Multi-award-winning engineering consultancy Will Rudd Davidson has recruited six new team members and promoted three existing team members to service its growth in client work. The six new appointments to bolster the team include Victoria Tinney as senior engineer, Alasdair MacPhee and Jennifer Davies as project engineers, and three new graduate engineers Graeme Thorpe, Amy Lillico and Matthew Pieroni. Three promotions have also been awarded at the consultancy, with Andrew Yule now a senior engineer team leader; Darren Tannock becoming a senior engineer and Lee Guthrie stepping up to project engineer level. The appointments come after Will Rudd Davidson announced a positive start to 2021, in part thanks to contracts from three major projects within Glasgow totalling close to £125 million. “We are really pleased to welcome this new talent on board to our Glasgow team. They all complement our existing work across a diverse range of sectors, and our ambition to expand on our work within the energy sector, particularly in the creation of renewable energy parks in the UK,” said MJ O’Shaughnessy, managing director, Will Rudd Davidson Glasgow. “I am also incredibly proud of our newly promoted team members and all three thoroughly deserve to make the step up. I know they will quickly adapt to their new responsibilities and I look forward to supporting their career development. “The new and promoted team members will begin working on a wide range of challenging projects across the UK, including several tall buildings in London and Scotland, and large scale residential projects across the UK.”

The Faculty of Construction Crafts at Leeds College of Building recently held its first-ever Institute of Carpenters (IOC) City Hub Event. The virtual session exposed students to the varied career opportunities available to qualified carpenters and joiners. Using Microsoft Teams, the College’s Level 2 Bench Joinery & Shopfitting group met industry innovators and heard from employers about the latest techniques and materials. Speakers included representatives from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), Historic England, Structural Timber Association (STA), MEDITE SMARTPLY, IOC, Trussed Rafter Association, and Timber Trade Federation (TTF). The event kicked off with a welcome by Derek Whitehead, Leeds College of Building Principal, and an introduction by Geoff Rhodes, IOC President. This was followed by a range of 20-minute seminars from other carpentry and manufacturing experts. Programme topics covered: national career opportunities in the construction-related sector; specialist handcraft-skills; working as a builder in the heritage sector; the Housing and roofing sector and innovative new materials; ground-breaking MDF and OSB panel products; sustainability, renewables and certification; and TTF statistics covering the scale of the global timber industry. This virtual event is just one of the latest IOC enhancements to the student experience at Leeds College of Building. Through the partnership, Carpentry and Joinery students now have free membership to the IOC. The affiliation lasts for the duration of their studies and for a year after graduation. The IOC showcases the industry as a modern and exciting route into trades. It supports innovative new construction methods, including research into waterproof timber structure at a molecular level. Geoff Rhodes, IOC President, said: “For two years now, we have been developing and rolling out our national programme of IOC City Hub meetings with FE colleges across the UK in order to add meaningful value to the learning experience of all student learners. The partnership with Leeds College of Building is another great example of seeing this reality in action.” Derek Whitehead, Leeds College of Building Principal, said: “Leeds College of Building was delighted to host this first virtual IOC City Hub; our students greatly benefitted from the collective knowledge shared by all the industry experts who contributed. The students gave very positive feedback about the training session, as did the presenters who benefitted from networking themselves. I’d like to express enormous appreciation to the IOC for creating this initiative and the fantastic support shown to the College. We look forward to more initiatives like this in the future.” Michael Martin, Leeds College of Building Curriculum Manager added: “I’m thrilled this event came to fruition after nearly a year of planning and being stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. What was meant to be a fair of industry stallholders and specialist seminars instead became a virtual event of experts across diverse fields.  “This event was a fantastic opportunity for our learners to find out more about the wider industry and global career opportunities before they progress to Level 3 in September. We now have solid foundations to build upon and next year we intend to have a face-to-face event. The hope is to bring carpentry and joinery professionals together with the next generation of craftspeople.”

DMWR Architects has made two senior promotions and a new appointment within the Practice. Paolo Di Gennaro, who is based in the London office and Chris Lenehan, based in the DMWR Manchester office, have both been promoted to Director. In addition, Adam Blacker has been appointed to the role of Director.  Paolo joined DMWR London in January 2014 as an Associate Director. His promotion is in recognition of his consistent success in delivering successful projects and his contribution to the growth of the Group over the past seven years. Chris joined the Manchester office in 2019 as Associate Director and in the past two years his commitment and dedication continues to help successfully grow and expand the Manchester office.  Adam is a Design Architect with over 25 years’ experience, having previously worked for BDP and Benoy. He will be heading up and growing the design side of DMWR across the Group. Adam will be based in the London office. “It is wonderful to announce the promotions of both Paolo and Chris in recognition of the hard work and commitment they have both made to the Practice. We are also delighted to welcome Adam to the Practice. His wealth of experience will help us continue to grow the design side of the Group,” said Barry Harper-Smith, Managing Director of DMWR Architects. “It’s a very exciting time for DMWR and these three Directors will further strengthen the existing senior management team and will continue to drive the success of the business. With these three positions and the pipeline of new business, the future for DMWR is certainly looking very bright.” DMWR Architects is an international award winning RIBA Chartered Practice employing over 55 staff with offices in London, Manchester and Hertfordshire. Established in 1963 the Practice, alongside its parent company CHQ Group, specialises across many sectors including residential, student accommodation, retail, commercial, healthcare, leisure and international projects.

Gleeds, the leading construction and property consultants, has appointed Justin Moore as its Project Director for Wales. Justin has worked in construction for nearly 25 years, initially with Carillion as an operations manager and then Bouygues UK, where he worked in numerous roles, including Wales regional operations director. In his role at Bouygues UK, Justin oversaw the building of many of Wales’ most innovative education buildings. These include the award-winning Penarth Learning Community in the Vale of Glamorgan and Cardiff University’s state of the art Innovation Campus, which will house the world’s first social science research park and start up hub, as well as two world-leading scientific research organisations – the Institute for Compound Semi-Conductors and the Cardiff Catalysis Institute. “Having worked with major contractors for most of my career, I am really looking forward to the challenge of working on the project management and consultancy side of construction projects,” said Justin. “Seeing education projects come to fruition has always been one of the parts of the job I have really enjoyed – being able to see the building come to life, handed over and be used day in day out by students and teachers. So, I am looking forward to the change of working on projects from day one, from scoping out a building to its design, managing costs and its construction, and then onto the completed, working building.” Justin, an active member of the CBI in Wales, has joined Gleeds to lead on all education projects in Wales, building on his expertise in the education field to further develop the company’s offering in this market. “One of my biggest passions is around social value and how construction companies can improve how they work within local communities. There’s such a huge opportunity for these businesses to integrate themselves into the communities where they operate and I am keen to take what I have learned in the past ten years around social value and bring it into my consultancy role,” added Justin. Gleeds’ Regional Director Simon Williams also commented on Justin’s appointment: “Getting Justin to join the Gleeds team is a real coup for us. His reputation in Wales is second to none and we are really pleased that he has decided to make the leap into construction consultancy with Gleeds. “His knowledge of the contractor landscape, particularly in education, is unparalleled as he has worked in this sector on some very challenging builds for many years, so we are looking forward to working with him to build our education client portfolio and make Gleeds the go-to consultant for education projects in the region.”

Mansfield based Rippon Homes has expanded its marketing team with two new recruits to accommodate its rapidly increasing number of developments across the Midlands. With more than three decades experience in the new homes industry, Leicestershire based Julie Johnson brings plenty of expertise to Rippon in her position as Sales and Marketing Manager. “I really like that in my role I get to wear many different hats – I can be looking at a piece of land one day, designing show homes the next, and helping a customer the following day. Between the close-knit team and the fact that these are lovely people to work with, it feels more like a family than a job.” “Having known about Rippon Homes for many years and knowing their passion for handing over quality homes, I felt Rippon was the best place for me to bring my knowledge and skills to help grow the business. It’s been a challenge this year with the Coronavirus outbreak affecting everyone, but we’ve continued to make sure our customers are well looked after and able to move into their lovely new homes.  “My focus, along with my teams, is to ensure the customer journey is as smooth as it can be as we grow the business. I’m very much looking forward to watching the business go from strength to strength as our team grows.” Mansfield based Louise Dickenson also brings plenty of experience in the new homes sector, and agrees that a great team makes all the difference when it comes to work.  “I worked for Julie many years ago, so when I saw she was advertising for a Sales Coordinator, I jumped at the opportunity to join her at Rippon.”   Housebuilding is a change of scenery from Louise’s most recent role as a New Build Conveyancing Assistant at a law firm, but is an arena she’s familiar with having worked in various roles in the property industry since 2002.  “I have known for a long time that I wanted to get back into the new build industry so I didn’t think twice about applying. My previous role also provides me with many transferable skills which will come in very useful in helping Julie grow the business. I’m really enjoying learning something completely new, supporting the Sales Manager and it’s great being a part of the growth of the business. I look forward to progressing in my role and developing my career with Rippon.”  Ian Dyke, Managing Director of Rippon Home added, “It’s fantastic to have these highly qualified members on the marketing team. They’ve already made an impact on the business, and I expect they’ll continue to make their mark and grow within the company.”