A NORTH West company specialising in land acquisition and planning for large scale developments, across England and Wales, has strengthened its Cheshire-based team with four new appointments.
Headquartered at Daresbury Park, near Warrington, Harrow Estates – a division of Redrow Homes – has promoted Guy Vernon to head of land, and Jonathon Broadey to land negotiator. It has also taken on new recruits Hannah Rodger and Freya Macdonald, as planning manager and land manager respectively.
Guy Vernon, from North Wales, joined Harrow Estates as a development surveyor five years ago, before gaining a promotion to senior development surveyor in 2020. Prior to that he spent three years with Knight Frank’s London Residential Development Department, having qualified as a RICS chartered surveyor.
He said: “I appreciate the opportunity the Harrow board has given me, in a role that is important to the growth of Harrow and the wider Redrow business, and I look forward to working more with the 14 Redrow divisions for new land opportunities.”
New planning manager Hannah Rodger, from Chester, has joined Harrow from Gladman where she spent five years, latterly as senior planner, after graduating with a Masters in Planning from The University of Manchester.
Hannah said: “I’m excited to join Harrow and work on a varied range of sites and projects. It’s been great to get involved with Harrow legacy sites such as Woodford Garden Village in Cheshire, where place-making planning has been key to the site’s success. Working on the evolving plans to create a vibrant local centre for the Woodford community has been a highlight.
Land manager Freya Macdonald, who lives in Manchester, began her career with Taylor Wimpey as a graduate before progressing to become an assistant strategic land manager. With a Masters in Urban Planning from Newcastle University, Freya is keen to “get stuck into the role”, and put her experience in strategic land to excellent use with Harrow.
She added: “Housebuilding is an exciting industry and it’s great to be working with a strong team at Harrow, to both secure new sites and assist the team in converting its existing portfolio into consented schemes.”
Former apprentice Jonathon Broadey, from Warrington, joined Harrow in 2018 straight after studying for his A-Levels at college. Drawn by the prospect of an apprenticeship where he could earn and learn, while gaining vital on-the-job experience, he applied for a position as Redrow’s first ever land apprentice. He has since gained two promotions and is in the final stages of his Real Estate Management Degree course, funded by Harrow.
He said: “I could have followed the traditional route and gone to university to study property but I would only just be graduating now and likely be in lots of debt, with minimal work experience on my CV. Fortunately, I now have four years of work experience, am finishing my degree, and I am halfway through my RICS Assessment of Professional Competence. It’s been hard work and I’ve had to manage my time, but Harrow has accommodated my studies.”
As land negotiator, it’s Jonathon’s role to identify and secure new land opportunities.
He said: “My biggest success so far has been finding my first site that we subsequently purchased unconditionally, and is already in for planning. For every success there are always challenges, but it’s the creative side of the job that is the most rewarding; finding sites and solutions that other companies miss.”
Commenting on the new appointments, Julian Larkin, managing director for Harrow Estates, said: “We have an enthusiastic and dynamic land and planning team and these four appointments have served to strengthen our depth of experience as well as bringing existing team members through the ranks with well-deserved promotions.
“We’re delighted to welcome Hannah and Freya to the Harrow family, and I’m confident that Guy, in his new role, will ably lead and support the rest of the land team.
“It’s particularly pleasing to see the progress Jonathon has made since joining us four years ago as an apprentice fresh out of college. His commitment and dedication to gaining his degree and chartered status is really inspiring and it is satisfying to watch his progression in such a short space of time. I believe it’s our responsibility as an industry to ensure young people can access on-the-job training and be supported to gain recognised qualifications to address the skills shortage and secure the long-term future of the sector.”
For more information on Harrow Estates visit www.harrowestates.co.uk.
