A PIONEERING Worcester land and property management company has made a further high profile appointment to its principal management team.

Mel Ganderton has taken up the role of HR Director at Place Partnership, which was jointly established by six Midlands based public sector organisations and opened its doors for business last September. Ms Ganderton has worked in a number of senior HR positions, including a period of five years with Herefordshire County Council. As part of her most recent HR service manager role with Hoople, she worked as the senior consultant helping to set up Place Partnership and shaping the organisation’s programme of transformation.

Ms Ganderton will work closely with managing director Andrew Pollard and his team as they continue to implement their business plan which aims to transform the public estate across Herefordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Mr Pollard said: "Mel has been involved in the development of our HR for some time and we are delighted that she has now joined the team full time. Our staff play a vital role in the innovative services and solutions we are committed to delivering, hence Mel’s role will be integral in helping to develop our business for the benefit of the future public estate.”

Ms Ganderton added: "I am really excited to have joined Place Partnership. Having been given the opportunity to work on the creation of this ground breaking, innovative organisation I am looking forward to working alongside Andrew and the team to help deliver Place Partnership’s business objectives."

Place Partnership intends to establish more efficient ways of working and enhancing the range of services on offer to the public across the 1,300 land and property assets the company will initially be overseeing. These assets include schools, libraries, community centres, commercial buildings, police stations, fire stations, retail and leisure facilities, agricultural land and smallholdings.