Meet the team
Melanie Banks – Director of Redevelopment and Strategic Planning
Melanie is the Director of Redevelopment and Strategic Planning at Bedfordshire Hospitals, where she leads major infrastructure projects and the strategic vision for both hospital’s future growth and evolution. With a deep commitment to enhancing patient care through innovative facility design and forward-thinking planning, Melanie and her team ensure the hospitals remains at the forefront of capital opportunity. Her expertise in managing complex projects with Partners across organisations, coupled with her focus on sustainability and operational efficiency, allows her to drive positive change for both staff and patients. Passionate about healthcare improvement, she is dedicated to creating environments that support exceptional patient outcomes and a thriving community.
Phil Brand – Construction Director
Phil Brand is the Construction Director for hospital redevelopment at both hospitals. Phil has overall responsibility for delivering the redevelopment programme at the Trust and brings with him a wealth of experience working for major international construction and consulting firms, managing large scale construction projects in both the public and private sectors. Phil is familiar with all aspects of efficient and effective project delivery from development of business cases, preplanning, design, procurement, construction and operations and maintenance.
Kyle McClelland – Construction Project Director
Kyle is the Construction Project Director. Kyle is a local boy, being born and raised in Hemel Hempstead and has around 18-years of experience working with the NHS on strategic and capital developments, including 12 years at West Herts Hospitals, in Watford.
Kyle’s role is to procure the Works Contractors and specialist advisers who will deliver the New Clinical Buildings. Once they are selected, Kyle will then lead and manage the teams through the complex delivery of the buildings in to operational use. Kyle joined the Redevelopment Team in January 2020.
Caroline Roberts – Senior Programme Manager
Caroline joined the Redevelopment Team in January 2021 in her role as Senior Programme Manager for hospital Re-development for Bedfordshire Hospitals. Caroline is an experienced General Manager with a clinical background and has worked at both L&D at Bedford Hospital. Caroline has experience in working across the system and has worked in both Community & Acute Trust settings.
Caroline joins the team with a wealth of clinical and operational knowledge and will lead the strategic development of projects across both sites.
Jon Hall – Construction Project Manager
Jon is the senior project manager for hospitals revelopment. Jon is responsible for working with the trusts design and construction teams to deliver new facilities for the hospitals.
Michael Poole – Capital Project Redevelopment Manager
Mike is the Project Manager overseeing the Energy Centre Redevelopment Scheme as well as multiple other Service Upgrade provisions. Previously having been employed as the Senior Capital Projects Manager at the East & North Herts NHS Trust in Stevenage, gaining 19 years + Healthcare experience within an Estates Capital Redevelopment role.
is role is to oversee the design and construction of the Energy Centre, facilitating all works of the Main Contractor and all other specialist parties the Trust has directly employed to deliver an Energy Hub supporting our changing site over the coming years.
Alica Nawaz – Business Manager
Alica joined the Trust in November 2019, and brings with her over 10 years of experience working with the British Airport Authority across a portfolio of Projects, including the Heathrow Terminal 2 Construction Programme (£2.3b). Alica provides business management support and leadership for the clinical strategy and redevelopment programme which, includes clinical change project and major capital infrastructure projects.
Josh Skelcey – Assistant Project Manager
Josh recently joined the Redevelopment team as an Assistant Project Manager. Josh is a local boy, who was born and raised in Dunstable. Previously he was a professional rugby player and brings a high level of experience, working in high pace, team environments.
Josh will be working closely with contractors and specialist advisers to help deliver and manage complex site redevelopments, whilst minimising disruption amongst the Bedfordshire Hospitals.
Sandie Knott – Programme Administrator
Sandie has joined the Redevelopment Team as Programme Administrator. Sandie will work across all projects supporting the Strategic Development, Procurement, Construction and Management Teams. Sandie has worked in the Trust’s Estate Team for over 5 years as Admin Support and has a good overall understanding of the Trust’s systems and processes.
Bharathi Brown – Programme Manager
Bharathi has joined the Redevelopment team in February 2023 as a Programme Manager. She has worked in various NHS organisations since 1995, which includes Acute teaching hospitals, Primary Care Trust, Specialised Commissioning and Department of Health and brings a wealth of operational, transformational and programme management experience and knowledge to the team. Bharathi is responsible for leading on the transition planning of support services into the new building and providing programme management support to the vascular team in delivering their long-term strategy.
Alysha Sheimar – Apprentice Project Manager
Alysha joined the Redevelopment team in May 2023 as an Apprentice Project Manager working towards a two year Association of Project Management Qualification. Alysha brings a high level of experience working in fast paced, team environments. Alysha provides project management support to the Site Redevelopment Team, primarily supporting the transition planning programme to manage the move of clinical teams into the new hospital buildings at the Luton site.
Lucy Gleasure, Redevelopment Services Manager
Lucy recently joined the Redevelopment team having worked in Primary Care for the last 7 years. Lucy started her NHS career as a Medical Secretary and for the last 4 years was a GP Practice Manager. Lucy brings a wealth of operational, strategic and project management experience and is responsible for the supporting the transitional planning with the clinical teams into the new hospital buildings and supporting the development of clinical models of care and implementation planning, general project management and clinical stakeholder engagement.
Alisha Maguire, Redevelopment Project Manager
Alisha joined the Redevelopment team in July 2024 as a Redevelopment Project Manager. She has a clinical background and has worked in community, acute and mental health settings. Alisha is experienced in project delivery, transformation and quality improvement with both clinical and non-clinical projects, including estates. Alisha is responsible for leading the transition planning groups and workstreams to the vascular team, enabling and equipment.