Well-known Liverpool business figure Paul Kallee-Grover joins Avison Young as a director from ARUP and will strengthen its national planning development & regeneration team

Law firm Brabners and property consultancy Avison Young have each announced new appointments while accountants DSG have revealed four promotions.

Brabners, which is based in Liverpool, Manchester and Preston has hired three new partners, with planning lawyer Sophie Stewart and construction specialist Anthony Willis strengthening the firm’s real estate practice. Richard Cowan also joins as a specialist banking and finance lawyer.

Sophie specialises in planning and infrastructure with a focus on compulsory purchase and regeneration work. Anthony also joins the firm from DLA Piper and has more than eight years’ experience in construction law.

And Richard is a banking and finance specialist and has worked with a host of major UK clearing banks, challenger banks, corporate borrowers and institutional lenders over a career spanning 12 years. 

Nik White, managing partner at Brabners, said: “It’s testament to our status and our ever strengthening reputation and profile that we continue to attract such leading talent. Richard, Anthony and Sophie are highly-regarded practitioners and have acted on a number of landmark projects across the UK.”

One of Liverpool’s best-known business names, Paul Kallee-Grover, is joining Avison Young from ARUP in Liverpool. He is one of four new team members in the Liverpool and Manchester offices of the firm, who will work alongside Nicola Rigby, director and regional lead.

Paul joins as director and returns to Avison Young after 18 years to further strengthen the national planning development & regeneration business offer. He will advise clients on all aspects of commercial development.

Joining him are Edward Blight, formerly from Cushman and Wakefield in Manchester, who takes the role of senior surveyor, while Natalie Solaru, joins from the regeneration team at Halton Council and Georgina Iliff joined the team as a graduate in September.

The investment in the team is part of continued growth plans across the North West business and is in response to a number of exciting instructions secured for the team across the public and private sector on major regeneration initiatives.

Nicola Rigby said: “We see enormous market opportunity across the North West region, and our investment means we can better support our clients across the public and private sectors to deliver sustainable and inclusive growth in our cities and local economies through major urban renewal and change.

“I’m delighted to welcome Paul, Edward, Natalie and Georgina to team as we look to continue to grow over the coming years.”

Liverpool-based accountancy firm DSG has announced four promotions within its corporate business team in Liverpool. Iain Hutchinson and Sam Evans have both been promoted to audit supervisor, having joined DSG as audit seniors two years ago.

In their new roles, both will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of audit engagements, training more junior members of the team and evaluating corporate management and operating practices for DSG’s portfolio of clients.

Alesha Meredith and Ryan Rossiter have been promoted to accounts supervisors. Alesha has been at DSG for two years, while Ryan joined the firm in 2018 from a local independent practice.

As accounts supervisors, Alesha and Ryan will be responsible for preparing accounts on behalf of sole traders, limited companies and partnerships with turnover up to £10m, with a primary focus on Liverpool based SMEs.

Iain White, partner at DSG, said: “We continue to forge important relationships with clients, and strengthening our team with strategic hires and internal promotions is essential to this aim and provides a firm foundation for the future.”