Developer on £360 million scheme hires innovation chief, experienced homes director joins Godwin, Cushwake faithful moves on

Jo Birch has clinched the chief innovation officer role at Woodbourne Group, a key anchor partner for Birmingham’s £360 million mixed-use Knowledge Quarter scheme. Birch joins from Birmingham City University, where she was director for innovation, enterprise and employability. As chief innovation officer, Birch will focus on developing strategic partnerships and build a "knowledge community", helping to expand the group's life sciences development pipeline. Woodbourne described Birch as being instrumental in shaping regional agendas over the last decade and advocating for reinvestment in Birmingham and the West Midlands, with "deep involvement across the innovation ecosystem".

National property developer Godwin Developments has named Yuved Bheenick as residential development director. Joining the team at its 26 St James’s Square offices in London, Bheenick will look after "driving the growth of the company’s residential development portfolio across the country". He will identify and acquire development sites, overseeing the planning and design process and managing the construction of residential projects, as well as working with local authorities and other stakeholders. Prior to joining the business, he held senior roles at leading residential developers such as Places for People, Vistry Group, Linden Homes and Taylor Wimpey.

Boris Ziermans will join Dutch property management firm DHS Real Estate as an investment management partner. Ziermans, who spent 14 years at Cushman & Wakefield, most recently as international partner, will source investment products across offices, light industrial and logistics. DHS says the his experience across capital markets, leasing and property development will help continue its growth. Ziermans has experience of working with top firms, such as Unilever, EY and NXP, on their real estate portfolio. DHS managing director René de Heus said in a statement: "Boris will be focusing on growing our high quality pipeline throughout the different asset classes."

Indurent, the UK industrial developer and operator, has promoted Simon Ross to head of portfolio management in a move that also sees him join the executive leadership. Ross will oversee all asset and property management activity across the business' 27 million-square-foot, 2,700-unit portfolio, and lead a 40-person team responsible for leasing, refurbishment and facilities management. He worked as deputy head of portfolio management since the firm's launch in July, following the completion of the integration of St Modwen Logistics and Industrials REIT. Prior to this, he was head of asset management at Industrials REIT, which he joined in 2017 as part of the acquisition of C2 Capital.

Kalli Stuart has been named social value consultant at Knight Frank after the agency launched its dedicated social value consultancy team this month. Stuart has worked at at the company since April 2022, according to her LinkedIn profile, starting as a work placement. She will help the firm's clients to "enhance the positive impact of their projects and properties." The wider team will work to incorporate social value into investment decisions, leading to "better leasing and investment performance, stronger community engagement, and enhanced occupier wellbeing and satisfaction", the company added. Jonathan Hale is head of ESG consulting in the UK for Knight Frank.

Alex Stork is settling into his new surroundings after being made the British Council for Offices' Northern region chair. Stork is business development manager for the northern division of fit-out specialist Overbury and takes over from Jon Moister, executive director of engineering consultancy Curtins, who worked in the role since the end of 2021. Stork was vice-chair of the BCO’s Northern regional committee, having joined the organisation at the end of 2020. The new vice-chair will be Clare Danahay of architect firm Will + Partners, a current committee member and contributor to the BCO’s forthcoming Guide to Fit Out paper. Her experience in design spans almost 30 years.