HBD hires ex-St Modwen development director

The developer, formerly known as Henry Boot Developments, has hired Chris Newsome as senior development surveyor as it looks to expand across the North.

Newsome will work across HBD’s Manchester office, which has 13 employees, and at its Leeds office and will be involved in the £100m transformation of Deansgate station, a joint venture with Network Rail for which HBD was chosen as developer in April 2019, and the Island site on John Dalton Street, also in Manchester.

Newsome’s last position was at St Modwen where he spent more than two years as development director until he left in summer 2019. During this time, Newsome led on the delivery of the regeneration of the 450-acre former MG Rover site at Longbridge.

This was his second stint at St Modwen having initially spent four years as senior development manager at the firm between 2004 and 2008.

Newsome has also held roles with Simons Group, which went into administration in October 2019, and McDonalds where he spent nine years as regional acquisition manager.

HBD saw its pipeline increase from £1bn to £1.6bn nationally in 2019.

Dean Thompson, director and head of HBD’s Manchester office, said: “Chris brings a huge amount of experience and will no doubt be a real asset as we continue to invest in Manchester city centre and expand our wider North West development pipeline.”

Newsome said: “It’s great to be joining at such an exciting time for the business – I look forward to working with the team to secure new development opportunities, while delivering the well-designed, high-quality schemes that have become synonymous with HBD.”