This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Newtons Solicitors has continued to expand with the appointment of a new senior solicitor.

Carole Gibbs joins Newtons Solicitors’ head office in Knaresborough, becoming the seventh member of the group’s Wills and Probate team.

Carole Gibbs, who qualified in 1991, joins from Hartlaw, Wetherby and specialises in wills, trusts, inheritance tax planning, powers of attorney and probate matters for clients throughout York and North Yorkshire.

Commenting on the appointment, Carole said: “It’s great to be joining a young, progressive firm with exciting plans to build on its many strategic locations across Teesside and North and West Yorkshire.”

Chris Newton, Newtons Solicoitors’ founder and managing director, added: “Carole follows our pattern of attracting experienced lawyers who are established in their field. She is a significant boost to our thriving private client department at a time of growing public awareness about the benefits of these services.”

Newtons Solicitors was founded by Chris Newton and his wife, Sarah, who is also a director, in 2009. The firm also has offices in Darlington, Harrogate, Ilkley, Leyburn, Ripon, Richmond, Stokesley and York with a total of 13 directors and LLP partners and 38 lawyers.

Emma Greensmith, Laura Jepson, Rob Ormiston and Sandra Overfield, Wintersgill Associates

An Ilkley-based chartered accountants has expanded its team as part of its ongoing strategy to operate in other areas of business management.

Wintersgill Associates has appointed two new accountants, a senior associate, and a practice manager to handle the growing range and volume of activity. The accountants is now positioned to increase focus on additional services such as business planning and change management as well as traditional accountancy.

Accountant Emma Greensmith joins Wintersgill Associates following a position as audit manager at Grant Thornton and with 20 years of experience will use her industry knowledge to facilitate growth in a portfolio of clients from small businesses to blue chip companies.

Emma will work alongside Laura Jepson, an apprentice accountant who is studying for The Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) qualifications in accounting.

Rob Ormiston, brings a further 20 years of experience to the company from sectors including manufacturing, retail and property. His principle role will be to act as a financial director to clients specifically working towards expansion and increased profitability.

To oversee the management of the company’s increasing client base, Sandra Overfield completes the new intake as practice manager having previously managed the accounts department of a group of multinational manufacturing companies, subsequent to qualifying as a chartered accountant whilst with Deloitte.

Paul Wintersgill, managing director and founder of Wintersgill Associates, said: “Our aim has always been to provide a much wider range of services that go way beyond traditional accountancy. With our newly expanded team we are now able to really grow this area of the business and absorb ourselves in more complex areas such as strategic financial planning, corporate recovery and company buyouts.

“Our philosophy is to look beyond figures and statistics and get to the root of what business owners really want – whether that is early retirement or expanding premises - and once we understand that, we can help them achieve their objectives.”

Robin Holme, Dunlop Heywood

Chartered Surveyors Dunlop Heywood has made a key appointment with Robin Holme joining as Head of Office.

Robin comes from Bowman Riley architects where he founded and headed up the building consultancy division. He is joined by colleague and senior surveyor Robert Catton who was a member of his team at the Leeds-based practice. They join the 8-strong Dunlop Heywood team based in Thirsk Row, LS1.

Robin has more than 20 years’ experience, having spent the last 11 with Bowman Riley; before that he had stints at EC Harris and Colliers. Robert, who holds a Masters in Project Management, has 10 years’ experience, including eight at Baily Garner LLP.

Stuart Hick, the company’s director, said: “It has been a great year for the company with double digit turnover growth and that has been reflected in the number of appointments we have made over the summer. Confidence in the commercial property sector is getting stronger and new clients are quickly coming on board across a range of sectors including retail, charitable and transport to name just a few.”

Robin added: “I am delighted to take this fantastic opportunity in joining Dunlop Heywood, one of the UK’s leading independent professional property advisors. With a growing list of blue chip clients; sound and proven business success and further plans for expansion, it’s an exciting time to grow and lead the team to further success throughout the region.”

Langleys Solicitors

Langleys Solicitors has retained six newly qualified solicitors following the successful completion of their training.

At Langleys’ York office, Cheryl Milner has qualified into the Insurance Law team, with Rachel Witherick joining the Commercial Property unit and Mandeep Bassi taking her place in the Residential Conveyancing division.

At the firm’s Lincoln office, Victoria Lyon qualifies into the Medical Law team, while Tim Burt joins the Children’s Law team and employment solicitor James Barron completes the line-up.

David Thompson, managing partner at Langleys Solicitors, said: “We place great emphasis on developing the next generation of talent within the firm. We congratulate our newly qualified solicitors and look forward to helping them build a successful career in law.”

Paddy Mellon and Matt Owen, Frenchgate Shopping Centre

Two new appointments have been made at Frenchgate Shopping Centre, Doncaster.

Assistant centre manager Paddy Mellon brings with him several years’ retail experience managing shopping centres in England and Northern Ireland, while creative and digital specialist Matt Owen joins the centre as a marketing executive.

Paddy Mellon has held centre manager roles at Meadowlane Shopping Centre in Magherafelt and The Mall in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

A former acting centre manager at Frenchgate, he is returning to the South Yorkshire centre after his most recent role as centre manager of Middleton Shopping Centre in Manchester.

Prior to the retail industry, he worked in property management across the industrial, commercial and mixed use sectors.

Matt Owen, of Swinton, Rotherham, is a former freelance content writer and digital marketing assistant. He has also worked in-house for a number of firms as a digital marketing co-ordinator and social media manager, specialising in areas including blogging, SEO, social media management and email marketing.

His key roles will include managing and maintaining Frenchgate’s website, creating online content, social media management and assisting the marketing manager in general marketing duties.

Karen Staniforth, Frenchgate marketing manager, said: “We’re really pleased to welcome Matt – and welcome back Paddy! – to Frenchgate.

“I’m sure the combination of Matthew’s digital and creative skills and Paddy’s managerial know-how and expertise will really help to further enhance our team and our brand.”

Alison Cheetham and Joshua Brear, Carter Jonas

Property consultancy Carter Jonas’ is expanding its Northern planning team with two new graduate recruits at its Harrogate office.

Alison Cheetham joins Carter Jonas after graduating from the University of Leeds this summer with a MSc in sustainability in environmental consultancy and project management. As part of her dissertation, Alison undertook a three month project with Carter Jonas over the summer, producing an internal company guide to large scale solar PV developments.

She also has a BSc Honours in Biology from Newcastle University. Her time will be shared equally between the planning and energy teams at Carter Jonas.

Joshua Brear recently graduated with a Masters degree in planning from Newcastle University. The four year course included a year in industry working as student planning assistant with North Norfolk District Council, gaining hands-on knowledge of the planning system.

Both Alison and Joshua will work within the experienced planning and development teams which provide advice on the delivery of economic, social and environmentally sustainable developments across the country.

David Boulton, head of the Northern planning team, said: “Following our best ever annual results and the continued confidence across the region in the commercial and residential development sectors, we wanted to further strengthen the Northern team and we’re delighted to welcome this calibre of talent into our business.”

Carter Jonas has boosted its planning service across the country in the last year with the acquisition of Planning Perspectives LLP. The company now boasts 75 chartered planners and surveyors in Harrogate, Leeds, London, Oxford, and Cambridge.

Jeff Gardner, Dow Schofield Watts

Dow Schofield Watts, the specialist professional advisory and equity finance firm, has appointed Jeff Gardner as a Director in its Transaction Services team. He will be based in the Yorkshire & North East office.

Jeff qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PwC in 2002 and is a long-standing member of the Yorkshire deal advisory community. Following seven years in PwC’s Transaction Services team Jeff joined Morrisons Plc as a Strategy Consultant in 2014. This role involved Jeff working closely with the Board and responsibilities included corporate strategy, annual planning and operational strategy.

Originally established in 2008, DSW’s nine-strong Transaction Services team provides financial due diligence advisory services to a wide range of clients across the North of England on buy-side, sell-side, and refinancing transactions. Jeff joins the Yorkshire & North East Transaction Services practice established in 2014 by Rob McCarthy.

DSW’s Yorkshire & North East office was set up in 2012 by former Deloitte partner, Roger Esler, providing Corporate Finance Advisory services to businesses, management teams and investors. The multi-service line office now also provides Forensic advisory led by partner Kate Beckett and VAT advisory led by partner Jacqui Wells.

Jeff commented: “I am delighted to be joining DSW at this exciting time of growth. DSW Transaction Services has a fantastic, well established team who has proved there is a real appetite for DSW’s unique proposition in the regional market. I can’t wait to be part of this and start working closely with private equity, funders and businesses across Yorkshire and the North East.”

DSW founding partner, James Dow, added: “We are pleased to welcome someone of Jeff’s calibre and expertise to DSW. His senior hands-on industry experience and significant profile across the regional market, will build on the momentum we have achieved in our Due Diligence Services, and indeed the wider professional services we offer.”