We take our weekly look at appointments and promotions across the housebuilding industry and its supply chain.
Andrew Wickett, Dandara
Dandara has appointed Andrew Wickett as managing director for its Eastern division, as it announces its expansion across Essex with two new sites acquired in the county in the last month.
Wickett was previously the operations director at Dandara’s Northen Home Counties division and has amassed over three decades of experience across accountancy, finance and property. He is a qualified chartered accountant at the University of Adelaide and trained with KPMG in Australia. He worked as a private accountant in the USA for real estate and development holdings clients before moving to the UK in 2005. He has held finance roles at St James Homes, Laing O’Rourke, Barratt Homes and McCarthy Stone.
Wickett said: “Having worked at Dandara Northern Home Counties over the last year, I am looking forward to leading the Eastern division as we grow. It has been fantastic to work with many talented people in the business already, and I am honoured to be working even more closely with our Essex team.”
Matt Lake, Roca Group
With the upcoming retirement of long-serving head of product, Mark Winfield Roca, Group UK & Ireland has announced the promotion of Matt Lake (pictured right) to the role of head of product & supply, following the
Lake Matt joined Roca Group more than 11 years ago as inventory manager. His new position will see him take on responsibility for UK Product Management across all brands, while also maintaining oversight of Stock Control, with the newly appointed inventory manager reporting directly to him.
Speaking about his promotion, Lake said: “I’ve really enjoyed the inventory manager role. Our stock-related processes have grown and evolved a fair bit in that time and I’ve relished that challenge. With Mark soon retiring, I was excited about the opportunity to step into this position.”
Rashpal Sidhu, MD of Roca Group UK & Ireland, said: “I’m confident that Matt’s experience, analytical approach and proven leadership will make him a valuable asset in his new position.”
Kenan Reynolds, Persimmon Homes
Persimmon Homes South Midlands has strengthened its site team in Cheltenham.
Kenan Reynolds, a qualified roofer, has been appointed to as trainee assistant site manager at the company’s Regents Village development, having previously worked for his family’s construction business and also on various projects for Vistry.
Commenting on his appointment, Reynolds said: “I am delighted to have secured this role and eager to continue building my skills and contribute to our work at Regents Village in Cheltenham.”
Nathan Cox, construction manager at Persimmon Homes South Midlands, said: “We’re delighted to be strengthening our construction team with the appointment of Kenan. His skills and experience will be a real asset to the team, and I look forward to working with him as he grows within in his new role.”
“Providing homes of outstanding quality is integral to what we do at Persimmon, and having Kenan on board will help to ensure that we continue to deliver the highest standards of service for our customers.”
Louise Fountain, SLR Consulting
SLR Consulting has appointed Louise Fountain, as associate director for urban design.
With more than 20 years of experience in masterplanning, urban design and architecture across both the public and private sectors, Fountain has held senior roles at AECOM, Planit, Taylor Young (now Arcadis) and PRP Architects, and led on major regeneration projects.
Her portfolio includes 1,500 homes within the Greater Manchester Places for Everyone (PfE) plan, Jackson’s Brickworks in Manchester, 2,500 homes at New Eastern Villages near Swindon, and the historic Woolwich Barracks site in Greenwich.
Fountain commented: “I admire the creativity and ambition of the place team at SLR, the combination of visionary design with technical excellence uniquely positions the team to deliver sustainable, people-focused places.
Pol MacDonald, director of the place team at SLR Consulting, said: “Louise’s extensive masterplanning expertise and commitment to raising design quality will play a key leadership and mentoring role for the Manchester studio and beyond.”
Hollie Hanrahanm, Octopus Capital
Hollie Hanrahan has been promoted to the newly created role of chief operating officer for Octopus Capital, reporting into CEO Lieven Debruyne.
She joined the real estate team at Octopus Capital as investment & operations director in 2023, Following a 16-year career at Lloyds Banking Group, where she was responsible for a number of areas including corporate development, managing central functions and people strategy.
Hanrahan commented: “I’m really looking forward to the new role for a whole host of reasons. These include moving beyond just real estate and shaping the full institutional business for growth, as well as pushing for our collective goal of investment excellence. I also look forward to supporting our key focus on purpose-led investing in the sectors where it really matters.”
Tim Thorp, Newcore Capital
Social infrastructure real estate investment management company Newcore Capital has hired Tim Thorp as chief operating officer, to work closely with CEO Hugo Llewelyn.
Previously head of finance and operations at Panattoni Investment Management, Thorp brings over 25 years’ executive experience in financial, operational, and investment management across private equity real estate and infrastructure. Other senior roles include chief operating officer at ESR Europe and two decades as partner and head of European real estate finance and operations at InfraRed Capital Partners (formerly HSBC Specialist Investments).
Llewelyn said: “Tim’s experience across both real estate and infrastructure, together with his deep expertise in fund structuring, governance and operations, will help us scale efficiently while maintaining the high discipline and standards that our investors rightly expect.”
Thorp added: “I look forward to working with Newcore’s client partners and its dynamic, focused team in scaling these activities going forward.”
