Three in at Staffordshire house building group Tara

Staffordshire builder and civil engineering specialist Tara Group has made a hat-trick of new appointments, as it targets sales of £400m by 2030.

The Chasetown-based group, which employs over 250 people, has boosted its finance department with the recruitment of Taranjit Tiwana as Finance Director of its open market business Cameron Homes and David Grady as Chief Financial Officer for the group.

The latter gained significant experience at PWC, Donaldsons and Tarmac before becoming CFO at Central England Co-op.  

More recently he has been the CFO at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and, prior to joining Tara, the CFO of University of Wolverhampton.

Taranjit Tiwana brings with him 12 years’ experience working with Redrow Homes across the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

The ACCA qualified accountant will play a key role in supporting the MD and senior leadership team to achieve the 5-year business plan through effective business partnering and forecasting.

They will be joined in the finance department by Kiera Pascoe (FCCA), who after 18 years as Finance Director for Chasetown Civil Engineering has been promoted to the newly created Director of Tax and Financial Compliance position for Tara Group.

“Despite a lot of market pressures and instability in the economy, we’ve still posted another year of growth and feel these trio of moves really gives us the financial base to target new opportunities,” said Julie Caudle, chief operating officer at Tara Group.

“David and Taranjit bring a lot of industry experience to their roles, whilst Kiera understands the culture and approach of the business having been with us for more nearly two decades.

“Together they will focus on bringing the three businesses together and achieving enhanced efficiencies from initial costings of jobs, right through to production and delivery. There will also be a stronger focus on data and automation in our processes.”

Tara Group, which includes Cameron Homes, Chasetown Civil Engineering and Keon Homes, was originally founded in 1974 by Noel Sweeney and remains in the ownership of the Sweeney Family.  

With three offices in Chasetown, the company provides a full range of construction services from open market housing and civil engineering for major projects to building affordable homes and extra care schemes across the Midlands.

Each of the three businesses in the group have unveiled five-year growth plans to increase market share in their respective sectors by focusing on strategic land acquisition, maintaining quality build standards and supporting the government’s desire to increase housing supply.

Chief financial officer, David Grady, added: “This is a fantastic time to be joining the Tara Group as we plot the next five years of growth. 

“Having a strong finance function is critical for what we’ve got planned and we’re investing heavily in both people and the latest technology to make sure we are optimising efficiencies and providing a strong cash reserve to go after new sites and local authority frameworks.”