City & Corporate: The week in city & corporate

Zabeel Properties, a Dubai-based property developer, has chosen Bell Pottinger Business & Brand as its global retained agency. Bell Pottinger is charged with promoting the firm's new landmark hotel development that involved Hollywood actor Brad Pitt as a design consultant.

Spada, the specialist professional services PR consultancy, has launched its own online forum aiming to be 'a new kind of City coffee house for the professions, where issues can be discussed'. Swordplay is part-edited by national journalists, and aims to cover topics affecting comms, legal and real estate.

Corfin Communications is advising a company that makes 'home power plants' in a profile-raising brief. Toronto-listed Disenco Energy provides energy-saving micro-combined heat and power appliances for domestic and small business premises. Disenco wants Corfin to establish it a position as 'a leading player in the green energy space'.

Greentarget has brought in Lisa Bondesio to its London team as an associate director. Bondesio will develop the firm's internal comms practice. Bondesio was most recently interim director of brand engagement at Interbrand. She reports to GreenTarget MD Nick Glanvill.

The Hogarth Partnership has brought in former MJ2 Communications manager Tim McCall as a director. McCall co-founded MJ2 in 2002, having previously worked at GCI Financial.

'Tim will focus on the property, private equity and financial services sectors,' said Hogarth managing partner John Olsen.

africapractice has hired Ali Merifield as corp comms director. Merifield was previously an associate director at Bite Communications, and has also worked at Lewis PR. She will work with existing Africapractice corporate clients and build up the consultancy's technology and telecoms practice across Africa.

Conduit PR has poached Ben Way from College Hill to join its technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) team. He was a consultant on the College Hill TMT team, and also worked at FD for five years.