MARK Summerfield has swapped building houses for building share portfolios following his appointment as a trainee investment advisor at Tees Valley investment managers Wise Speke.

Mr Summerfield, 31, from Easingwold, North Yorkshire, joins Wise Speke, which employs 300 people in its Newcastle and Teesside offices, after spending many years as the owner of a small building supplies business.

Having worked in the building industry from the age of 16, he decided on a career change three years ago and took a job with a small private bank in Harrogate.

He said: "I made the initial move from building supplies into financial services because I felt that I had achieved all I wanted to with my building business, and wanted a new challenge.

"My job at the bank was a fantastic introduction into the industry, but stocks and shares and investment portfolios was what I was really interested in, so the opportunity to develop my career with a company of Wise Speke's size and reputation was too good to miss."