Five months after acquiring Landscape Group, Xeretec has already delivered on one of its acquisition promises – to appoint more staff to further support both businesses.
To that end, Xeretec Group has increased headcount by 39, bringing its total number of staff to 263.
The team expansion comes at the same time Xeretec has been the subject of a Vendor Profile analysis published by International Data Corporation (IDC). Entitled ‘Xeretec Builds on Landscape Group Takeover to Further Develop as Vendor-Specialist Tier 1 Player’*, IDC’s Vendor Profile reflects on Xeretec’s acquisition of Landscape Group, which signified a move towards a strategy that sees the company focus on Xerox and HP.
To enable it to realise its strategy successfully, the company has added ten sales staff to promote Xeretec’s digital print hardware, software and solutions offerings. A further 11 non-sales roles in Xeretec have been filled across analytics, helpdesk agents, site support and IT departments. Meanwhile, Landscape has added ten additional members to its sales team. It has also created a new Telesales-specific team, comprising eight new hires.
The appointments follow Xeretec’s industry-changing acquisition of the Landscape Group, in a move that has created a new managed print powerhouse. The acquisition brought together two of the biggest resellers of two of the world’s largest print brands – Xerox and HP – offering new and existing customers the expanded Group’s technical knowledge, toolsets, service capabilities and market expertise. The acquisition has created new employment opportunities across both businesses, while providing greater scope for Xeretec and Landscape employees to develop their career within a growing, secure, successful and dynamic organisation.
Commenting on the growing team, Steve Hawkins, Xeretec’s Chief Executive, said: “Growing the team was one of the most exciting aspects of the Landscape acquisition. I’m very pleased to see how quickly we’ve been able to scale the organisation and the team to match the increased amount of interest we’re now seeing from new and existing customers.”
Xeretec has 16 facilities across the UK and Ireland (including sales offices and operational facilities) and approximately 100 sales staff. Further to this, the Scotland and Southern organisation joined forces when they came together to operate as one entity in September 2017. Follow Xeretec on Twitter or follow its regularly updated series of print industry related blogs.
Esh Border Construction’s expansion plans have been further boosted by the announcement of two new senior appointments to its Scottish operation.
Paul Devine has been named Construction Director while Paul Curran has been appointed Commercial Manager as the Livingston-based business continues to target fresh growth.
A Civil Engineering graduate of the University of Strathclyde, Mr Devine brings 20 years of construction industry experience from two decade-long managerial roles in the Central Belt.
The Gartcosh resident is expected to play a major role as Esh Border Construction looks to extend and enhance its vibrant and sustained pipeline of Scottish Successes.
Mr Devine will take the lead on the delivery of high quality developments and will help to drive the ambitious business forward.
New Commercial Manager Paul Curran meanwhile brings a wealth of knowledge following a succession of similar roles with UK companies across the past 30 years.
The Edinburgh resident will focus on bids for new work and contract negotiation, ensuring financial management to the highest standard.
They join a burgeoning senior team that was recently boosted by the internal appointment of Regional Director for Scotland, Gerard McMahon.
In tandem with Mr McMahon, the two fresh appointments are aimed at steering the company’s growth strategy, with both expected to play a leading role in shaping its long-term fortunes.
In recent times, Esh Border Construction has secured high-profile projects in the region of £2m-£10m such as Stirling’s Engine Shed and Edinburgh’s Calton Hill observatory – and both Mr Devine and Mr Curran hope to be instrumental in replicating and extending that success further down the M8 corridor.
Mr Devine said: “I believe there is huge potential here and that was one of the key aspects that attracted me to the Construction Director role.
“I’m in no doubt that Esh Border Construction can grow into a leading name in the Central Belt, becoming even more successful than it already is, and I hope that my own skillset can serve to enhance that.
“I aim to bring my two decades of experience, wide client base and supply chain know-how to the fore across a range of projects, including the refurbishment of Heriot Watt Library in Edinburgh – the first project for Esh Border in which I will be involved from commencement to completion.
“With the help of the fantastic team that is already in place at Esh Border Construction, I hope that there will be much more to follow as we embark on an exciting new chapter for the business.”
Mr Curran added: “I was immediately struck by the huge opportunity at Esh Border Construction – the people, the job, the culture, and the exciting variety of work.
“From the refurbishment of listed buildings at Calton Hill, to fast track steel frame projects, there is a real diversity of work on offer here.
“There’s also a huge Scottish market for social housing, the delivery of which I find to be genuinely rewarding.
“I’m really looking forward to delivering more in that vein and am thrilled to have been appointed to this senior role within such a forward-thinking business.”
Esh Border Construction has an extensive track record of successfully delivering projects across a variety of sectors for a wide range of clients, including education, retail, industrial, commercial, leisure, public, healthcare, and historic buildings.
It has significant experience of all forms of procurement and project delivery including joint ventures, framework agreements, and traditional tendering.
The company operates within a framework of fully ISO accredited Safety, Quality and Environmental Management Systems, supported by comprehensive internal operating procedures, and it has extensive experience in delivering ‘Very Good’ and ‘Excellent’ BREEAM Rated Projects.
An Edinburgh hotel that puts profits back into advancing surgical standards worldwide to improve patient outcomes is to undergo a major £8.5m 52 room expansion.
Following record occupancy numbers, Ten Hill Place is increasing to 129 rooms – close to a 70 per cent increase on its current provision of 77 rooms.
The expansion will sensitively renovate neighbouring Hill Place buildings, also currently owned by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) and used primarily as offices and by academics.
Operated by the college’s commercial arm, the hotel posted record turnover of £2.69m* in its last full recorded financial year – thanks to an impressive 88 per cent occupancy rate fuelled in part by highly positive TripAdvisor reviews.
Scott Mitchell, Commercial Director of RCSEd, said: “The tireless and inspiring work of the team involved with Ten Hill Place has given us this great opportunity to grow.
“In turn, our expansion will give us a greater platform to generate the profits that go directly towards improving lives for surgical patients all around the world – including those in areas of conflict and extreme poverty.
“As the number of visitors to Edinburgh has soared, we have been able to tap into the market and develop our reputation – meaning that the hotel is now busy all year round.
“Having initially targeted visiting academics, medical professionals and delegates to conferences; our customer base is now especially varied – especially during festival season and Hogmanay.”
RCSEd Commercial Enterprises – which started out as just three people and is now more than140 strong – will also rebrand to ‘Surgeons Quarter’ to mark the expansion of the organisation – with the full destination branding expected to be complete by Summer of 2018 to coincide with the conclusion of work at the hotel.
Capacity of the successful restaurant and wine bar will also be increased, and the expansion will provide space for a gym.
Scott added: “We are hopeful that the expansion will enable the hotel to deliver its full potential, furthering what we already currently provide, our food and drinks offerings, assisting our charitable aims and boosting tourism and hospitality jobs in Edinburgh.”
The Royal College is one of the most august institutions in Scotland. It provides education and assessment for medical students, surgical trainees and consultants and supports research to advance standards of care for the future. Surgeons trained and assessed through the College take their life-saving and life-changing skills all over the world.
The college’s Commercial Enterprises promotes, sells and manages all commercial activities held within the College Campus, which includes arts and conferencing venue Surgeons’ Hall. All profits support the charitable aims of the College which are education, assessment and advancement in surgery.
As part of the major rebrand of the College’s commercial activities under the Surgeons Quarter banner, the collection of buildings situated around the historic Hill Square will also become known as Surgeons Quarter.
The rebranding will allow for the area to be a recognised destination and highlight the scale of the venues within it. Each of the settings operated by the Surgeons Quarter team will also become recognised with the distinct @Surgeons Quarter, again tying in the destination brand.
*For Year End June 2015-May 2016.
International law firm Pinsent Masons has appointed four infrastructure and energy heavyweights in Australia, further enhancing its existing presence across Sydney and Melbourne and adding a new presence in Perth.
The law firm’s Scottish operation comprises of more than 500 staff based in its Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen offices. Since launching in Australia in 2015, Pinsent Masons has acted on a number of standout mandates, including the AUD$15bn Melbourne Metro Project, acting for First Solar in relation to its project finance acquisition and development of a 48MW Solar Power plant and acting for Samsung C&T on the AUD$2bn Roy Hill Iron Ore Mining dispute.
The new partners join from Norton Rose Fulbright and comprise:
• Rob Buchanan who specialises in construction and engineering disputes on major energy and infrastructure projects.
• Matthew Croagh, a leading construction and engineering disputes lawyer with a specialism in the oil and gas industry.
• Adrienne Parker, who has extensive experience in major projects, construction, engineering and resource projects across Australia, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and Africa. Adrienne is also President of the WA Chapter of National Association of Women in Construction.
• Bill Ryan, who has acted upon complex arbitrations arising out of the resources sectors in Queensland and Western Australia.
Pinsent Masons’ legal resourcing hub Vario has also recently announced its expansion into Australia, its first operational base outside of the UK.
David Rennick, Head of Australia for Pinsent Masons, said: “In less than two years, Pinsent Masons has established itself among the preeminent infrastructure firms in Australia and enhanced its reputation across the Asia Pacific region. Our strong growth and high calibre of work is being recognised and we are delighted to be able to attract a stellar team of fellow specialists to join us in expanding our business into Perth. The appointments also present an opportunity to expand further into the energy sector.”
Richard Foley, Senior Partner, said: “Our vision is to be recognised as an international market leader in the global sectors in which we operate and Australia has been significant in enabling us to serve clients domestically and across Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Europe. Our relentless focus on combing skillset excellence with sector insight and innovation continues to prove popular among our clients.”
The news comes after a period of sustained investment by Pinsent Masons. In May, the firm announced plans to launch in Dublin and the acquisition of diversity-and-inclusion business Brook Graham. The month prior, the firm announced the appointment of teams in Madrid and Johannesburg to open the firm’s inaugural offices in Spain and South Africa respectively. The firm will now operate 24 offices globally.
