Savills appoints new head of sales in Notting Hill office

Savills has appointed Daniel Taylor as head of sales in the Notting Hill office.

Having operated within Notting Hill, Kensington and Holland Park for the last 12 years, Taylor joins Savills with an intricate knowledge of the region and prime market.

Having started his career in 2007 in the country market at a Surrey based estate agency, Taylor moved to London to pursue a career in London residential sales and joined Faron Sutaria as a senior broker in their Notting Hill office.

For the last decade Taylor has worked at Chestertons, where he took on a number of roles at the company’s Kensington and Holland Park office. Joining as an associate, Taylor’s career progressed within the firm and he soon became a director and head of residential sales – a position he held for nearly five years.

His new role at Savills will see him focus on the prime level of the market, where he will cover the sales of large luxury apartments through to family homes.

Of the appointment, head of prime central London and head of Savills Kensington office, Peter Bevan, commented: “We are absolutely delighted to have Daniel on board as part of our residential sales business in prime west London. His wealth of experience and knowledge of the local markets will be a valuable addition to the team. I’m sure he will continue to drive sales and help elevate our offering to clients.”

CALA Group makes two key senior appointments

CALA Group has made two key senior appointments, with Kathryn Dapré taking up the role of head of sustainability and Robin Dodyk joining as head of modern methods of construction.

The pair will help drive CALA’s commitment to be operational net zero carbon by 2030, as well as reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Scottish government’s 2045 target.

These goals reflect owner Legal & General’s pledge to make all its new housing stock operational net zero carbon enabled from 2030.

Dapré will direct CALA’s roadmap of research, innovations and targets across key areas contributing to reducing its environmental impact, working closely with teams across the UK-wide business to empower colleagues to play their own part in the business’ carbon reduction.

With 28 years of experience across a wide spectrum of sustainability and climate change focussed roles, Dapré joins CALA from NHS Scotland, where as head of energy and sustainability, she was instrumental in developing and implementing national sustainability policies and strategies – including the development of the NHS Scotland Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy.

Dapré said: “With new government legislation coming to the fore and an increased awareness that the construction industry must do more to fight climate change, it is an exciting time to be joining CALA as the team steps up its sustainability mission.

“With a solid strategy already in place, I am looking forward to working with colleagues throughout the business to help make meaningful progress towards reducing our carbon footprint – not just in the way we build homes, but in the way we operate our business. Our teams are exploring innovative and pioneering means to meet our green objectives, and everyone has a role to play, so I’m looking forward to driving that.”

Dodyk is an experienced technical expert, having spent more than 44 years in the construction sector, including over 20 years with Oregon Timer Frame in Selkirk.

He will guide the business in adopting greener housing, leading on MMC research, trials and implementation, as well as associated training and development for the wider team. Dodyk will initially spearhead a major initiative to roll-out timber frame across the entire range of CALA homes, ensuring efficiencies in the 40% of homes which already use timber frame as well as establishing and executing a strategy to efficiently introduce it to the rest of the business.

Dodyk commented: “Within the construction industry, our route to reducing carbon will involve a lot of change and innovative thinking if we’re to achieve our sustainability goals.

“It’s an exciting time to join the CALA team when our environmental impact is at the forefront of the agenda. With timber frame offering up to a 20% reduction in embodied carbon over similar size traditional building methods, our plans to switch to this new approach is a huge focus. We will also explore other elements of MMC and wider innovations in construction to help achieve our net zero ambitions.”

Hines names Daniel Chang as European head of ESG

Hines, the international property firm, has appointed Daniel Chang as head of Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) for Europe.

His appointment sees the firm strengthen its longstanding commitment to ESG, further supporting its holistic ESG approach globally, and will ensure new initiatives focused on addressing carbon emissions and social equity across the built environment are embedded across Europe.

Chang, who previously held the role of managing director, Portfolio Management at Hines, will be located in London, working across Europe and as part of Hines’ wider global ESG team.

Chang began his career at Hines in July 1999 as an assistant construction manager, transitioning into development management and eventually into portfolio management.

Chang commented: “I’m excited to head up the ESG agenda at Hines in Europe at a moment where the urgency and need for action has become increasingly clear. The real estate sector has a pivotal role to play in mitigating the impact of climate change and creating healthy and resilient communities and, as such, at Hines we view ESG as an integral part of our approach to delivering future-proofed buildings that are also capable of delivering financial performance.”