People Moves

Lee Rowley has been reappointed housing minister as Rachel Maclean was sacked after nine months in the job. The revolving door of housing ministers spun once again this week, as prime minister Rishi Sunak made the 16th appointment to the housing minister job since the Conservatives took power in 2010.…

Skanska stalwart Steve Holbrook has left the firm with immediate effect after almost three decades of service. Holbrook joined the Swedish-owned construction firm in 1995, initially as a sponsored student midway through his undergraduate studies at Loughborough University. He rose through the ranks to become managing director of Skanska Building…

Wates Construction managing director Mark Tant has left the firm after five years at the helm. His role will be taken over on an interim basis by Steffan Battle, former group head of pre-construction, who has been with Wates for almost 30 years. Wates did not comment on the reason…

Persimmon has appointed Galliford Try’s Andrew Duxbury as its new chief financial officer. Duxbury will join the homebuilder next year, having served as Galliford Try’s group finance director for almost five years. His appointment follows the departure of Persimmon’s Jason Windsor in September to become CFO at asset manager Abrdn.…

Sally Cox has been appointed as managing director of EKFB, the joint venture between Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and Bam Nuttall. She will be responsible for overseeing 80km of HS2’s first phase between the Chiltern Tunnel and Long Itchington Wood. Cox said: “It’s an engineer’s dream to work on a…

Balfour Beatty’s UK construction services chief will retire at the end of the year, Construction News has learnt. An email sent to staff by the firm’s chief executive Leo Quinn announced that Mark Bullock will step down at the end of the year after more than three years in the…

Kier is to carve its London and Southern England activity into separate businesses just two years after the regional units were merged into one. The firm has appointed David Rowsell as managing director of Kier Construction London and Cheryl Parsons as regional director for Kier Construction Southern. The move is a…

Costain has hired two non-executive directors, including the former chief executive of Amey. Steve Mogford and Amanda Fisher are set to join Costain’s board on 1 November and 1 December respectively, and will serve as members of the contractor’s audit, nomination and remuneration committees. Fisher ran Amey from 2019 until…

Galliford Try has appointed Andrew Spencer to the newly created role of supply chain and procurement director. Spencer joins the business from Skanska, and has more than 25 years’ experience in construction. He will become the functional head of supply chain and procurement professionals across the business, reporting to technical…

The managing director of Costain’s transport division, Sue Kershaw, is leaving the company after almost four years. The post, which involves responsibility for the firm’s highways, rail and aviation work, will be taken over by group commercial director David Taylor on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is appointed.…