Member Article

This week’s North West appointments

Nicola Beneduce, Isabel Macias Rial, Harrison Drury

North West commercial law firm Harrison Drury has added two more solicitors to its growing property team.

Nicola Beneduce and Isabel Macias Rial have joined the firm after a period of steady growth.

Nicola joins the firm after 10 years at Forbes in Blackburn, while Isabel joins the firm after a short career break having previously worked for Napthens in Preston.

Simon England, who heads up the commercial property team at Harrison Drury, said: “With increased economic activity, we are seeing more investment along with businesses expanding, moving and acquiring, so there is increasing demand for expert legal advice on property matters. Nicola and Isabel bring with them a broad range of experience and they will be excellent additions to our property team.”

Nicola advises on all aspects of commercial property transactions including the acquisition and disposal of commercial estates, secured finance, landlord and tenants matters, as well as corporate support work.

She acts for a wide range of clients including companies, high-net-worth individuals, retailers, manufacturers, investors, developers, financial institutions and charitable organisations and trusts, including registered social landlords.

Isabel has a broad range of experience in non-contentious commercial property matters including freehold and leasehold acquisitions and disposals, landlord and tenant matters and secured lending.

John Chesworth, managing director of Harrison Drury, added: “Our recruitment strategy has been the main driver of our continued growth as a firm. We’ve concentrated on bringing in people who will really espouse our values of making it possible for our clients. Nicola and Isabel’s knowledge and experience make them a perfect fit for us.”

Mark Miller, Inquesta

Forensic accountancy and insolvency practice Inquesta has bolstered its ranks with the arrival of senior manager Mark Miller.

Inquesta, which was founded by Rob Miller and Steven Wiseglass in January 2012, relocated last year from the Riverpark Business Centre in east Manchester to a four-storey building on New Road, Radcliffe, to accommodate its growth plans.

Rob – who is no relation to Mark – said: “Mark has a proven track record and has hit the ground running at Inquesta, by bringing in a number of company liquidations and individual voluntary arrangement cases.

“His appointment is key to our growth strategy, and we continue to seek additional staff, including an experienced specialist to head our IVA department.”

John Bowes, Ital Logistics

Following their move in December last year to new premises in Heywood, Ital Logistics are pleased to welcome to their sales force John Bowes, previously of Kuehne & Nagel.

Managing Director, Phil Denton, states “We have made exceptional progress in recent years, year on year increasing our turnover which has enabled us to make the move to our own bespoke premises in Heywood. Wth this in mind, and to maintain momentum, I am extremely pleased to bring on board John Bowes, whose enthusiasm and passion blends perfectly with ours.”

Monetarily, Ital Logistics will post a turnover just shy of £9.4m for 2014, 24% up on 2013 which in itself was 19% up on 2012. Pre-tax profits posted are £317k for 2014 against £262k and £187 for 2013 and 2012 respectively.

Phil concludes “Our new platform, our enthusiastic and dedicated team, plus our new appointments will bode us well for continuing our journey as we approach our 15thanniversary in August.”

Georgia Briscoe, Fletchers Solicitors

Fletchers Solicitors, a leading medical negligence and serious injury firm which deals with one in 10 clinical negligence claims in the UK, has strengthened its leadership team with the appointment of a new Head of Medical Negligence.

Georgia Briscoe joined the Southport firm as a senior solicitor in January 2015 but after impressing the team with her wealth of knowledge and experience, she has recently been promoted to head up the 74-strong medical negligence team.

Ed Fletcher, CEO at Fletchers Solicitors, said: “We are delighted to have Georgia on board and to be able to offer her this senior leadership role. Georgia has displayed an incredibly impressive level of experience and expertise since joining Fletchers at the start of this year. During her short time here, she has demonstrated that she is hard-working and determined and as such she is a great asset to our team. We look forward to seeing how she can help develop and grow our already fantastic offering.”

Marie Wood, Enterprise Ventures

Marie Wood has joined Enterprise Ventures as an investment director with The North West Fund for Mezzanine, which provides capital for high-growth businesses.

The Fund, which is managed by Enterprise Ventures, provides investment of £750,000 to £2m and is part of The North West Fund, which is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.

Marie, who will be based at Enterprise Ventures’ Liverpool office, has over 20 years’ experience in banking and finance. A qualified accountant, she started her career with PwC and Grant Thornton and spent ten years working with the Co-operative Bank. More recently she has worked in a consultancy role advising SMEs on corporate finance and fundraising.

Jonathan Diggines, Chief Executive of Enterprise Ventures, said: “Marie’s background in banking and accountancy and her experience in advising SMEs makes her ideally suited to join the team. Her appointment will help us meet the increasing demand for mezzanine finance from high-growth businesses. We are currently in discussion with a number of ambitious management teams and always keen to talk to other energetic business leaders about how we can help them to fuel growth.”

Paul Briars, NG Bailey

NG Bailey, the engineering, IT and facilities services business, has appointed Paul Briars to the role of regional director north west.

Paul moves from Rotary Building Services Limited, based in Warrington, where he has been group managing director and north west managing director since 2000 and joined from Crown House engineering. Paul was made board director at Rotary in 20015 and lead the M&E services company through several acquisitions and challenging trading times. Recent projects have included Media City UK, Manchester and the Co-Operative Group’s new headquarters. Paul was presented with the RoSPA Order of Distinction Award in 2013.

Paul will lead NG Bailey’s Engineering division within the region, reporting to managing director Mike Darlington. Recent successful projects from the north west have included Manchester town hall complex transformation and central library project, Manchester Metropolitan University and currently onsite at Beacon Barracks in Staffordshire.

Mike Darlington, managing director, Engineering, said: “We took a considerable amount of time in selecting the right person to fill this role and Paul has all the attributes and qualities we look for in a leader, in addition to the values that we hold sacrosanct at NG Bailey.”

“I am delighted that Paul is joining the business and very pleased for him and the team. We are performing very well as a business and are perfectly positioned to continue to grow in all of our chosen markets.”

The Market Creative strengthens team with six new faces

The Market Creative, a retail and brand agency based in Manchester, has strengthened its creative, account handling and business development teams with six new appointments following a strong start to the year.

Jeff Dillon has been appointed as Senior Art Director. Working alongside Creative Director and co-owner Dorina D’Ambrosio he will help drive the creative output of the agency through concept and design. Jeff previously held a similar position at Madhouse. He is joined by Stuart Keates, who has been appointed as a Creative Artworker, and was previously a Designer with Papyrus Group.

On account handling, Shaun Watson takes an Account Manager role with responsibility for Silentnight and Sharps. He will boost the agency’s specialist retail proposition having held a Retail Marketing Manager role at Matalan and from also working at Asda and Pets at Home.

Following the announcement earlier in the year that The Market Creative has won new work with Grafton Merchanting GB to lead the merchant’s trade marketing, James Kay has been appointed as an Account Manager. He has nine years experience, having worked at TBWA and C21. Also working on the account is Lauren Thomas, who joins from Space and Time Media as a Junior Account Executive.

Nikita Lewis has recently taken the position of Business Development Manager to grow the agency’s retail and brand portfolio. She has more than three years sales and marketing experience from similar roles at Madhouse and Event Marketing Solutions.

Sue Benson, Managing Director at The Market Creative said: “We’ve had an exceptional start to the year having grown both business with existing clients and won some new briefs. As a result we’ve attracted some fantastic new talent, strengthening the team across all departments. I look forward to what the rest of the year will bring.”

The Market Creative now employs 16 staff at its offices in Trafford Park, Manchester.

Chris Henshaw, DWF

National legal business DWF has appointed Chris Henshaw as a director in the firm’s real estate team in Manchester, where he will use his experience in construction, infrastructure and projects to support the firm’s national client base. Chris joins the firm from Eversheds where he was a legal director in the construction and engineering team.

Chris specialises in construction procurement with a particular focus on complex waste PFI/PPP projects and in particular detailed due diligence on subcontracts for energy from waste facilities. He has advised authorities and contractors on projects across a wide range of sectors including solar, transport, social housing, education, health and waste, and has experience in advising both public and private sector developers on a range of development projects including solar installation, commercial development, higher and further education projects and engineering contracts.

He has advised on a number of high profile projects including advising Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority on all construction aspects of its circa £3.5 billion waste PFI project, the largest local government PFI in Europe; advising MWDA on all construction aspects of its £1.8 billion waste PPP project; and advising Wrexham CBC on its first multi-supplier solar farm framework procurement. Chris has also led the delivery of numerous property finance transactions both for banks and developers.

Toby Askin, national head of real estate at DWF, commented on the appointment: “We’ve made several key hires in our real estate team over the past few months as we focus on investing in the team and looking at how we can deliver even greater value to our clients. Chris brings commercial awareness, technical capability and insight into several of our target sectors that we know will be hugely beneficial to both the team in Manchester and nationally.”

Chris’ appointment is the latest in a series of high profile appointments across the firm’s national real estate team, including Abby Dry from Hill Dickinson, Chris Seel and Nicola Giddens from Stephenson Harwood and Moray Thomson from MacRoberts.

Matthew Agnew, AFC Fylde Community Foundation

A Fylde Coast community foundation has welcomed a new community sports coordinator as it continues to extend its Outreach programme throughout the borough.

UCLan graduate Matthew Agnew, 25, has joined the AFC Fylde Community Foundation following a four-year stint as a social inclusion officer and multi-sports coach at Blackburn Rovers FC.

In his new role at AFC Fylde, Matthew will coordinate all of the community foundation’s sports activities and head up its Outreach social inclusion programme at after school clubs and youth centres throughout the area.

Tom Hutton, director of community development at AFC Fylde, said: “Despite his relatively young age, Matthew brings a huge amount of experience in coaching, well-being and inclusive sports from his time at Blackburn Rovers.

“It’s rare to find someone with the right mix of experience and drive at his age so we’re very lucky to have him on board during this continued period of growth for the foundation.”

Becky Rothwell, Heather Snape, Make Events

North West event’s company Make Events have expanded their team and recruited two bright new stars, to enhance the services they currently offer to clients.

Make Events offer complete Event Planning, Design and Production for Corporate Events, Private Parties and Weddings as well as Conference and Team Building Services. Clients include Kellogg’s, Thomas Cook, Car Loan 4 U, Bet Fred and Autotrader.

Becky Rothwell has joined the team from the highly acclaimed Springbank Flowers. Three years as Chief Prop Maker, she helped the business expand and followed complex client briefs. Her magical creations ranged from stunning table centerpieces to large-scale giant room props for all types of themed and non-themed events.

Make Events have also recruited Heather Snape from Bien Venue Venue Finding Agency. With seven years experience in the Event Industry, Heather has both National and International knowledge of venues, having matched the needs of discerning clients with their perfect choice of venue all over the world.

Holly Moore, Managing Director of Make Events says, ’In the past we have concentrated our efforts mainly on the North West. Bringing someone to the team with National and International knowledge, as well as recruiting outstanding creative experts will add to our talent pool and offer far more diversity to clients. Make Events have your complete event solution in a groundbreaking one-stop shop. We are already the ‘go-to’ people in the industry and this adds another indispensible string to our ‘creative, exciting and unique’ bow.’

Paul Devitt & Richard Thomas, EY

EY has announced the appointment of two new partners to its expanding UK legal services practice. Senior corporate lawyers Paul Devitt and Richard Thomas will both be joining EY as partners from Addleshaw Goddard next year. Paul and Richard will be based in Manchester and EY intends to grow a team around them. These latest hires follow a number of recent appointments to EY’s UK legal services business. Since acquiring an ABS licence in December, the team has grown to over 25 people and is set to expand further over the next two years. Commenting on the appointments, Philip Goodstone, head of EY’s legal services practice in the UK said: “This is a really exciting time to be joining EY. As we continue to grow our legal services practice, we remain focussed on finding the best talent and I’m confident that Paul and Richard will be fantastic additions to the team. They are both exceptional lawyers with outstanding reputations in both the North West and the UK more widely.” Simon Allport, EY’s North West senior partner added: “The North West is a strategically important market for EY and we remain focused on continuing to invest in the region. This includes developing our legal services business here, and Paul and Richard’s experience will be vital in helping our clients to thrive and supporting our growth ambitions in the North West.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .