Stantec’s Elliot Alfirevich has been promoted to Perth office manager, Geoff Spires joins Slattery as director for transport, Warren & Mahoney takes on two new architects and JLL’s hotels team has new hires.
Brian Wightman, the Property Council’s Tasmanian executive director, will be leaving the organisation in November to take up the role of state manager of the Australian Education Union. Wightman, a former principal and Tasmanian government minister, has led the Property Council in Tasmania since 2014. Property Council chief executive Ken Morrison says “Brian has championed the policies that will help the state get back on its feet: clear planning, reforming inefficient authorities, sensible tax settings and strong cities”. Recruitment for Wightman’s replacement will begin immediately.
Stantec has appointed a new Perth office manager for its Australian and New Zealand buildings group. Elliot Alfirevich steps into the role following Brett Davis’ appointment as the buildings regional leader earlier this year. Alfirevich started his career with Stantec, then Wood & Grieve Engineers, in 2006. He was promoted to the role of principal in 2012.
Slattery has a new director for its national transport and infrastructure team. Geoff Spires joins the property and construction advisory firm with 17 years’ experience behind him in Australia and the UK, most recently with Turner & Townsend. He’s worked on landmark projects including the Melbourne Airport Rail Link and the Westgate Tunnel. Spires will work with new senior associates Ross O’Sullivan and Steve Rowe who joined Slattery recently.
Warren and Mahoney’s Sydney architectural studio has expanded its team, with two hires: associate principal Claire Matheson and senior associate Tom Vandenberg. Matheson works at the forefront of commercial, sport and recreation design, most recently with Fender Katsalidis and Scott Carver. Among her projects is the netball centre at Sydney Olympic Park. Vandenberg joins the practice from Grimshaw, where he held the role of project architect on the competition-winning Green Square Pool project – Sydney’s largest pool complex since the 2000 Olympics.
JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group has made three new appointments to the Australian team. Chloe Mason joins in Perth and Scott Parker in Brisbane as senior executives responsible for hotel and hospitality sales, and Gillian Berardi will commence as national marketing Specialist across both divisions of the hospitality platform. They will work alongside national director of JLL’s pub division, John Musca, and Australasian managing director, head of investment sales Australasia, Peter Harper. Mason and Berardi have spent the last five years with CBRE, Mason as a senior sales executive responsible for hotel and leisure property transactions, and Berardi in hotel marketing. Scott Parker held senior sales positions at Next Payment platform and Tabcorp Holdings.
Design consultancy Geyer has been acquired by The Intelligent Consulting Group, led by Group CEO Marcel Zalloua, who is also the co-founder of commercial and retail delivery specialist, Valmont. Geyer and Valmont will now operate as sister companies under The Intelligent Consulting Group banner. Adam Mundy, who joined Geyer in February as global design director, says the firm is a “journey to bring design back to the forefront and to manage projects through strategy-led design”.
Real estate agency McGrath has hired a new CEO as Geoff Lucas steps down. Edward Law, former global head of institutional property at ANZ, takes on the top job. Law was most recently an executive director of Newground Capital Partners and investment director of MaxCap Group.
Knight Frank has made a key hire in its national IT team. Darren Warner has started as head of IT for Australia and will work alongside Al Jansen, Knight Frank’s head of disruption for Australia. Warner moves to Knight Frank from Inchcape, a multinational automotive distribution, retail and services company, where he worked for two years following a 10 year-plus stint at CBRE as regional IT director for Asia Pacific.
Mia Bannister has joined boutique construction advisory Codicote as director for clients and strategy. Banniers has been a long term contributor to Property Council committees, including more than five on the Queensland Diversity Committee, and has held business development roles with WG Architects, Kane Constructions, Total Construction and others.
Edward Cotter has joined Better Buildings Finance, an organisation that supports councils with environmental upgrade finance, as its new executive manager. Cotter has been assisting outgoing executive manager Shay Singh since late 2019. Cotter has worked for the Green Building Council of Australia and various local councils; he was also involved with the Green Living Future Institute of Australia. He was most recently sustainability leader with the City of Greater Dandenong.
Sadhana Smiles is the new CEO of Real Estate Industry Partners, a group comprising some of the industry’s largest agencies is looking to improve connections with consumers. Smiles was most recently CEO of agency Harcourts.