Insurance risk and commercial law firm, BLM has re-elected Senior Partner Matthew Harrington for a second three year term, effective from 1 March 2021.

Matthew became Senior Partner on 1 March 2018 and works alongside Managing Partner Vivienne Williams, who was re-elected in July 2020 for a further three years.

In addition to growing its technology offering and analytics capability, Matthew set out his vision at the time of becoming Senior Partner to “continue our ambition of being a market leading firm operating in risk and insurance in the UK and Ireland with an international reach, together with a strong non-insurance capability to offer to a wider client base.” The firm’s Commercial Advisory & Private Wealth offering celebrated over 20 per cent revenue growth for 2020, a year in which it also welcomed a number of key hires and a wave of major new clients.

Commenting on his re-election, Matthew said: “It has been an absolute privilege to lead BLM over the last three years. In the midst of all the challenges of the past year, many positives have emerged, principal amongst which has been the way our colleagues have supported each other, backed our vision and embraced change. Their dedication and professionalism has meant we have continued to win new work from new and existing clients and that we have become a truly digital first firm; a key element of our strategy for the last three years.”

Matthew joined BLM in 2007 and has enjoyed a number of significant milestones: his extensive experience in client relationships, creating an office in Cardiff to extend the firm’s national footprint before joining the senior leadership team in 2014, when he became a member of the firm’s Partnership Board.

Women in Property has announced its incoming North West Chair for 2021/22. Eleanor takes the role as regional head of the property and construction industry influencer and networking organisation from 1 March, for one year.

Eleanor who has been a member of Women in Property for five years, is a Senior Land & Partnerships Manager at MCI Developments, based in Wigan where she specialises in acquiring land opportunities for affordable housing developments with Registered Providers across the North West.

The organisation sees the year ahead as presenting a great opportunity for individuals and businesses to build on the understanding, compassion and support evidenced in the industry over the past twelve tumultuous months. “As I take up the role of North West Chair of Women in Property for 2021 it seems likely that, with the vaccine rollout, our industry and our organisation will start to emerge from the lockdown we were in for most of 2020” said Eleanor.

“Property and construction will be at the forefront of the economic recovery and there will be tremendous opportunities for our members to contribute to that revival. I look forward to Women in Property returning to in-person meetings and events and continuing to promote the importance of inclusion and diversity in our sector, with more women taking active roles and participating as we rebuild, post-pandemic.

My five years as a member of Women in Property has allowed me to grow my network, and the organisation has increased its influence both locally and nationally. I look forward to working with my Committee in growing our membership as more women join the industry, looking to build their contacts with friendly support from fellow North West professionals.”

Alex Wood, Regional Managing Director at MCI Developments, said: “It’s great to see Eleanor take on the position as North West Chair at Women in Property. As a company, we’re keen to support more women into the industry and Eleanor’s new role is a testament to the crucial work she plays at MCI Developments. I wish Eleanor the best of luck for the coming year and I’m positive she will instigate change in the industry and will be an inspiration for other women looking for a career in construction.”

Since the pandemic started early in 2020, Women in Property has continued to support members, transferring CPD, informal events and mentoring online. The North West branch has run over 30 webinars, ranging from industry related subjects, personal development, CPD and social and wellbeing events, all of which are available across the national platform.

Eleanor will hold the role of North West Chair until 28th February 2022.

Law firm Ward Hadaway has strengthened its Built Environment Team in Manchester with the appointment of two solicitors.

The firm has continued with its growth aspirations by appointing Emma Collins and Chris Devitt.

Emma joins as an associate solicitor and will be responsible for advising and providing legal advice to both landlords and tenants in the negotiation and settlement of leases including advising and negotiating lease assignments, surrenders and renewals. She will also work with the firm’s banking and finance and corporate partners in relation to both freehold and leasehold disposals and acquisitions.

She brings with her 14 years’ experience working as a solicitor in commercial property and held a similar position in her previous role, providing support to the corporate team in the acquisition and disposal of businesses and acting for lenders in corporate refinancing or new loan matters.

Emma and her partner have two children and took time out of her previous work to travel South America. Commenting on her role, she said: “I’m really excited to be joining such a great team. Ward Hadaway has a strong reputation within the sector and I am looking forward to working with the firm’s wide range of commercial property clients including developers, commercial lenders and national retail operators.”

Chris Devitt also joined the firm recently as a planning solicitor. He has been advising the firm’s housing developer clients and local authorities on section 106 agreements and deeds of variation. He is also advising on assets of community value designation, the pre-commencement of compulsory purchase orders and assisting with responses to a stop notice.

Chris qualified in 2016 at University of Law in Chester and joins from his previous firm where he started as a paralegal and qualified as a planning solicitor after completing his training in childcare law, planning and property.

Commenting on his appointment, Chris said: “I am really enjoying my new role and have been impressed with the knowledge and support from other colleagues within the firm. When I saw the position advertised, I had no hesitation in applying and look forward to building my knowledge and experience working with a range of clients here in the North West and further afield.”

Matthew O’Brien, a partner in the Real Estate Team which forms part of the Built Environment Team who also joined the firm in March last year, said: “I’d personally like to welcome Emma and Chris into Ward Hadaway. They will support our existing team and clients and its reassuring to see that we are still able to create new job opportunities and make key appointments in this current climate.

“Our Real Estate team in Manchester has grown three-fold in the last twelve months and demonstrates our commitment to further strengthen our service delivery to clients. I am looking forward to working with them both.”

Ward Hadaway’s Real Estate Team also operates from offices in Newcastle and Leeds.

Manchester cloud hosting and data centre operator Teledata, has strengthened its technical team with the appointment of Rob Wickens as Infrastructure Engineer. The new hire comes after the company announced growth figures of 20% during 2020, with a 58% increase in its cloud customer base.

Rob joins Teledata following a 10 year stint at Stagecoach where he worked across technical support, networking, and telecoms teams, providing 2nd and 3rd line support to customers. At Teledata, Rob’s focus will be on the firm’s cloud service environments.

Teledata launched a new private cloud platform and a private virtual desktop cloud solution in early 2020 to complement its active-active cloud hosting platform.

Matt Edgley, director for Teledata commented; “As we continue to grow our cloud product set, it is necessary to expand our cloud team to ensure that we can continue, not only to provide our customers with the level of support and service that they expect – and beyond, but also that we have the resources to continue to innovate and develop our cloud infrastructures and products. We welcome Rob to the team, and are looking forward to seeing his career develop at Teledata.”

Commenting on his new role, Rob added; “Working with the latest emerging technologies has always been a passion of mine, and my role in Teledata’s cloud team will put me at the forefront of that. 2020 was an exciting year for the team here, with new product launches, investment into expansion, resilience and energy efficiency projects making this a truly exciting time to be joining the business, and I can’t wait to get stuck to the upcoming cloud projects we have planned.”

Founded in 2005, Teledata provides colocation, cloud hosting, workplace recovery and data centre services to businesses across the UK from an ISO27001-compliant facility in Manchester. The firm’s solutions are designed to enable organisations to protect their applications, data and online presence from the damaging effects of downtime, and to make the most effective and efficient use of technology with secure and scalable hosting platforms tailored to business critical needs. The building has some of the most sophisticated security of any data centre in Europe, with an on-site police-linked, NSI Gold Approved, BS5979 certified control room and alarm receiving centre making Teledata unique in the UK.