Caddick Group has promoted Helen Gardner to a newly created position of head of legal and tasked her with recruiting a brand-new team to support the organisation’s growth.
Gardner (pictured) who has been qualified as a lawyer for 20 years and has worked within Caddick for eight, will spearhead the new department, which will work on projects across the network of companies.
These include Caddick Developments, the Yorkshire-headquartered developer with a 16 million square foot pipeline of industrial and logistics projects and a pipeline of 11,000 new homes; Moda, the national built-to-rent specialist active in many of the UK’s core cities; and Oakgate Group, which focuses on property development in and around the historic city of York.
Gardner qualified as a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell in Leeds in 2001. She moved in-house within the property development sector in 2013, before joining the team at Caddick.
As head of legal, Gardner will assume a group-wide legal role to help Caddick’s transactions run smoothly. In the coming months, she will build a team of experts to help ensure the businesses needs are adequately catered for, while positioning for further growth.
Gardner said: “It’s an exciting time to be involved with the strategic legal process for the next phase of the group’s growth. Caddick has some really exciting new schemes in the pipeline, both in the residential and industrial and logistics sectors. By streamlining our approach to legal transactions, we will be able to hugely enhance group wide efficiency and delivery.”
“I’m looking forward to building a new team, whilst maintaining our important relationships with our trusted network of external law firms who continue to support our business.”
Johnny Caddick, director of Caddick Group, said: “Helen understands the development sector well and this appointment continues our drive and focus in growing the Caddick Group businesses. We have seen some fantastic projects come to life in recent years, and with activity continuing to ramp up, it’s vital we build an in-house team that has the skills and knowledge to back our ambitions.”
Gardner joined the Caddick business in 2013 and during that time has successfully secured the funding for the Moda New York Square scheme (Blocks E and F) at SOYO, achieved planning permission for Moor Park in Mirfield and organised contractual obligations around the new TV and film studios at Whitehall Road, Leeds.