Regional construction firm Beard, which has an office in Bristol, has appointed Melissa Barber to the new role of head of marketing and communications.
Melissa, pictured, will lead the 127-year-old, family-owned firm’s marketing operations with responsibility for developing the brand across its offices in Swindon, Oxford, Guildford and Bristol.
She will also support the directors and senior management with a wider communications strategy.
Melissa, a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, studied marketing at Strode College in Street, Somerset.
She has since worked extensively in the South West housing and construction sector, with her experience cutting across the public and private sectors, and including roles at Rok, where she was business development manager, AH Gadd as marketing manager and, most recently, as group head of business services at Bristol construction services firm Dribuild.
She is also a board member of Rudgeway, South Gloucestershire -based Elim Housing Association, which owns and manages around 800 homes in the South West and South Wales.
Melissa said: “Beard has already established an excellent reputation as a firm that gets the job done on time and on budget and sees treating its suppliers and staff fairly as an integral part of delivering for the customer.
“I am looking forward to taking the firm’s marketing and communications strategy to the next level and helping to support the business’s wider objectives for sustainable growth.”
Beard chairman Mark Beard added: “We have all been impressed with Melissa’s drive and energy and by her enthusiasm for the construction industry. I am confident her knowledge and understanding of the industry, together with her professional background, make her the right person to take Beard’s marketing and communications strategy forward.”
Beard undertakes design and build, new build, restoration and refurbishment on a range of projects, including complex projects, up to £20m for public and private sector organisations.
It has significant expertise in building for the healthcare, arts and culture, commerce and industry, education, religious buildings, elderly care, sports and leisure and defence sectors.
While in business since 1892, Beard has been transformed over the past two decades under Mark Beard’s stewardship from a small local builder to a modern, professionally managed regional construction company. During this time turnover has soared from £18m in 1999 to £160m.
The firm opened its office in Bristol in 2015 to secure more work in the area. Since then high-profile contracts in the city have included demolishing and replacing the outdated toll booths at Clifton Suspension Bridge and building the SS Great Britain’s £7.2m Being Brunel museum and visitor experience in the city’s historic dockyard.
