Hughes joins from the Department for Transport (DfT) where he led the DfT’s portfolio of major rail investment projects.

In his previous role as Director of Investment Delivery Planning at Transport for London, Hughes held senior leadership roles on projects including Crossrail, the Northern Line Extension, and the Tube upgrades.

Rob Jones, Advisory Services Leader for Arup in the UK, India, Middle East and Africa said: “David brings outstanding experience of enabling the largest capital projects and delivering significant public capital investment in a complex political environment.

“His appointment builds on our existing capability in this area and his expertise will enable us to further support and drive major priority programmes with clients across energy, transport and the broader built environment globally.”

Hughes added, “I’m hugely excited to be joining Arup and look forward to growing the strategic advisory service for major programmes across the UK and internationally. It’s a great opportunity for me personally, with a firm I’ve long admired.”