Housebuilder Bellway has appointed Joward Martin as finance director of its North East division.
Mr Martin is based at the firm’s regional head office in Gateshead and has worked for eight years within Bellway Group, having started as a financial planning and analyst accountant. He said: “I will be responsible for managing the finances of the division which involves ensuring compliance with accounting standards and internal policies, cash management and the creation of a three-year business plan to help take us forward on a sound financial footing. It is a very challenging role but it is one that I am delighted to be able to take on to allow Bellway North East to expand its portfolio in the region and to continue building top quality homes.”
Emma Chesterton, sales director at Bellway North East, said: “It is great to be able to welcome Joward on board with the team here at Gateshead. It is always gratifying to see an internal promotion such as this because it illustrates the career progression that is open to employees at Bellway and is just reward for Joward’s sterling work with the company so far.”
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Tyneside subsea engineering firm Soil Machine Dynamics (SMD) has recruited 14 new members of staff including three engineers, three managers, two coordinators, four apprentices and a field services technician.
The appointments include senior development engineer Kathryn Mage and associate tender engineer Aaliyah Malek. Meanwhile Elliott Clark, Joe Blades and Robbie Moore have all joined the company as technican production apprentices.Their new roles provide an opportunity to earn a Level Three qualification in Manufacturing Engineering with Tyne North Training, while also gaining practical, hands-on experience alongside the highly skilled team at SMD. Tom Beezer has joined as a commissioning apprentice in partnership with Port of Tyne, and will be working towards a degree in engineering.
Julie Nicholson has joined as HR manager and Nicola Short has stepped in as marketing manager to cover maternity leave. Mike Jones, chairman at SMD, said: “It’s a pleasure to welcome fresh talent here at SMD. We recognise that our team is invaluable in maintaining our status as industry leaders and our strong company culture reflects this. Our pioneering engineers help us to harness the potential from the most challenging subsea environments and in light of exciting market developments, now is a perfect time to join us.”
The Materials Processing Institute has appointed Diana Mehta as group manager for the circular economy.
Ms Mehta joins the Middlesbrough-based Institute from former start-up Britishvolt where she was a principal scientist, leading an 11-strong research, innovation and materials team, focusing on battery technology for applications in electric vehicles. As group manager for the circular economy, she will lead the development of innovations that maximise resource efficiency through manufacturing and process optimisation.
After gaining a PhD in chemistry at Loughborough University, Ms Mehta has worked at Johnson Matthey as a senior scientist responsible for the scale-up of new battery material products. She said: “I look forward to using my experience in scientific research, the development of low carbon technologies and leading projects from conception in the laboratory through to scale-up to support and implement the Institute’s strategy within the field of circular economy.”
TV and film industry champion North East Screen has appointed Lisa Davidson as skills manager.
With a background as an art director and production designer, Ms Davidson has worked on high profile TV programmes such as Coronation Street, Heartbeat and local productions including The Dumping Ground and Wolfblood.
She said: “Working as a freelancer I’ve been offered work in Liverpool, Manchester, London, Cypress and even the Caribbean but now that I have a family I’m firmly rooted in the North East. Working at North East Screen gives me the opportunity to still work in the industry, be with my children and help crew get work and develop talent in the North East. It’s important that people in the region can have a chance of working in this industry but not having to move away from home.”
The skills manager position was created to develop North East Screen’s Crew Academy, grow the existing crew database and create trainee and shadowing opportunities on productions through North East Screen’s Access initiative.
DPP Planning has promoted Lauren Hunter to senior planner within its Newcastle office.
Ms Hunter joined DPP in January 2017 on a work placement while at Newcastle University. She became assistant planner shortly afterwards and over the last six years has worked across residential, schools and university projects.
Ms Hunter said: "One of the things that attracted me to DPP was its commitment to personal and professional development, which I have benefited from. I have been involved in some high quality and important projects, which has had the added benefit of helping my career and to achieve my second promotion in six years.”
Gareth Hooper, DPP’s chief executive, said: "We believe in rewarding talent at DPP, and this is reflected by the promotion of Lauren in our Newcastle office."
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