Here are the latest spring movers and shakers from across the East Midlands:
ProCon Leicestershire
Leicester architect Sarah Grocock has been appointed as the chair of Emerging Talent, the ProCon Leicestershire group for young and new professionals in property and construction.
Sarah has been attending Emerging Talent events since the group formed in 2017 and will now lead its steering committee as it plans a year of social and professional events.
A De Montfort University graduate, Sarah has been working at the Leicester office of the architectural business rg+p for almost a decade and is now a team leader at the practice’s Princess Road West offices.
Sarah said: “Emerging Talent is a great way to get to know people of a similar age and at a similar stage of your career.
“I would recommend anyone at the outset of their career to take a look at our group, say hello and join in.
“It is nice being part of the group and being in a position to help other people in our sector and encourage them to progress.
“It’s also great to mix with and get to know people from across the professions, including architects, contractors, quantity surveyors, solicitors, agents and those from the public sector.
“It’s good to get to know people on a social level and find out more about what role they play, and it is also useful when you work with them on projects.”
Events in the pipeline for 2022 include a bowling night, a quiz and a masterclass given by a senior professional in property or construction.
Jennie Holland PR
Digital PR firm Jennie Holland PR has appointed Navkiran Bains to its team as senior social media executive.
Navkiran joins the agency as it welcomes new clients in the travel and property sectors to provide digital PR, social media and influencer marketing services. They include holiday company The Perfect Break, which provides value UK holidays for adults.
Expanding on the agency’s extensive experience within the property and construction sector, the team has also been appointed to provide PR and social media services to chartered quantity surveyor and project management company Addison Hunt, in Loughborough, and Sherwood Oak Homes.
Navkiran, from Derbyshire, is a social media content and engagement specialist and will be leading the social media strategy and execution for a number of clients across the agency.
UK Flooring Direct
A Midlands-based national flooring company has appointed Faye Summers as its new HR director.
Faye joined UK Flooring Direct in 2018 as head of HR and people and has been an integral part of the company’s growth over the past four years.
She also helped oversee UK Flooring Direct’s Covid-19 response, helping members of the office team to work from home and making the warehouse environment Covid-safe for staff.
Her appointment is the latest promotion from within as part of a focus for the company to grow and develop its own talent.
Faye joined the online company, which sells flooring including real wood, laminate and vinyl and has based in Hinckley and Coventry, after rising through the ranks at Phones 4u in a HR capacity.
Part of her new role will be to continue to develop the culture at UK Flooring Direct with a particular focus on personal development and wellbeing for staff as well as creating even stronger community and charity links.
She said: “I am delighted to move into the role as HR director.
“This is a fast-paced business and we’ve achieved a great deal in the past few years, especially when you consider we were faced with the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Moving into this new role will really help me build on the success we’ve achieved of making UK Flooring Direct a great place to work and a key contributor to the local community.”
Jason Ashby, who established UK Flooring Direct in 2005, said Faye’s promotion showed the opportunities for progress within the business.
He said: “Faye has been a major part of our success over the past four years and we are very pleased to promote her to HR director to continue to place our people at the heart of what we do.
“We want people to be able to develop and grow with us and Faye is a perfect example of that. Now, in her role, she will be helping other members of the UK Flooring Direct team to do the same.”
Notts County Foundation
The Notts County Foundation has appointed Raj Randhawa to its board of trustees.
Raj, who has a passion for using the power of football to drive positive social change, started his career as an education officer at the Newcastle United academy, before becoming head of community at the Lincoln City Foundation in October 2017.
Raj currently holds the position of northern grassroots officer at Kick It Out – English football’s leading equality and inclusion organisation, where he works alongside the FA to identify and support the needs of local clubs.
He said: “I am delighted to have joined Notts County Foundation’s board of trustees at what is a really exciting period of growth for the charity.
“Football is a vehicle for change and can be used to positively impact the lives of people from all walks of life.
“My belief is that community club organisations play an invaluable part in transforming local communities, and I look forward to supporting the direction and development of Notts County Foundation’s programmes across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire.
“I am so proud of the work that Notts County Foundation do for all throughout the city and county across its five ‘SHINE’ areas – sport participation, health and wellbeing, inclusion, national citizen service, and education.
“Having dedicated a large portion of my career to working for community-focussed organisations and charities, I appreciate and understand how valuable charities like Notts County Foundation are.”
PermaGroup
Specialist building products PermaGroup has expanded its team as part of its ambitious growth strategy.
The Derbyshire building products specialist is recruiting across several divisions, from accounts and customer service to operations and commercial, following a year that saw demand soar for building products.
The company has taken on a range of experts to fill new and existing positions at the head office in Alfreton.
These include customer service advisor Neiah Slater, operations manager Lee Bingham, telephonist Charlotte Caddick, and technical manager Rob Hunt.
The expansion of the team comes off the back of two consecutive record years for PermaGroup.
Managing director Adrian Buttress said: “We’re proud to be starting the new year with such strong additions to the PermaGroup team.
“Our priority is to ensure we hire the right people for the role that are not just experts in what they do but are passionate about what we offer.
“The latest people to join PermaGroup exemplify our company culture and I’m thrilled to welcome them to the team.
“We’ve really focused on what areas of the business we can improve with regards to recruitment. For example, taking on extra support in customer service was essential to enhance our customers’ buying journeys, and Lee joining as operations manager ensures the efficient delivery of our products.
“Our goal is to maintain quality as we expand, and not lose the fantastic experience we offer customers, merchants and stockists from start to finish.
Link ICT
Derby-based ICT provider Link ICT has strengthened its technical team following the appointment of Max Briggs as an IT Technician.
Max will join an expanding team of on-site and remote experts who deliver IT advice, training and IT support for clients to schools and businesses.
Managing director Mark Fryers said: “Max has already shown great promise and based on feedback so far from clients he is settling in well and already becoming part of the onsite team at clients.”
Max’s first job was working at Currys PC World where he gained customer service skills and knowledge about the latest tech and equipment. Prior to joining Link ICT he worked in a similar environment supporting schools and businesses with IT advice and maintenance.
He said: “All schools and businesses have different IT infrastructures that quite rightly are designed according to what works best for them.
“What I like best about Link ICT is that they really understand this ethos and are willing to be flexible and adopt a customer-focused approach to how they go about resolving issues.
“They are really committed to ensuring users understand the technology they have available so that the organisation can operate efficiently and productively.
“Whilst at first it took a little time to adjust to new systems or processes, get up to speed with the different equipment and understand how each client set up operates – I’ve found that this is building up my experience which is something I wanted from my new role.”
FRP Corporate Finance
FRP Corporate Finance has continued to grow its footprint in the East Midlands with the appointment of Oliver Taylor as associate director working from its Leicester and Nottingham offices.
With eight years’ experience in the financial services industry, Oliver began his career in corporate foreign exchange, advising on and managing the delivery of funds to a global client base.
He joins FRP from a boutique advisory firm, where he provided corporate finance advisory to organisations across a range of industries.
That included roles working on the sale of a national healthcare telecommunications provider to an industry consolidator, the sale of a specialist offshore energy infrastructure maintenance business and the cross-border sale of a marine services business to a Finnish technology group.
Oliver joins the 16-strong East Midlands practice and will also support FRP Corporate Finance’s national office network to deliver services in areas such as mergers and acquisitions, management buy-outs, strategic reviews and fundraising.
Oliver’s appointment comes amid a strong period of activity for FRP’s East Midlands Corporate Finance team.
In 2021, the team closed 10 deals, including the sale of Leicester-based paneer manufacturer Everest Dairies to Vibrant Foods; the sale of facilities management business SMS to an employee ownership trust and the cross-border acquisition of Aqualla Brassware by FM Mattsson Mora Group AB.
FRP’s national corporate finance team completed more than 100 deals with a combined value in excess of £2.5 billion during the same period.
In January, the East Midlands team advised Kartell UK Limited – one of the largest and fastest-growing suppliers of heating and bathroom products to the independent merchant and showroom sector in the UK – on its multi-million-pound acquisition of kitchen and bathroom furniture manufacturer Summerbridge Doors.
Duncan & Toplis
One of the biggest accounting and business advisers in the East Midlands, Duncan & Toplis has appointed James Goodrich as a new account manager, seven years after his first role with the company.
James rejoins Duncan & Toplis after three years as a financial management accountant at Queensgate Financial Management and, prior to that, working as a certified management accountant at Vertu Motors.
James said: “Duncan & Toplis is a great company and it feels good to be back, although with far more experience and expertise than before.
“I’m going to be working with a selection of companies across the East Midlands to help them achieve their goals, grow their businesses as we all move forward from the tough years of the pandemic.
“I’m looking forward to working with some great clients that can really benefit from my financial expertise and advice so they can move forward and thrive.”
Although James will be based at the company’s Lincoln office, he will support organisations across the East Midlands and will be working closely with Duncan & Toplis director Damon Brain.
Tritax Symmetry
Logistics property developer Tritax Symmetry is continuing to expand its team with the senior appointment of Alastair Patrick as the company’s marketing director.
Alastair has in-depth marketing experience working across a range of categories on leading brands including Diageo, British American Tobacco and Coca-Cola.
He will head up the development of Northampton-based Tritax Symmetry’s marketing strategy, driving an occupier-orientated approach to grow its market share.
He said “Over my 20-year career, I have developed a specialism in brand development, setting marketing strategies that connect with customers to deliver strong revenue growth.
“I’m thrilled to be working with Tritax Symmetry in this newly created role and utilising my broad experience to take the brand to its full potential.”
Christian Matthews, director at Tritax Symmetry, said: “In response to the strong and enduring occupier demand being experienced we are now accelerating our development programme.
“Work is underway on a speculative development programme of over 2.4 million sq ft of space over the next 12 months, for which Alastair’s expertise will be invaluable and we look forward to working with him to further communicate our values and capability to the market.”
