A BUSINESSiQ round-up of the key moves at influential companies around the North East - who’s in and who’s out

 

Able

 

Lyn Charters, who began her career as an engineer and subsequently moved into the legal profession, has been appointed as the Able Group’s new Group Legal Director and Company Secretary.

Lyn joins the Teesside-based group from Keepmoat Homes where she held the post of General Counsel and Company Secretary.

In her early career Lyn, who graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree (Hons) from the University of Leeds, worked as a chartered engineer with Carl Bro Grontmij (now Sweco), involved in national and international projects before qualifying as a solicitor with Squire Patton Boggs LLP in its real estate practice.

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Lyn has a demonstrated history of working in-house and has a broad range of expertise across real estate, construction, contract/commercial law, corporate governance and compliance matters.

Says Lyn “I am delighted to be joining a Northern-based company which is widely recognised as an international leader across a range of activities, including marine recycling, land development, oil and gas rig maintenance and the rapidly growing green energy industries, including providing offshore wind facilities at sites on Teesside and the Humber.

“I look forward to playing a part in the Group’s continuing growth.”

Adds Able Executive Chairman Peter Stephenson “Lyn brings to the role of Group Legal Director, an impressive legal track record which, coupled with her engineering background, provides an important understanding of the sectors in which we operate.”

Morgan Sindall

 

Morgan Sindall Construction has affirmed its commitment to the Yorkshire and North East regions with the appointment of two new regional directors.

Ben Hall is the new area director for Yorkshire, while Alex Isted assumes the same responsibility for the company’s new North East operation – which will also incorporate Cumbria - with a new office in the region set to be announced.

Alex has been with Morgan Sindall Construction since 2009 and moves to his new position from his previous role of Integrated Strategic Business director, where his responsibilities included overseeing activities related to investment, frameworks, digital construction and social value and environmental initiatives.

In his new position, Alex will ensure the company’s North East operation is able to replicate the Yorkshire team’s success in recent years of delivering landmark projects across the public and private sectors while simultaneously bringing economic and social boosts to the communities in which it works. It is anticipated the office will create more than 25 jobs – both office and site based – to support the North East’s team growing pipeline of projects.

Both Alex and Ben will report to Managing Director for Yorkshire and the North East, Andy Hall.

Banks Group

 

North East property, renewable energy and minerals firm The Banks Group is continuing to invest in its workforce by taking five new recruits onto its graduate training programme.

Nathanael Cutts, Kieran Feeney, Sisi Spasova, James Thompson and Katie Walvin have taken on a range of different roles with the family firm, including energy systems within Renewables, development planning, surveying and communications, and are based across Banks’ Durham and Leeds offices.

After completing an initial induction day, each one has now started on a comprehensive 18-month training programme which offers them support in building the key vocational, technical and professional skills needed for their respective roles, as well as opportunities to gain hands-on experience on live projects and evolving plans.

razorblue

 

An IT service provider which works with over 500 companies across the UK has appointed a new Finance Director, tasked with continuing to steer the company on its exceptional growth course.
North East headquartered razorblue, which boasts seven offices and completed its second acquisition in as many years in 2021 has welcomed Elizabeth Swan, a chartered accountant with over 20 years’ industry experience, to manage its finance department and also brings another female face to the company’s board.

Elizabeth said: “Having worked in larger corporates, the experience I can bring is applying the knowledge of how finance operates in larger companies and employing those best practices here.
“razorblue has grown rapidly and there are lots of projects we can undertake to ensure our finance systems are equipped to deal with that growth in terms of making financial processes more efficient, quicker and with less manual processing. Having experience of delivering finance projects will be invaluable towards making those improvements.”
Women make up only 16% of IT professionals in the UK, but razorblue’s workforce is made up of 24% females, significantly beating the industry average. Over a third of these are in managerial or director roles.
Dan Kitchen, CEO of Razorblue Group said: “It’s great to have Elizabeth as part of the team, and her extensive knowledge and experience will be invaluable. Strategy is important to us, and her background means that she is well equipped to work with our team to deliver continued growth and success.”
razorblue now has a headcount exceeding 160, with plans to recruit over 25 additional team members in the next 12 months to support its plans to continue expanding its nationwide coverage and adding more products and services to the current offering.
razorblue specialises in managed IT, security services, super-fast connectivity, cloud and hosting and business software solutions across a broad range of industries.

UKSE

 

Sharon Turley has joined the UKSE team at its Innovation Centre in Redcar to help support the 50 new and growing businesses based there.
Sharon, who lives in Middlesbrough with her family, brings wide experience in administration and as a receptionist to her new role as Administrator with UKSE, the Tata Steel business-support subsidiary.
Her previous experience includes nine years with Npower in customer services, working with Barchester Healthcare, at a private housing association and as a personal assistant at James Cook Hospital.
She also found time, whilst working and through the difficulties caused by Covid, to complete a psychology and counselling degree at Teesside University.
“I am already thoroughly enjoying being at the Innovation Centre and working as part of the UKSE regional team,” she said.
“No two days are the same and supporting businesses operating in so many different areas is really interesting and rewarding.”
The Innovation Centre on Redcar’s Kirkleatham Business Park was purpose built in 2000 with a multi million pound extension added to meet growing demand and has a sister Centre in Hartlepool. Tenants benefit from a range of office and workshops costing from as little as £50 per week and facilities that include fully equipped meeting rooms, high speed broadband, free parking, a manned reception and an on-site gym.
Sarah Thorpe, Regional Manager, said: “UKSE supports new and expanding businesses in steel areas with finance and high-quality business premises. The administrators based at our two Innovation Centres in Hartlepool and Redcar play an important part in the help we provide.
“We are delighted to have Sharon working alongside Diane Parker at Redcar and with Workspace Manager Joan Cook. Their input ensures that our tenants are left free to concentrate all their time into running their own businesses,” she said.

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