CDCs — The get up and go

So, will the arrival of a new quango prompt a round of musical chairs as chief executives shift from older and more established bodies to head these new models of regeneration? After all, Tom McCartney left the job of chief executive of urban regeneration company Sunderland Arc this month to take on the fresh challenge of leading North Staffordshire’s new city development company.

Being in the vanguard of a regeneration movement can enhance anyone’s career and is bound to be a tempting prospect. Cara Downes, consultant with recruitment firm PSD Group, says: “Movement at the top will naturally have a knock-on effect throughout the rest of the quango sector. Many people in the sector are waiting to see who comes in at the top at the city development companies before making a decision whether to continue with their present jobs or look elsewhere.”

Recycling quango staff

Creative Sheffield has this month been advertising a number of jobs in its physical regeneration team: two assistant director posts at an annual salary of £45k, plus package, and a senior regeneration manager post at a salary of £39k, plus package. But the quango, like a number of emerging city development companies, is formed from the merger of existing bodies and some of their staff have also won top jobs. Of the five top directors appointed in March, three were drawn from existing regional quangos being absorbed into Creative Sheffield. The city development company’s new director of physical regeneration, Andy Topley, was formerly chief executive of Sheffield One.

Every town has a different set of problems, and moving allows you to bring your experience into other towns

Peter James, New Swindon Company

Career fluidity

Within a quango a job can never be regarded as a job for life, because their very existence is dependent on government funding and governments are determined to replace old with new. But many senior quango executives seem not to want to remain in their posts long enough to pick up a gold watch. Tom McCartney had been with Sunderland Arc for five years. Peter James, chief executive of The New Swindon Company has been with the quango for two years, and before that worked at Tees Valley Regeneration. He says the sector’s fluidity is a positive factor: “Changing jobs every five years is healthy anyway. Every town has a different set of problems, and moving allows you to bring your experience into other towns.”

Apart from James, all but two of New Swindon Company’s staff have, however, been with it for all of its four-year life. The reasons why staff are sticking around, are, says James: “We have an exciting programme, the funding is in place and everyone is wanting to move things forward. At an urban regeneration company you can broker a deal. You can cut through the crap and you are not political.”

James came to the quango sector after some years in private sector development, and he has never regretted crossing the public:private divide against the general flow. He says: “It suited my circumstances to do this, and I have found it quite fulfilling. When you are developing, everything is about the profit margin. Here you say: what’s the right thing to do? It is not so much profit-driven.”