Lodha UK appoints Lord Andrew Hay as independent advisor

London-based property developer Lodha UK has appointed Lord Andrew Hay as an independent advisor.

Following an illustrious 37-year career at Knight Frank, holding a dual role of UK and global head of residential, and following the completion of Lodha UK’s first two projects in London, No.1 Grosvenor Square and Lincoln Square, Lord Andrew’s remit is to advise the company on various aspects of its growth strategy as it prepares for its next investment cycle.

Lord Andrew stepped down from his role at Knight Frank in March 2020.

Lord Andrew, said: “I have admired the Lodha Group and its leadership for the last eight years both in India and London via their two projects at Lincoln Square and No.1 Grosvenor Square.

“Lodha UK has demonstrated the ability to deliver at the very highest level and has an exciting growth plan going forward together with an enlightened approach to the provision of homes that are not just high quality and beautifully serviced, but whereby they create an environment that enables their owners to thrive.

“As global head of residential at Knight Frank I was fortunate to be responsible for residential sales and development across 60 countries – which gave me access to the world’s best developers and their world class projects.

“I am delighted to have been invited by Abhishek Lodha to join the Lodha Group as I consider their product, service and vision to be market leading. I am tremendously excited by the growth opportunity of Lodha’s second phase of UK expansion and to be able to work with Gabriel York to help shape Lodha UK for the benefit of its customers and investors.”

Barratt Homes appoints new technical director

Nina Strangeways is celebrating her promotion as technical manager at Peterborough-based Barratt and David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire, less than one year after joining the company.

She was initially headhunted to work on the housebuilder’s Darwin Green development in Cambridge in 2019, before being appointed technical manager of the region.

Strangeways, aged 35, studied architecture in the UK for seven years.

After eight years of consultancy, she joined McCarthy and Stone for four years before her role on Darwin Green in Cambridge.

Despite English being her sixth language and less than one year with the company, Strangeways, originally from Mauritius and speaking French and Creole, is also learning German.

Strangeways moved to the UK at the age of 15 where she attended Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in South Kensington – the only French speaking school in the UK.

She said: “A number of reasons had brought me to Barratt and David Wilson Homes Cambridgeshire. Firstly, within the industry I had never heard a bad word spoken about them as an employer.

“I also think Darwin Green is very exciting. I was technical project manager here since 2019 and as my background is in non-standard product, it just fit perfectly. We have lots of apartment blocks and features that require thinking outside of the box.”

David Copland joins Property Master as new business development director

Property Master has appointed David Copland as its new business development director.

Copland joins the digital buy-to-let mortgage broker after spending 10 years with LSL Property Services plc as director of mortgage services.

He joined LSL following the group’s acquisition of Pink Home Loans from the Skipton Building Society in December 2010.

Property Master was launched three years ago and is the UK’s first and only digital mortgage broker solely focussed on UK buy-to-let landlords.

Copland said: “I have followed Property Master’s development over the last few years, and I am excited at the prospect of now having a more hands-on role.

“Property Master have successfully made great strides in disrupting the market for buy-to-let mortgage finance which I know to be complex and challenging.  The company’s use of technology is truly market leading and the savings they can make for individual landlords can be transformative.”