors, we have the infrastructure to offer a national surveying service, having identified a demand from clients for a single point of contact for the delivery of a comprehensive range of property advice and services.”

Leeds is one of three new offices across the UK revealed by Hardies last year, the other two being Belfast and London, taking its office network to 13 locations.

The new offices form the first phase of a development strategy executed on the back of a series of successful project wins across the UK and Ireland over recent years.

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Pikcells, a Huddersfield-based global provider of CG Images and Configurators, has appointed Craig Rothwell as its new business development director.

He brings a wealth of experience in business strategy and sales development, having previously been the managing director of 2020 Technologies UK.

Rothwell said: “Pikcells have built up a great business and reputation over the past 19 years employing a fantastic team of 36 people and a projected 2023 turnover of £2.4m.

“We are aiming to continue the culture of creating great products and services while growing to a £10m turnover business by 2026.”

He will work with the senior management team to evolve and execute the company’s growth plans as it launches its new configurator platform “Onfigr” into the UK, Europe and USA Interiors and Home furnishings markets.

The Onfigr platform allows Pikcells’ 360 configurators to be used as critical business tools informing kitchen, bedroom and bathroom companies which products are being selected the most by customers and driving sales enquiries directly to each company.

Pikcells co-founder, Stephen Mooney, said: “Craig’s experience and expertise will be invaluable as the demand for our award winning configurators and CG work increases and we’re confident he will expand our reach further in the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom markets.

“I am certain he will be a valuable asset to our team and will play an important role in helping us achieve our business objectives.”