People Moves

Wates has appointed former Lendlease veteran Brian Long as its new group health, safety and wellbeing director.  Long will join the family-owned contractor in September and sit on the group’s executive committee, reporting to chief executive Eoghan O’Lionaird.  Long previously worked at Lendlease for more than 17 years, latterly as…

The Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) has summarily axed 20 of its monitors, Construction News has learned. In an email seen by CN, the not-for-profit organisation said it had taken a “tough decision” to reduce the number of people carrying out inspections of registered sites. Such visits are typically carried out by…

Construction deserves a bigger focus in government and is too often viewed as an “afterthought”, the outgoing boss of Wates Construction Group has said. “For too long, for an industry that employs so many people and that adds so much to the economy, construction is seen as an afterthought by…

Former Morgan Sindall executive Robert Ogg has been appointed as managing director of Akela Construction. The Glasgow-based construction services group also announced the promotion of Will Payne to managing director of Akela Group’s ground engineering division. Ogg (pictured) served as managing director of Scottish infrastructure works at Morgan Sindall from…

Former Crossrail boss Mark Wild is to become chief executive of High Speed 2 (HS2) Ltd. The experienced transport leader will take the reins of the shortened rapid rail link with a brief to keep costs down and prevent delays. A start date has not yet been set for his…

A senior Mace executive is looking to swap construction for legislation by standing as a Labour candidate in the forthcoming general election. Mike Reader, global lead for winning work in Mace’s consulting arm, is hoping to get elected in the key battleground of Northampton South. Reader has worked at Mace…

TopHat managing director Andrew Shepherd is to leave the troubled modular housebuilder, it has emerged. The former Laing O’Rourke chief posted on professional networking site LinkedIn that he would be “moving on to a new challenge”. TopHat announced in February that it was consulting on up to 70 job cuts,…

Mark Reynolds is stepping down as chief executive of Mace after more than 12 years at the helm, amid a massive governance shake-up at the tier one contractor. Reynolds, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), joined the firm as chief executive in 2012 after serving as programme director for…

Galliford Try has appointed a former HS2 chief as its first divisional managing director for infrastructure. David Lowery, who joined Galliford Try three years ago after heading an HS2 joint venture, will take up the position on 1 July. Lowery will be responsible for the firm’s environment division, which is…

Mechanical and electrical (M&E) contractor Enerveo has announced the departure of its chief executive. The firm was bought back from private equity company Aurelius by former parent company SSE in late March. Zak Houlahan, who was appointed by Aurelius in 2021, has been replaced by the company’s chief financial officer…