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Ramsdens Solicitors bolsters senior team with five promotions
Yorkshire-based Ramsdens Solicitors has promoted Jennifer Slater, Katie Sharp, Jane Holroyd and Rosanna Drewery to the position of partner across its network of a dozen offices in the region. Jolene Briggs has been promoted to conveyancing manager for the Calderdale region.
Paul Joyce, managing partner of Ramsdens Solicitors, said: “As a firm, we are committed to bringing on board new talent and giving them the support they need to develop their careers with us.
“It’s fantastic to see these five knowledgeable and committed lawyers moving up in the firm, and these promotions are well deserved recognition of their contribution to the continued growth of the firm.”
Working within the firm’s private client practice at its York office, Jennifer Slater has over 18 years’ experience, including expertise in advising on wills and lasting powers of attorney.
She also specialises in lifetime tax planning, and the creation and administration of trusts and estate administration, in particular, estates with complex issues and agricultural estates. Jennifer is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and a member of the Law Society’s Private Client Section.
Having qualified as a solicitor in 2015, Katie Sharp has worked in conveyancing for over 10 years.
Based at Ramsdens’ Mirfield office, she has in-depth knowledge of the residential property industry, including the sale, purchase and re-mortgage of freehold and leasehold properties as well as new-build, unregistered and help-to-buy properties. Katie also deals with private mortgages, lease extensions and title splits.
Based at the Edgerton office, Jane Holroyd is a partner in Ramsdens’ commercial property team.
Since qualifying in 2014, she has dealt for all types of property transactions, such as the acquisition and set up of development sites, buying and selling commercial freeholds and commercial leases from both the landlord and tenant perspective, including new leases, renewals and licences.
Jane also specialises in acting for SIPP and SSAS pension trustees in respect of pension schemes’ commercial property investments.
Having joined Ramsdens soon after her qualification in 2014, Rosanna Drewery has become a partner in the child law practice and works across both West and North Yorkshire.
She has a specialism in public law proceedings, also known as care proceedings, and primarily undertakes work under the Children Act 1989, representing parents, grandparents and other family members. She also deals with special guardianship cases.
Rosanna is an accredited member of the Children’s Panel, representing children in public and private law proceedings, through their guardians.
Jolene Briggs has become conveyancing manager for the firm’s Calderdale offices in Halifax and Elland. Based in Elland, she deals with all types of conveyancing matters including freehold, leasehold, unregistered, equity, right-to-buy and auction properties.
Jolene previously worked in a property practice in Leeds for 10 years before joining Ramsdens in 2014.
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Property firm promotes four
Four commercial property professionals have been promoted at Leeds property consultancy, GV&Co.
Daniel Walker, Tom Preene and Matt Harriman have all become directors, and David Geary has been made an associate. The promotions follow the firm’s recent expansion into bigger city centre offices at Carlton Tower on St Paul’s Street and the company’s twentieth anniversary celebrations.
Daniel works within the agency and investment team. He joined the business in 2012, completed a degree alongside his day job in 2017, and became a chartered member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 2019.
Daniel said: “Every day is different, dealing with lettings, acquisitions, investment sales and advising on long term strategic development sites. Recent highlights include the work we have done on employment allocation for Integral, a 60-acre scheme at Thorpe Park, the £25m acquisition of Total Park, Leeds and advising on the lettings of 285,000 sq ft at Catalyst, Sheffield Business Park.
“We are optimistic about the market and can clearly see an increase in positive sentiment. Occupiers can understandably take their time making decisions, but there is a definite sense of market confidence returning, after the recent downturn in activity, which followed a very busy few years.”
Tom works in lease advisory and asset management. He joined GV&Co in 2022 having spent six years at a global property firm and is responsible for negotiating rent reviews and lease renewals on behalf of both landlords and tenants.
He said: “The industrial market continues to perform well with headline rents reaching record levels and I’m looking forward to growing this side of the business further, as more landlords and tenants recognise the value that we add.”
Matt works in building surveying and project management. He joined GV&Co as a graduate ten years ago when the department was first established, and since then it has grown to a seven-strong team, with an enviable client base.
Matt said: “I really enjoy working on a diverse spectrum of commercial property across multiple sectors, and have keen interest in contract administration, dilapidations and acquisition surveys.
“In the last twelve months, I’ve managed over £3m worth of commercial refurbishments and successfully negotiated over £1m of dilapidations. As a director, I’ll be more involved with helping to manage the team and mentoring colleagues, as well as continuing to drive the department forward.
“Upcoming changes to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) legislation is the hot topic at the moment and with a fundamental understanding of building efficiency upgrade costs, we are well positioned to advise clients on improving EPC ratings to ensure assets remain attractive to both occupiers and institutional investors.”
David Geary joined GV&Co’s building surveying and project management team eight years ago and has successfully completed a Masters (MSc) in Building Surveying during that time. David project manages construction projects across all sectors, as well as carrying out condition surveys and negotiating dilapidations claims.
David said: “I really enjoy my role at GV&Co. I’m heavily involved in refurbishment schemes, predominantly around Yorkshire and the Midlands, but I have recently completed a large-scale refurbishment of a Grade A listed building in the centre of Edinburgh.
“The building is now fully let to multiple occupiers and holding its own in a prime part of the city. On a local level, the market is busy in the world of building surveying and the pipeline until the end of 2024 is strong.”
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Yorkshire & Humber firms remain confident despite challenging business conditions
Although the headline NatWest Yorkshire & Humber PMI® Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – rose for the first time since the beginning of the year from 46.9 in March to 47.3 in April, it remained below the 50.0 no-change mark, making the region the only monitored part of the UK to see private sector output shrink at the start of the second quarter.
The decrease in the region’s economic activity contrasted starkly with the UK-wide trend, which signalled the fastest expansion in a year.
Notably, Yorkshire & Humber was the worst-performing part of the UK, both in terms of business activity and new orders, as was also the case in the previous month. That said, business confidence remained strong, while employment levels across the region were only marginally reduced, despite widespread reports of intensifying wage pressures.
The level of new business received by private companies in Yorkshire & Humber continued to shrink in April. The rate of decline was fractionally faster than that seen in March, and was therefore the quickest since November last year.
Weak client confidence was linked to the reduction in sales, while some respondents commented on generally subdued demand conditions across various industries.
Notably, Yorkshire & Humber was one of just two parts of the UK to see a drop in new business, with the region also seeing the quickest fall.
The Future Activity Index posted well above the 50.0 no-change mark, signalling robust growth expectations by private sector firms in Yorkshire & Humber during April. New product releases, strategic business changes and forecasts of greater customer numbers underpinned optimism, anecdotal evidence showed.
Although the level of positive sentiment dipped to a three-month low, it was slightly stronger than seen for the UK on average.
Continuing the trend which began in February, private sector businesses in Yorkshire & Humber cut their workforce numbers during the latest survey period. The non-replacement of leavers was commonly noted as a reason for lower staffing capacity, anecdotal evidence showed.
However, the decrease in employment was only marginal overall. This compared with broadly unchanged staffing levels at the broader UK level.
Posting below the 50.0 no-change threshold for a fourteenth successive month in April, the seasonally adjusted Outstanding Business Index signalled a sustained reduction in the volume of work pending completion at private sector companies in Yorkshire & Humber.
Furthermore, the latest data pointed to a solid decrease in backlogs of work, and one that was the quickest of all 12 monitored parts of the UK.
Private sector companies in Yorkshire & Humber recorded a further steep month-on-month increase in their overall operating costs in April. Moreover, the rate of inflation quickened markedly from March to its highest in a year. Greater wage pressures were reported by survey respondents, in addition to higher costs associated with raw materials, fuel, insurance and the distribution of goods.
Prices charged for the provision of goods and services continued to be raised by companies in Yorkshire & Humber, latest survey data showed. In many cases, selling prices were lifted to offset the impact on margins from greater costs. That said, the extent to which output charges rose was moderate and the slowest for three months.
Yorkshire & Humber recorded the second-softest rate of selling price inflation of the 12 monitored parts of the UK, with only the North West seeing a slower pace of increase.
Malcolm Buchanan, Chair of the NatWest North Regional Board, said: “April marked yet another challenging month for the Yorkshire & Humber private sector, which was once again the only part of the UK to see a decrease in business activity.
“That said, April data was better with the rate of contraction slowing since March. Positively, growth expectations remain above UK trend and with economic conditions domestically and abroad improving, this should provide tailwinds for growth in the coming months.”
