Urban Splash deputy chief leaves after 15 years

Deputy chief executive of developer Urban Splash Nick Johnson has left the firm.

Johnson - who has worked at the Manchester-based regeneration specialist for 15 years - said his departure was “amicable and a little inevitable given the economic climate isn’t getting any better”.

It also emerged that fellow director Guy Jackson – who ran the construction arm of the business – has left the firm.

In a statement Urban Splash said it had promoted directors Simon Gawthorpe and Julian Curnuck to joint chief operating officers on a “slimmed-down” main board following the departures.

Johnson was responsible for some of the firm’s most high-profile projects including Park Hill in Sheffield and New Islington in Manchester, both of which Urban Splash is continuing to work on.

He told Building: “It’s time for me to set up a new venture…I’m looking at new things but things aren’t signed and sealed. It’s an amicable separation between myself and my fellow directors at Splash.”

Along with the two founders of Urban Splash - chairman Tom Bloxham and chief executive Jonathan Falkingham – Johnson was a shareholder but declined to comment on the nature of his departure or on what financial settlement had been struck.

Jackson led the delivery of Fort Dunlop and the Rotunda in Birmingham, schemes in Plymouth and more recently the completion of Lakeshore in Bristol.

Speaking of the changes, Bloxham said the new board structure would present an “opportunity for some of the very bright, younger talent within the business to play a bigger role in its future”.

He added: “Nick and I have known each other and worked together for more than 20 years. We were there right at the start when ‘urban’ was a dirty word. Together with the rest of the team we crafted a company that became a leader in its field and probably the first ever ‘branded’ property company. Nick was an integral part of that and is a true pioneer.”

Of Jackson, he added: “It’s been fantastic working with Guy and he has done a wonderful job directing the construction of our schemes up and down the country.”