Fairhursts hires former Devereux director

The Fairhursts Design Group has appointed Caroline Richards, previously at Devereux Architects until it closed its Manchester office, as an executive associate.

Richards has 15 years' experience designing and delivering projects spanning the commercial, regeneration, research, education and healthcare sectors. He career has included five years in Hong Kong as well as working for clients across the UK, Ireland, France and St Helena.

She has been brought in to further develop FDG's specialist laboratory and complex buildings team.

Earlier this month, Fairhursts was selected by Liverpool University and Unilever to design the new £18m Materials Innovation Factory due to open in 2015. Other wins include University of Manchester's Simon Building refurbishment, an aerospace research centre in Coventry and Rutherford Appleton Laboratories in Oxford.

Richard Sagar, director of the Fairhursts Design Group, said: "Following a successful six-to-nine months for the firm and a number of new project wins, we are delighted to announce that Caroline has joined the business this week. As an expanding company, we are constantly looking to invest in the very best talent to join our expert team here in the North West, to work on projects throughout the UK and in our international markets. With a host of diverse projects under her belt, we are all extremely excited about Caroline's arrival.

"Caroline's wealth of experience in client management, project planning and project leadership as well as her business development skills will be invaluable to FDG going forward."

Richards added: "FDG is an award winning practice with an enviable client list and I look forward to the challenges ahead."