Wates struck a deal earlier this month to buy the bulk of Shepherd Group’s built environment division.

Perkins has been in charge of a major restructuring at Shepherd during the last six months.

And the Enquirer understands that he will be offered a senior role at Wates once the takeover deal is finalised.

A company insider said: “Nothing is set in stone yet but it looks more likely than not that Mark Perkins will be joining Wates once the deal is completed.”

The news will please many Shepherd staff who have been impressed by Perkins leadership during a turbulent period at the firm.

One source said: “The word here for some time has been that Perkins had been working on a sell-off plan because the Board were unwilling to invest in the built environment operations.”

Wates has reached a preliminary agreement to buy the profit-making M&E arm, Shepherd Engineering Services, and Shepherd FM, its facilities management company.

Wates Group will also acquire a significant number of contracts and frameworks from Shepherd Construction, which last year ran up losses of £8.2m on £240m turnover.

The move follows Shepherd’s sale of its housing division to Galliford Try earlier this month.

The source added: “Perkins turned around the homes business before selling it and has done the same with SES and the FM business.

“He’s also had a good go at reforming the construction business which has been beyond a host of big names previously.

“He was the one who made all the announcements to staff with no-one else from the Board in site.”