People: Zerum Group; Servo Group; CorrBoard UK; and more

Leeds and Manchester-based multi-disciplinary property and construction consultancy Zerum Group has further strengthened its team with five new appointments.

The appointments have been made across the organisation’s cost management, planning and sustainable travel departments.

Jack Charnock joins as graduate quantity surveyor in Zerum’s cost management team alongside Milly McDemott and Niamh Macfarlane.

McDemott joins from Deloitte’s London office and has taken up the role of planner while Macfarlane also joins Zerum’s planning department as an assistant, as part of her studies at Leeds University.

In addition, Owen Price and Elliot Kelly have been appointed by partner organisation Mosodi as social media executive and sustainable travel advisor respectively.

Founded in 2013, Zerum Group began as a project management and planning division with a staff of five, based in Manchester.

Following 11 years of consistent growth and the opening of a Leeds office in 2018, it now has four divisions with a staff of 34.

In 2018 highways and sustainable travel consultants Mosodi joined the business, adding additional services to the Zerum offering, and strengthening its cross-Pennine appeal.

Zerum Group partner, Anthony Kilbride, said: “As Zerum Group continues to go from strength-to-strength, and as the scope of our work grows, we are focused on finding the best talent in the market to help us deliver some of the most exciting schemes in Yorkshire and the North West.

“We are pleased to welcome Jack, Milly, Niamh, Owen and Elliot to the team. Each bring a strong set of skills to their new positions and will play a key role in supporting our strategic objectives while continuing to ensure we deliver the highest level of service to our clients.”

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A Leeds-headquartered multi-service provider has appointed a new CEO, as it forecasts a £20m turnover in the next year.

Servo Group, which celebrated its tenth anniversary last year has promoted Andy Haynes from divisional director to CEO, to propel the firm’s growth and expansion especially in the capital.

Haynes joined Servo in 2022, to open up a new office in East London, and take ownership of one of the firm’s key accounts for Network Rail.

He has more than 10 years of experience within the security sector, starting his career as a front-line security officer in 2011.

Since then, he has held a number of operational management and senior leadership roles at both STM and Churchill.

Part of his remit is to use his extensive sector experience to guide Servo to its next phase of growth, particularly growing its rail division and capitalising on the pipeline of opportunities in London.

Wayne Varley, operations director, said: “Andy was an instrumental figure with two of the leading companies in our sector for over eight years, and we are confident he can replicate some of the good practices and lessons learned from this experience here at Servo.

“Andy has made a great impact in his role with us over the past two years, and we’re confident he can continue this growth as our CEO.”

Servo provides SIA-licensed guarding, CCTV, cleaning and rail labour to companies around the UK.

In the last 12 months it has expanded into Scotland, opened its sixth regional office and expanded its rail labour division.

Haynes said: “This is an amazing time to be taking the helm at Servo and I’m looking forward to playing a key role in its acceleration over the next few years.

“Servo Group has created an amazing team and brand for itself in a short space of time, and I hope I can leverage my own extensive industry experience to contribute to further fast growth and achievement.”

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Ian Sutherland

CorrBoard UK, a sheet-feeding specialist based in Scunthorpe, has appointed Ian Sutherland as reliability engineer and the promotion of Jonathan Hornik-Unger to training manager.

With previous experience as a reliability engineer for Cepac, Sutherland brings with him a wealth of experience and transferable skills.

His responsibilities will include improving the planned maintenance scheme and reducing technical downtime to help resolve any production issues.

He said: “When I first met with Katie, the head of operations at CorrBoard, I was really impressed by her vision for the future.

“It resonated with me, and that’s why I am really looking forward to working with the team and to passing on my knowledge and experience.

“Knowing that the culture is to work together makes a big difference. It’s what turns a job into a career.”

Since joining CorrBoard in 2015, Hornik-Unger has had varied experiences at the business, working his way from wet end operator to key operator, then to controller with responsibility for running the full corrugator.

He has now accepted a promotion, becoming dedicated training manager at the company’s Scunthorpe manufacturing facility.

He said: “I’ve worked at CorrBoard for almost 10 years and during that time I have seen how training and development plays such an important part in helping people to reach their full potential.

Jonathan Hornik-Unger

“In my new role as training manager, I want to give my colleagues access to the support they need to achieve their career goals.

“Knowing that the company is so committed to its people makes it a great place to work and I want to make sure we are reinforcing that at every opportunity.”

Katie Woodward, head of operations, added: “We would like to take this opportunity to welcome Ian to the team and to congratulate Jonny on his promotion. It’s great to see the business attracting and retaining talent in this way.

“We have a big year ahead of us, and with the support of our colleagues we know that we can reach our targets and set big ambitions for the future.”

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Independent planning consultancy, DPP Planning, has appointed Anna Downey as an assistant planner in its Leeds office.

She has been welcomed to DPP’s Leeds team after graduating this summer from Cardiff University with a BSc in Urban Planning and Development.

Downey spent an extended work placement as a planning officer with Cardiff City Council.

She acted on several high-profile housing and school developments and was also part of wayfinding projects in Cardiff, which led to the redesign of pedestrian information signs and street furniture in the city centre.

She said: “Getting a job at such a prestigious consultancy as DPP Planning so soon after graduating has been amazing.

“I’m really enjoying learning about the different types of projects that DPP works on, as well as getting to learn so much from my colleagues here in Leeds, who are all experts in their fields. I’m really excited about my future at DPP.”

Gareth Hooper, CEO, said: “Anna is a great asset to our Leeds office as her studies and experiences during her placement year have put her in a great position to help us with our education and residential projects at DPP.

“Nurturing young and up and coming talent is what we do here and so being able to take on seven graduates this year, the most we have taken on in the last 10 years, will allow us to continue this tradition and help support us in creating a culture of working excellence.”