Law firm Howard Kennedy has hired new partner Martha Grekos to strengthen its Real Estate team. Grekos joined the business as a Partner and Head of Planning from Irwin Mitchell earlier in the week, where she previously led its infrastructure and planning team. She has also previously worked at Berwin Leighton Paisner, Herbert Smith and Eversheds. She has consistently been ranked as one of the UK’s leading lawyers by Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500 and Planning Magazine, and will bring to Howard Kennedy expertise in all areas of environmental law, energy, transport and infrastructure work. Grekos has a particular focus on the implementation and promotion of large complex regeneration projects and large infrastructure schemes. Included in her work are redevelopment projects which are often politically sensitive and involve considerable environmental impact assessments, compulsory purchase orders, planning agreements, highway orders and appeal court proceedings. Grekos commented: “Howard Kennedy is an entrepreneurial law firm that collaborates with its clients to deliver a commercial outcome. “Its 84-strong Real Estate department is behind some of the most exciting commercial, retail, leisure, residential and mixed use regeneration schemes in London and the South East, and I am thrilled to be leading its expanding planning team.” Meanwhile, Partner and Chairman of the Real Estate department at Howard Kennedy, Julian Hindmarsh, said: “We are delighted with Martha’s decision to lead our Planning team.  She has a first rate track record, acting on major development and infrastructure schemes across the country.  She will be a terrific asset to the firm and our clients.” Last month, Irwin Mitchell lost another four partners from its London real estate practice, all of whom defected to Dentons. London real estate head Rob Thompson joined Dentons with partners Lewis Myers, Rupert Dowdell and head of corporate real estate Jayne Schnider, while Grekos moved to Howard Kennedy at the same time.

National accountancy firm Danbro has appointed a new Director of Employment Services, as the company targets growth in the construction sector. James Burrows was previously a client of Danbro and has joined the Lytham based company to help grow part of the business, which offers Employment (Umbrella) services to contractors, outsourced payroll solutions to businesses, and a CIS (Construction Industry Scheme) offering to sub-contractors. Burrows has 10 years of experience in the construction industry and is well positioned to lead the division of the company that is targeting the construction sector. Burrows commented: “I’ve been self-employed and I’ve worked in a variety of roles across the construction sector. I understand how the sector operates and I’ll be working with my team to develop a suite of solutions for contractors, subcontractors and recruitment agencies.” Over the last few years, legislation governing self-employment and temporary workers has undergone significant change and will continue to do so. This is something Burrows is aware of and he acknowledged that the firm must adapt quickly and compliantly to continue its sustainable growth. He continued: “I believe that, when recruiting temporary workers and flexible labour, the end client still has a duty of care to ensure  they are not only treated in the right way, but their pay is also correctly administered.” Burrows originated in Derby before studying Mathematics at Nottingham University and initially turned down an accountancy career in favour of joining construction giant Balfour Beatty. He spent eight years with the firm setting up a training business, managing group-wide strategic projects, mobilising global initiatives and leading the rollout of a new operating model. In more recent times, he ran his own strategic consultancy firm, which primarily targeted clients in the construction and engineering sector. In this time he turned to Danbro for expert advice and online account management.

Nine contractors have scooped £500 million on the Cambridge University framework scheme, as part of the university’s current £600 million capital building project. SDC, RG Carter, Quinn, Laing O’Rourke, Kier, Conamar, Bouygues, Bam and Balfour Beatty have all secured places on the framework, which will last for two years, with the potential for a further three year extension. The agreement has an overall value of £500 million. The framework is broken down into three value bands: lot one, for projects ranging between £250,000 and £5m; lot two, for jobs in the £5m-£30m bracket; and lot three, for work valued at £30m-plus. On the first lot, places have gone to SDC, RG Carter, Quinn, Kier and Conamar, while Barnes and Ashe Construction have been chosen as reserves. SDC, RG Carter and Kier will deliver projects ranging from £5 million to £30 million in the second lot, while M+W Group, ISG, Bam Construct and Balfour Beatty have been named as reserves. On the final lot, places have gone to Laing O’Rourke, Kier, Bouygues, Bam Construct and Balfour Beatty, who will deliver projects worth over £30 million. Included in the framework is the construction of new laboratories, libraries and lecture spaces as well as work on accommodation, catering and sports facilities and conservation areas and listed buildings. Mark Dady, Kier Construction Easter Managing Director, said that the group was “extremely pleased” to have been awarded a place on the framework. Dady added: “We have an excellent working relationship with the university and are looking forward to the next phase of work with them.” Meanwhile, the construction arm of Bedfordshire-headquartered Kier Group has been awarded three major construction frameworks totalling more than £5bn. The listed company said the frameworks, which have been secured since its trading update on 4 July 2016, provide a long-term pipeline of potential contract awards.

The former boss of the Dunne Group has secured the MD role at the new Keltbray Structures business. The new reinforced concrete frame business was launched by Keltbray after it acquired some of the assets from the dissolved Dunne Group. The Keltbray Structures business is hoped to “complement and expand” the existing portfolio of the group, according to Brendan Kerr, Keltbray Chief Executive. The new venture will see John Price, Keltbray Managing Director, become Chief Executive of Keltbray Structures, while Dunne Group boss Gordon Dunne will support Mr Price as the new MD of the company. Andy McClafferty, Keltbray Demolition & Civil Engineering deputy managing director, will become the new chief operating officer of the group. Kerr commented: “Prior to going into administration, Dunne Group was a leading company in its field and enjoyed a strong reputation as a reinforced concrete frame specialist contractor. “We believe that Keltbray will benefit from tapping into their capability and this acquisition of some of their assets.” Kerr believes that with the financial resources behind it, there is significant scope for increasing the service offering and business profitability through the development, which will give them an increased geographical outreach to other parts of the country, particularly Scotland. Last week, Keltbray completed the acquisition of some of Dunne’s assets from the administrators FRM Advisory after the latter went into administration in July. Included in the purchase was Dunne’s former yard and head office at Bathgate in Scotland, along with a plant used for the construction of reinforced concrete structures. Keltbray has not taken over Dunne Group as a going concern, or taken on any of its former contracts with clients, by acquiring some of the Dunne Group assets. Earlier in the month, Keltbray saved 400 jobs by purchasing the Dunne Group’s assets after the concrete frame contractor’s collapse.

The Building Services Summit 2016 has announced new speakers after it was launched by three industry leading services trade associations – the Electrical Contractors Association (ECA), the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) and the Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA). The Building Service Summit will take place on November 23 this year at London’s British Library and has been organized by BCIA, BESA and ECA members, giving everyone the chance to share their ideas by taking part in the informative and lively discussions that are set to take place. Among the speakers is Roy Evans of the Cabinet Office, who leads on Government Soft Landings (GSL), an objective of the governments 2016-2020 Construction Strategy. Evans will be joined by Dr Karon Buck, who is the founding principal of Medway UTC, which is a new school for students aged between 14 and 19 from Medway and the surrounding areas. The speakers’ panel will also feature Dr Susan Scurlock who founded primary engineer in response to the government calling for more young people to be attracted into the engineering profession just over a decade ago. Among the other industry experts who will join the debate will be Stephen Hill an associate and building performance engineer for Arup, David Frise, Head of Sustainability for BESA, Graham Wright, legislation specialist of Daikin and president of FETA and Bill Wright of ECA, an independent consultant on energy, control and sustainability matters. The event will be discussing topical questions including: Is the process of construction broken? Do building regulations stifle innovation? Why aren’t clients using the technological tools that are available? What are the alternatives to the current process of construction? BCIA President, Malcolm Anson, commented: “We have assembled some of the world’s most qualified experts to speak about how building engineering services can operate as efficiently and effectively to reshape the future of our buildings.”

Scape Group has confirmed that the Perfect Circle consortium has been appointed to its £350 million consultancy framework. The consortium consists of Pick Everard, Gleeds and Aecom and is the first time the procurement body has chosen a joint venture. Over four years the deal will be worth £350 million, with the Built Environment Consultancy Services framework providing consultancy services to the public sector. The new framework will bring together the range of services available under the two existing frameworks of Scape: the National Project Management and Quantity Surveying framework; and the National Asset Management, Surveying & Design Services framework. Scape said that the decision to merge the two frameworks was because of a series of challenges that the industry is currently facing. The company said: “[These] include a shortage of internal industry specialists and an increased demand for consultancy expertise against a backdrop of sustained budgetary challenges.” The consortium will be supported by around 150 SMEs as supply chain partners. Mark Robinson, Chief Executive of Scape said that every day its public sector clients have to balance the two competing forces of rising services demand from a growing population, along with diminishing internal resources. Robinson added: “In the current uncertain economic climate, rapid appointment, access to the right skills and advice to get the best from the public estate will be absolutely critical, which is why we have created this new all-encompassing framework, which has been uniquely designed to deliver exceptional results to our public sector colleagues.” The Perfect Circle consortium fought off competition from a consortium of Grant Thornton, Faithful & Gould, Bilfinger GVA and Arcadis as well as individual bids from Turner & Townsend and Mace. Robinson explained that the battle was close, which saw Scape extend its 10 day stand still period to feed back in depth to the unsuccessful bidders.

Regional construction contractor Beard has recruited a new managing director from VolkerFitzpatrick, Mr David Sershall. Sershall will take over the post from Mark Beard who will now become the company’s Executive Chairman. The former VolkerFitzpatrick Building Division Managing Director will now join the family owned Beard business where he will have overall responsibility for quality across the business. He will also lead Beard’s Oxford construction business at the end of next month after Regional Director John Youle has stepped down from his post. The incoming Managing Director said that Beard is a successful, well regarded and innovative construction firm which has built its success on a talented pool of people who are committed to faultless and prompt delivery of projects. Sershall continued: “I believe there’s a great opportunity to capitalise on the company’s strong reputation in both the private and public sectors and I am excited to be in a position to help deliver the next part of its growth plans across the south of England.” Meanwhile, Mark Beard expressed his delight at the appointment of Sershall who he believes will be a great fit for the business and is someone they are pleased to have as part of the company. Beard added: “He brings a wealth of operational management expertise to Beard, an in-depth knowledge of design management and significant experience delivering complex multi-million-pound construction projects.” He believes that Sershall shares the company’s passion for quality and is confident that he will make a positive contribution to the company’s continues development and success. Sershall is a member of the Institute of Directors and the Chartered Institute of Building, while he also has degrees in architecture and building management, along with an MSc in Construction Project Management. Earlier in the week, Beard said goodbye to project manager Bob Fay who had spent 40 years with the firm.