Peel go for black gold

Peel Group director Owen Michaelson has been appointed to take over the property division of Doncaster-based UK Coal, in which the Trafford-based developer holds a stake.

UK Coal, which is the largest coal-mining company in Britain, is undergoing a structural overhaul which will give the mining and property arms “more responsibility” for their own business. Michaelson is currently chairman of Peel Environmental.

UK Coals’s non-executive chairman David Jones, who is leaving the business as part of the shake-up, said: “Our property business has demonstrated the substantial value it can realise and, over the coming years, will be moving into its development phase.

“In the light of this, and as we continue to manage our way out from a challenging situation, we believe that the best way to ensure the single-minded focus on each business and the range of issues they will face is for each business to be led by its own managing director, each reporting directly to the board.”

Peel owns a 28.3 per cent in UK Coal.