This week’s Yorkshire appointments

Eddisons, the property consultant, has boosted its building surveying division with the appointment of three new assistant building surveyors across its Yorkshire and North East offices.

Adam Cliff and Callum Major have joined the firm’s Leeds office, while Mike McGoldrick has come on board at the newly launched Newcastle office.

In recent months, the firm has seen a surge in demand for its building surveying services from academy schools and sixth-form colleges in the North and in London that have secured funding for refurbishment or expansion from the Government’s Education Funding Agency.

In the current round of Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) bids, Eddisons submitted a total of 14 applications, and secured capital funding for 11 academy schools for project costs of more than £4.5m.

Ian Harrington, Eddisons’ head of building surveying, said: “We are excited about starting work with our new education sector clients across the North and London following an excellent success rate in applications for finance from the annual CIF bidding round.

“All three of our new assistant building surveyors will play an important role in helping the team deliver a high standard of work and first class service and it is particularly rewarding to be able to use our expertise in a sector that helps to improve young people’s lives every day.”

Mark Russell (pictured right), Steve Hesmondhalgh & Associates

Steve Hesmondhalgh & Associates, the Harrogate and County Durham-based planning consultancy, has appointed Mark Russell as its new head of planning.

Mr Russell, previously principle planning adviser at the Scottish housebuilders’ national industry body, Homes for Scotland, joins the planning and development practice with over 17 years’ of public and private sector planning experience.

Beginning his career at Eden District Council in Cumbria, Mr Russell has also worked at Edinburgh City Council and spent six years leading a large planning team at Fife Council. He then moved to the private sector as associate director with international planning consultancy RPS, based in Edinburgh.

With offices in Harrogate, and in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, Steve Hesmondhalgh & Associates’ recent planning successes include enabling fashion design business Inspire Intimates to create new offices in the former Bilton Library in Harrogate; the redevelopment of the Boosbeck abattoir near Redcar for housing; gaining planning approval for a £3m tourism and leisure development at Angrove Country Park near Great Ayton; and gaining planning permission for 145 homes on the edge of Kirklevington near Yarm.

Steve Hesmondhalgh, managing director, said: “I am really pleased to be welcoming a new colleague on board with Mark’s breadth of town planning experience.

The changes to the UK planning system mean there are many opportunities emerging for new development that will address the shortage of homes across the country.

“As head of planning Mark will lead on a range of the new projects we will be seeing in the coming months.”

He added: “We have a strong team and an impressive, successful track record of delivering commercially viable schemes for clients and we look forward to helping them to take a pragmatic approach to making development projects a reality in the new planning environment.”

Nanette Brimble, RSM

RSM, the audit, tax and consulting firm, has strengthened its HR services practice by appointing a senior HR consultant in its Leeds office.

Nanette Brimble has over 16 years’ experience working in-house and consulting for a range of businesses, including Yorkshire Building Society, Opera North and the Hay Group.

She specialises in management, learning and development, training, reward and change management.

In her new role, Nanette will provide strategic HR support to middle market clients in Yorkshire and the North East, whilst growing the practice and its offering across the region.

Kevin O’Connor, RSM’s regional managing partner for Yorkshire and the North East, said: “It’s great to have Nanette on board. In an ever-changing people management landscape, more and more clients are turning to RSM for key HR advice to support development, engagement or strategic change.”

Nanette Brimble, added: “I’m looking forward to drawing on my experience to deliver tactical advice that helps regional businesses to achieve their strategic aims.”

Kerry Clark, JCT600

Kerry Clark has been appointed as national sales manager for JCT600 Vehicle Leasing Solutions (VLS), the specialist leasing and fleet management division of independent Bradford-based motor firm JCT600.

The new senior appointment has been made in order to strengthen the management team as the business continues to grow.

Kerry Joins from Volkswagen Group where she spent 19 years in various roles, latterly in the position of national fleet sales manager. She has also worked as a franchise manager for Unipart.

In her new role with JCT600 VLS, Kerry will be responsible for managing the company’s eight-strong team of territory and account managers as well as overseeing the internal telesales and sales support consultant teams.

Her brief will be to spearhead JCT600 VLS’s growth strategy in the SME contract hire market and also in several new product areas that are currently under development.

Paul Walters, managing director of JCT600 VLS, commented: “With over 20 years’ experience in the automotive sector, Kerry brings extensive industry knowledge and valuable contacts with her that will be invaluable in supporting our future plans. She is also a great fit for our culture and ethos.

“The fleet industry is changing rapidly with an increasing focus on providing outstanding customer service and bespoke solutions.

“We are committed to ensuring that we have the people, products and technology to take advantage of these developments. Kerry is a terrific addition to the team and will be key to helping us achieve our goals.”

JCT600 Vehicle Leasing Solutions is a stand-alone business within JCT600. It operates a fleet of 7,000 vehicles, predominantly serving SMEs, typically with fleets of 5-200 vehicles, supplying all brands of cars, vans and even mini buses throughout the UK from the South East to Scotland. Based at Apperley Bridge, it employs 45 staff.

Elizabeth Millard and Joe Brinton, Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield has made two new appointments to its asset services team based in Leeds.

Joe Brinton joins as property manager whilst Elizabeth Millard joins as assistant surveyor.

They join the 12 strong asset services team in Leeds which has recently secured a number of new mandates, from both institutional investors and local property company clients.

Joe joins Cushman & Wakefield from Carter Towler in Leeds where he spent the past two and half years predominantly as a property manager but also has experience in agency and valuation.

Elizabeth began her career with East Riding of Yorkshire Council undertaking estate management and professional work. More recently worked she worked at St Ledger Homes in Doncaster, providing valuation advice in respect of assets owned by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council.

Carl Howarth, partner and head of asset services for Cushman & Wakefield’s Leeds and Newcastle offices, commented: “Clients rightly have increasingly high expectations from their managing agents and our property management service offer is continually evolving and making significant investment to surpass those requirements in a changing world.

“Elizabeth and Joe have quickly become established members of the team and both possess the qualities needed to deliver proactive property management with a customer-focused approach.

“I look forward to seeing both progress their careers with Cushman & Wakefield as we continue to expand our client base across Yorkshire and the North East.”

Cushman & Wakefield’s asset services team manages over 8.1 million sq m of space across the UK.

Richard King, Smith Brothers

Smith Brothers, the high voltage electrical engineering firm, has appointed Richard King as its new financial director.

With over 30 years’ experience as a financial adviser, and previous directing roles within SMEs, Richard King brings a wealth of accounting and business expertise to the company.

Commenting on Richard King’s appointment, director John Smith said: “We’ve expanded our operations massively over the past 12 months, so taking on a financial director was the next logical thing to do.

“His impressive track record made Richard an obvious choice for the role, and his effective decision-making and vast financial awareness will be pivotal to our continued growth over the coming year.”

With experience in property, manufacturing, the supply chain and public sector, Richard brings financial management, budget strategy and fundraising skills to the position.

He commented: “Joining a fast-growing, end-to-end business like Smith Brothers always brings excitement and challenges in equal measure, but I’m looking forward to both.

“The company’s expansion over the past 12 months is certainly something to be proud of, and we’re focused on consolidating that growth this year, with our move to bigger premises and recruitment of additional skilled workers. This will set the groundwork for further expansion into 2018.”

Taking charge of the firm’s finances, Richard King joins founders John and Richard Smith, as well as David Ogden and Craig Collinson, on the board of directors.

Tim McNamara, Shoosmiths

Shoosmiths, the national law firm, has announced the appointment of partner Tim McNamara to its banking team.

Tim will operate across the North, with specific focus on Leeds and Manchester and will join banking partner, Liz Sweeney in the North-based banking team and further strengthening the firm’s corporate offering in regional markets.

He will also support on national projects for Shoosmiths.

Tim is returning to private practice having spent the last seven years at The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS), the first six of which he spent leading transaction management for the corporate real estate finance teams across the North of England.

For the past year he was senior in-house counsel for the Future Williams & Glyn division of the bank.

Before joining RBS, Tim was a managing associate in the finance division at Addleshaw Goddard in Manchester having returned to the North from London where he was a banking solicitor with Herbert Smith.

Paul Stokey, head of Shoosmiths in Leeds, said: “Tim’s specialist expertise and insight will enable us to deliver a market-leading service to banking clients in the North, out of Leeds and Manchester.

“By continuing to attract highly-experienced practitioners such as Tim we will realise our ambition of creating a Northern hub of legal expertise that will be recognised for delivering superb client service.”

Paul Rose, Acceleris

Acceleris, the PR and communications agency, has strengthened its board with the appointment of former CEO of Rixonway Kitchens Paul Rose as non-executive director.

Based in Harrogate and London, Acceleris was founded in 2006.

Last year, Acceleris forged its first European agency partnership programme with Brussels-based GOPA.com and Stockholm-based Time PR, which grew its overseas campaign portfolio and brought in 16 new client accounts.

Formerly the Regional winner of EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year award, Rose led an MBO of Rixonway Kitchens’ in 2006 and under his tenure turnover more than doubled to £40m, driving the company to become the UK’s leading supplier of kitchens to the social housing sector, prior to its £34m sale to the Swedish kitchen manufacturer Nobia UK in late 2014.

He is currently chairman of the regional development committee for The Prince’s Trust in Yorkshire and has other business and property interests.

Louise Vaughan, managing director of Acceleris, said: “Paul has a wealth of experience in growing privately owned businesses and we are incredibly excited about both the expertise and contacts he brings to support us in our next phase of strategic growth.

“Attracting someone of his calibre as an investor underlines the fact our award-winning, client-facing work is reinforced by a sound business strategy at the operational side of the agency.”

Paul Rose said: “Having been a client of Acceleris I’m confident in the high quality of service, insight and results the team delivers.

“Whilst at Rixonway I saw first hand how this not only helped cement us as an industry leader, but also directly supported our reputation with both the investor market and target customers.

“I now look forward to working with the business in a very different role to identify new opportunities to build the agency including Acceleris’ new range of digital insight services.”