The shake-up led by Liam Cummins, group managing director for Kier Construction, who joined from Laing O’Rourke nearly two years ago, will also see two new heads appointed for two new overriding functions covering client and markets’ and operations.
Chris Stevens promoted to operations director, and Louisa Finlay clients and markets director
Cummins said the new structure would underpin a new five-year sustainable growth plan.
He said: “With our four regional businesses and Kier Places, we are focused on continuing to position ourselves for growth in our primary sectors and within key geographical locations, further strengthening our position as the UK’s leading regional builder.
“The creation of two new operational and client and markets’ functions allow us to unlock further potential in key markets, as well as providing operational certainty for our clients.
“This new operating model and senior leadership team puts us in the strongest position to deliver sustainable growth over the next five years.”
Five UK Construction business units
London, South & Strategic Projects: led by David McKenzie who joined Kier last year as managing director of London & South East. This business will continue to build important healthcare and education projects, as well as maximise opportunities with the commercial sector.
Midlands & Eastern: Mark Dady’s current role as managing director for Eastern, will expand and cover the whole of the Midlands and the East of England.
Western & Wales: Anthony Irving will continue as managing director of Western & Wales and will also take overall responsibility for safety, health and wellbeing within the business.
North & Scotland: Gary Wintersgill continues as managing director for this business, which spans from Nottingham to Scotland.
Kier Places: the housing maintenance and facilities management solution business will continue to be headed up by Mark Whittaker, who has grown the business significantly over the past two years.
The two new functions are:
Clients & Markets: Louisa Finlay, formerly managing director for Kier’s Regional Building Southern business, will spearhead the newly-formed Client & Markets function. She was pivotal to defining the sustainability strategy within the Construction business and in this new position will oversee its implementation as well as supporting clients with their net zero ambitions. Finlay will also oversee Kier’s MMC offering and ‘digital by default’ approach.
Operations: Chris Stevens takes up the position as overall operations director for the Construction business. Chris joined Kier in January from Bouygues to head the old Midlands territory and will now be responsible for growing Kier’s self-delivery capabilities in building technologies and design
