Energy has been in the news even more than usual recently. With the spotlight on what the key sources will be for powering our homes and businesses in the future.

UEA professor in energy and climate change Charlie Wilson told the BBC last weekend that the need for big nuclear plants have been superseded by technology.

He argued that battery technology could be scaled up to allow renewable sources to generate power in favourable conditions and store it until it’s needed.

This would be a radical departure from the energy plan most contractors are working to. Many are working on the £20bn Hinkley Point C nuclear plant in Somerset and looking forward to EDF’s huge follow-up project at Sizewell C in Suffolk.

So, what are the challenges facing new nuclear construction in the UK? And should the supply chain be worried about the pipeline?

 1. Renewables

With the UK’s 2030 net zero commitment and the immediate drive for environmentally-friendly policies, there is pressure to introduce more renewable energy to the grid. But the recent energy crisis has shown the limitations of relying on natural sources.

With wind speeds down across the UK, the proportion of power generated by offshore wind has plummeted. While offshore wind has made great strides in recent years we can’t guarantee the conditions we need for significant reliance on renewables alone.

2. Storage technology

There are some great pilot projects. Such as the battery storage facility built in Oxford by EDF Renewables’ Pivot Power unit. Which wants to create 40 sites across the country to hold a total of 2 gigawatts of electricity. This is a fantastic step forward.

But, Renewables UK says 66,000 gigawatt hours are currently produced per year by wind farms.

If the UK was to move to only using renewable energy sources, it would have to ramp up its production of wind turbines and other schemes. And it would have to build a colossal amount of storage capacity to keep some power back for the still, cloudy days. It looks too big a leap on it’s own.

3. Fossil fuels

If renewables are not the full answer, could the UK fall back on coal and gas for its remaining power needs? Recent events have shown this is not always an easy answer. With a large chunk of our electricity currently coming from imported natural gas, global market conditions have impacted prices and seen some manufacturers pause production at times of extreme cost.

An application by West Cumbria Mining to build a coal mine in the North West, approved by the local planning authority, is going through a costly and bitter public inquiry. This comes after the government realised it might not show the country in its best light as it lobbied for environmental commitments ahead of COP26.

4. Planning

So, if we don’t want to turn back to traditional fossil fuel sources, and we can’t fast forward to having the infrastructure to rely on weather-based generation, that leaves us needing another answer. At the moment nuclear power is probably the best bet we’ve got. With a generation of facilities nearing the end of their life and decommissioning gearing up around the country, we need to find modern new plants to make nuclear power for the future.

The positive here is that communities exist around the UK with the skills and infrastructure to help the process. It is no coincidence that Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C are close to historic reactors.

5. Funding

The real hurdle that remains for big nuclear projects is funding. Their sheer size, complexity and regulations involved, make them very expensive investments.

The question for the UK government, is whether it would like to stump up its own money for a new nuclear plant or accept the money of another government elsewhere in the world. EDF is 85% owned by the French government. While the state-sponsored China General Nuclear Power Group also has a stake in the Hinkley and Sizewell schemes. But according to reports the UK Government plans to force the sale of China’s 20 per cent stake in Sizewell C.

6. Small modular reactors

One possible route for the UK to go down would be development of smaller modular reactors. Boris Johnson backed further research into this technology in his 10 Point Plan for a green industrial revolution.

The benefit of this approach is the ability to scale-up nuclear power capacity in bite-sized chunks. Potentially building several reactors on one site over time without the need for a mammoth up-front investment.

The challenge here is the time it will take to get the technology approved as safe to use.  Any new development in something as potentially dangerous as nuclear reaction has a mountain of testing and paperwork to go through.

Ultimately the government will likely realise its only real choice is to take its own stake in a big one-off nuclear new build. There don’t seem to be viable and palatable alternatives.

The quicker ministers commit to making this happen, the better it will be for the industry. This would benefit the UK economy as a whole and the general population as energy customers.

Looking to recruit senior talent for within the energy sector? Please get in touch HERE.

Recently the Treasury set out details of £31 billion of infrastructure and construction procurement activity planned for the next year. This formed part of a National Infrastructure Pipeline the government pledged would support an average of 425,000 jobs per year to 2025.

Infrastructure and Projects Authority Chief Executive Nick Smallwood said the pipeline would “allow industry to plan and strategise for the coming years”.

But to what extent can contractors and consultants bank on the work in the pipeline making it onto site?

Only time will tell, but let’s look at the risks that exist…

1. Planning

We don’t have to look far into the Treasury’s pipeline to see where planning risk could impact the figures. c£4 billion of the value is against a tunnels and approaches contract for the Lower Thames Crossing.

The project has yet to receive a development consent order and National Highways (Highways England at the time) withdrew its first DCO application last autumn following correspondence with the Planning Inspectorate. They submitted an updated version this summer, with changes reportedly costing hundreds of millions of pounds.

Meanwhile the A303 upgrade scheme near Stonehenge faces its own battle. This comes after a High Court judge ruled it was unlawfully approved by ministers. Campaigners are emboldened and further challenges could follow.

With the legal challenge to Heathrow Expansion being overturned last month, it’s clear that a project promoter can adhere to all due process and still have a lengthy delay caused by environmental lobbyists.

2. Political

In Australia and the US major projects are often negatively impacted when there is a change in government at local or national level. The UK usually fairs quite well at keeping major projects going in the face of political change. But there are no guarantees. Could ministers cut a road or power scheme due to mounting environmental pressures?

Looking at the 10-year horizon, there is risk to the eastern leg of HS2. Speculation has grown that it may never reach Leeds as currently planned. Is the proposed coal mine in Cumbria under pressure ahead of the UK hosting the COP26 climate change summit? Will the UK government decide to shy away from Chinese involvement in key infrastructure? And could that affect planned nuclear plants at Sizewell C and Bradwell?

3. Human resources

Even if all the projects make it to market, are there the people to successfully deliver them?

Construction’s skills shortage is well publicised. With an ageing workforce and a historic failure to attract school leavers and graduates, certain schemes look more vulnerable to talent shortages than others. If all the major projects come to fruition at a similar time there could be a real battle over senior staff, leading to salary inflation and an impact on programmes.

4. Materials

The Construction Leadership Council warned in June that the materials shortage had a long way left to run. Builders’ merchants have spoken of their challenges getting various key products to sites.

Hopefully the shortages caused by the UK’s exit from the EU, Covid-19 and the Suez Canal blockage start to abate in time for projects in the pipeline to get underway. But tender prices could continue to rise and this leads us to our final risk area.

5. Client budgets

In the wake of the pandemic budgets are tight across the public sector. If the risk factors above lead some projects to rise in price, there could be intense pressure to cut costs elsewhere. Understanding which clients and projects are vulnerable could be invaluable to prioritise management time over the coming years.

Uploading a multi-billion-pound contract on an Excel spreadsheet to a government portal is one thing. But getting it through the hurdles of the real world and on to site is quite another. Leaders will be conducting their own analysis of the schemes listed on the pipeline and speaking to those in the know to work out the best places to direct their organisation’s time and resources.

Wise businesses will seek to spread their bets and avoid dependency on one region, sector or client.

Looking to set up your senior leadership team in time for a major project? If so, please do get in touch to discuss how we can help you with your hiring needs.

Ray O’Rourke made headlines last week after telling the Financial Times that he was working on finding his replacement. After several decades growing Laing O’Rourke, Ray is going to be some act to follow.

Succession planning is always challenging and the business risk grows with the seniority of the post. On all these measures, the difficulty of Laing O’Rourke’s mission is high.

But all organisations eventually have to handle tricky handovers of power. Whether it is the retirement of a long-term Chief Executive or the poaching of a senior Director. There are various things that can be done to maximise the potential of a smooth transition.

1. Plan ahead

Ideally companies should think about succession planning long before they need to carry it out. This means identifying key individuals who would leave big gaps if they departed. Although some exits can be foreseen, others can happen unexpectedly.

The next task is to identify and develop people with the right attributes to fill these critical roles when the time comes.

2. Look internally

A study by the Stamford Graduate School of Business, which looked at 1,000 big firms in the US, found that two-thirds of Chief Executive appointments in the 2000s were internal. Where possible try to find someone from within the company to succeed key leadership roles. Then you are saving yourself the risk (and cost) of an external recruitment process. This also allows you to increase the time you have to prepare that individual before they step up.

If succession planning is carried out effectively then two or even three people internally might be identified as potential successors. By giving increasing levels of responsibility you can see who handles it best. The only downside with this approach is that only one individual can get the job. This could lead to the others becoming disillusioned. A high-profile example is GE where the unsuccessful internal contenders for the CEO role often leave soon after the new CEO is announced.

3. Hire for two jobs at once

If you decide you have no credible candidates in the business already who could develop to succeed a key leader, be proactive and work out where you could bring someone in from outside as a stepping stone.  Clever recruitment is needed. You need to ensure someone is targeted with the ability to step seamlessly into a useful position in the short-term. But also has the ambition and drive to take on the bigger job when required.

This process is fraught with potential complications. Managing expectations is key as well as an understanding that things do change. But doing something is better than doing nothing.

4. Pick horses for courses

If all the above fails and a key executive or Director declares their intention to leave before any meaningful succession plan can be put in place, then organisations have to go to the open market and turn the situation to their advantage. Although acting sooner is preferable.

If a business is doing very well, then it makes sense to look for a leader with similar values and strategies as the person departing. But if things have started to slide, it could be time to look for someone with different ideas and the ability to implement them. An external hire can be of benefit when looking to introduce major change. Such as when Balfour Beatty brought in Leo Quinn from QinetiQ to reorganise its business in 2015.

If a business has a clear future plan to transform, it makes sense to look for someone with experience in the new target area.

5. Prepare the ground

Anyone coming in from outside to lead a company in the wake of a long-standing personality has their work cut out. If the person leaving is remaining in a different role, such as Chairman or as a majority shareholder, then it can be even harder. It is important that shareholders are honest about the level of autonomy an incoming Chief will have, to avoid friction in the future.

Then it is about setting someone up to succeed rather than fail. Can you organise a meaningful handover period with the person leaving? If not, can an existing employee who is respected and understands the company culture step up to support the person coming in? How can you maximise the chances of a smooth handover of power? Executive coaching can also be a useful tool.

It will be interesting to watch how Laing O’Rourke go about replacing their founder. It won’t be easy.

For advice on your own succession planning, please get in touch to arrange a confidential discussion.

Summer has flown by, and we are now approaching Autumn, the kids are back to school, and before we know it Christmas will be here!

Autumn is always a busy time for recruitment and there have been some big changes in the transport and infrastructure sectors this month.

Highways England

Highways England is to be rebranded as National Highways and Nick Harris has been confirmed as the new Chief Executive. Harris has been acting Chief Executive since February 2021.

Kier

Following a major restructure of their UK Construction business has split its regions into four business unites with a new maintenance offering – Kier Places.

Louisa Finlay will spearhead the newly formed Client & Markets function and Chris Stevens will take up the role as overall Operations Director for the Construction business.

HS2

Ex-Vaccine Taskforce Director Ruth Todd has been appointed as HS2’s new Chief Commercial Officer where she will be responsible for procurement, commercial and contract management including land and property.

CITB

Tim Balcon will take on the role of CEO, he takes over from Sarah Beale.

United Living

CFO Stuart Hall has left the group.

Vinci

UK Managing Director Jean-Phillippe Loiseau has been appointed Chief Executive Officer for Equans UK and Ireland, he will take over from Nicola Lovett.

McLaren

Board Director Kim Bromley-Derry has stepped in as Interim Chief Executive of Sandwell Council, he is expected to return to McLaren after the interim period is finished.

Tilbury Douglas

Two formed Balfour Beatty London Directors joined Tilbury Douglas, Sean Ruddy has joined as Regional Commercial Director and Dean Lee has joined as Regional Operations Director.

Wates

Esther English has been appointed as Corporate Development Director, reporting into group Chief Executive David Allen.

Simon Kydd will join Wates as Head of Healthcare for Wates, leaving his role as Head of Healthcare at WSP.

Wrightbus

Neil Collins has been named as the new Managing Director of Wrightbus, he will lead the bus manufacturer alongside Executive Chairman Jo Bamford and Chief Executive Buta Atwal.

Mace

Two senior Directors from Skanska and Mott MacDonald have joined Mace to lead the work on substantial road contracts in England, Lizz Robinson has joined as Director and Client Manager for the £420m CPMS framework, Mark Anders will have the same role as Lizz but will focus on lot one of the scheme.

McAvoy Group

Neil Stanley has been announced as Head of Strategic Development to expand the offsite construction specialist.

Keltbray

Craig Moorfield is the new Group Technical Director, leaving his role as Head of Engineering as Multiplex.

BAM Construct

Have appointed their first ever Head of Social Impact, Danielle Aberg joins BAM having set up her own consultancy helping clients with their social value strategies. She will report directly to Chief Executive James Wimpenny.

Osborne

Following the sale of the Osborne Infrastructure business to private equity firm Sullivan Street, the business will continue to operate under Managing Director John Dowsett who will become Chief Executive Officer, Ex-CEO David Fison will be taking on the role of Osborne Infrastructure Chair

Go-Ahead

Christian Schreyer is the new CEO of Go-Ahead Group. He was most recently CEO North and Central Europe with Transdev. He will join in November when David Brown steps down following his retirement at the end of the year.

FirstGroup

Chief Executive Matthew Gregory announced that he would be stepping down after less than three years in the role.

UK Infrastructure Bank

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has appointed ex-HSBC CEO John Flint as the first permanent Chief Executive of the UK Infrastructure Bank.

M Group Services

Former EasyJet CFO Andrew Findlay is the new CFO of M Group Services

Multiplex

UK Finance Director Zahida Hanif has left the company to spend time with her young family before considering her next move.

Buro Happold

May Winfield is the new Global Director of Commercial, Legal and Digital Risks at Buro Happold.

TfL

Snap Travel Technology founder and CEO Thomas Ableman will be joining TfL as Innovation Director from September 20^th.

WSP

Dean McGrail has taken over as CEO for WSP in the Middle East. Greg Kane will remain with WSP and will take on the role of Chief Operating Officer for WSP in Australia.

NG Bailey

Matthew Towner has been appointed as Regional Director for London; he joins NG Bailey from SES Engineering Services where he was Operations Director for the London region.

Ex-MWH Treatment Technology and IT Director Andrew French joins NG Bailey as Director of IT.

Atkins

Kelly Burdall has recently been promoted from Head of Performance, Quality and Digital to Atkins’ new Digital Programme Director for Transportation.

BPA

John Armstrong has been appointed as Director and General Manager, he joined BPA as Chief Operating Officer in July 2020.

Stantec

Mark Tindale and Maire Lenihan join the Water business as Operational Directors, Mark was previously with Arup for 22 years and Maire joined Stantec in 2017 in New Zealand.

Mark Carlisle has been appointed as Operations Director for Stantec’s Ireland water business, he will be responsible for overall business performance and securing new opportunities in the water and energy sector.

Arup

Steve Fernandez and Vicky Evans have been promoted as Directors in its Nottingham office. Steve joined Arup in 1999 and his work focuses on designing and delivering building and structures. Vicky’s work focuses on town planning.

Steer

Andrew McClune joined Steer as an Associate Director in their London Office.

AECOM

Dave Brown left Amey as Business Director Rail Consulting to join AECOM last month as Complex Projects Director.

Ramboll

NLA expert panellist Rebecca Mortimore joins Ramboll as UK Science Sector Market Lead.

Construction Equipment Association

Suneeta Johal has been appointed as the new Chief Executive, she will succeed Rob Oliver taking up the role on the 4^th October 2021.

We are expecting a busy few months ahead with many clients looking to recruit in the autumn. Looking to make a shake-up to your senior leadership team? If so, please do book a confidential discussion by clicking HERE.

Infrastructure output is expected to grow by almost a quarter in 2021, with a further 10% increase in 2022, according to recent forecasts from the Construction Products Association.

The furlough scheme is coming to an end. Towns and cities are getting a little busier again. And there is genuine hope that the worst of the pandemic could be behind us. So, many businesses in the sector are shifting their focus from survival to growth.

We are likely to see an increase in hiring for senior business development roles, as companies capitalise on market opportunities.

The pandemic has affected the way we interact with one another, and one of the functions arguably most impacted by the increase in virtual working is business development.

It is critical that companies looking to recruit Business Development Directors hire people with the skills and experience to succeed in the current environment. Not those who thrived in the world that used to exist.

So how has the pandemic changed business development activity?

1. An end to schmoozing?

Although wining and dining of clients pre-covid had already decreased for many due to ever stricter public sector procurement guidelines, there were still plenty of other opportunities for eager suppliers to build rapport with key decision makers. Whether it was awards dinners, round tables or business breakfasts, there were still some ways to socialise within the rules. Most of that kind of activity has completely disappeared over the past 18 months and will be slow to return.

2. Far less informal networking

Back in 2019, Business Development leaders would often have a roster of networking events they could walk in to, allowing them to build key relationships. There is a real skill in working a room.

Those who did it well would keep their business at the forefront of the minds of potential partners, suppliers and clients. For the last 18 months, these events have been online. This has left very little chance for meaningful chat and making new connections among delegates. To what extent will people be able to justify returning to physical events when they do return? And how much opportunity will charisma have to work its magic in the future?

3. Being on patch

Winning one contract with a major client can open the door to a much longer relationship. Having a team based in the client’s office gives fantastic access to a large pool of potential new clients in different departments, particular for consultants. It was easy for adept business developers to bump into clients in the corridor and get introductions to new decision makers.

With many client staff working remotely and access to HQs restricted this hasn’t been an option. Many offices are opening up again but with some staff only commuting in on a limited basis the days of casual on-site meetings are a long way from returning.

4. More focused, structured video meetings

Old-school business development is being replaced by the use of strategic marketing to show thought leadership and free workshops that address client issues and demonstrate value.

Most target clients are busy in back-to-back Zoom and Teams calls. They will resist adding in another one unless they can see a clear benefit. Suppliers need to tempt them in with a specific proposition that differentiates. The good news is for a virtual meeting they don’t have to factor in travel time so should be easier to pin down.

5. Objective Bid Evaluation

Public sector clients have been using structured bid criteria and evaluation for many years. Many private sector companies are now following suit.

It is no longer enough to talk a good game in a meeting and have a great company reputation, private sector clients expect suppliers to communicate their solution effectively and persuasively within a bid document which can be marked and evaluated against the competition.

Equally in a buoyant market suppliers can afford to be very choosy, and their BD professionals need to carefully analyse client opportunities to pick which ones they invest their time pursuing.

A very different set of skills are required for business development in the infrastructure sector in 2021. Business development leaders need to demonstrate how they have adapted their approach to the changing business environment.

Of course, social skills are always important in any interaction. Some people can adapt better to changing circumstances than others. But it is important that you are testing candidates for a new business development role on what new work they’ve won during the pandemic.

Thinking of hiring senior Business Development Directors this Autumn? If so please do get in touch HERE to discuss how we can help you with your hiring plans.

 Sometimes a hiring manager will know someone from a previous job who is perfect for the senior role they are looking to fill. They will call their target individual for a chat, reminisce about old times, catch up on news and agree to meet for a further discussion about the job. This will eventually translate into a formal and successful long-term working relationship. Great stuff – if you know the perfect candidate and they’re interested.

At all other times there are experts to help.

Recruitment is business critical, and it’s a specialist field. Just as you wouldn’t expect an engineer to file your accounts, or an accountant to direct construction traffic on a busy site, you are advised against thinking just any line manager can attract the best talent for your business all the time.

A first point of call for many companies in the infrastructure and transport sectors is an in-house recruitment team. These often sit within the HR function, and can do a great job finding candidates for standardised, frequently occurring roles across your core business. If you are looking for 30 junior engineers from Newquay to Aberdeen then your in-house team could well be the place to look for a sparkling job ad campaign, career open days and efficient processing of candidates.

Where in-house recruitment teams can struggle is with senior and specialised roles, where candidates need to be proactively identified and enticed to join you. They can often be a small group of people dealing with vacancies across a number of departments and locations simultaneously, and they can lack the time, resources and specialist knowledge to tackle one-off critical senior vacancies effectively.

It is similar with external recruitment agencies. They will have a database of potential candidates but are likely to focus on junior to mid-level roles. At the same time they may be passing these people around a number of clients. They tend to focus on screening candidates in – selling them the opportunity – rather than also effectively screening them out by working out whether they are really suitable in all aspects for your company. Agencies could be forgiven for working towards their commission for recruiting a job and for not spending much time on hard-to-fill senior positions.

Executive search companies, such as ourselves, work in a very different way. We take a payment to begin the process, another on presentation of a shortlist, and a final fee when you’re position is successfully filled. Which it will be.

Here are five reasons to use executive search to find the best possible person for your senior vacancy:

1. You have run out of alternatives

I’m a realist. I know no business person wakes up desperate to spend thousands of pounds to begin a recruitment process. But if you haven’t succeeded using personal contacts, in-house recruiters, adverts or agencies, how else are you going to get the right person into your critical role so the business can move forward?

2. Confidentiality

Perhaps you do have some people in mind but it’s awkward to approach them. They may work for a client or competitor, or you may not want to be seen as poaching former colleagues. You may also want to consider comparisons in the market to some well-known potential candidates. Perhaps your need is sensitive and you don’t want the market to know you are recruiting. We can handle the process professionally and discretely, giving just enough information to attract a select few people while keeping others off the scent.

3. Genuine matches

Just like the advert for a popular dating site, we can find people you really connect with. We won’t recommend someone just because they are doing a similar role at a competitor, we will make sure potential candidates are properly briefed on your culture and expectations and hold our own face to face interviews with carefully selected candidates before we recommend a shortlist to you.

4. Market knowledge

I left university in 1998 with a civil engineering degree and started working in infrastructure and transport recruitment. In the last 19 years our team has successfully placed more than 600 experienced industry executives, from board-level appointments and executive leaders through to senior technical experts. We have built up extensive networks of senior contacts and understand the importance of learning a client company’s culture and history. You can trust us to go out and sell your company’s opportunity effectively to the right people.

5. Expertise

Not only do we know transport and infrastructure, we know how to source the best talent. As I’ve tried to show through this series of articles, we can help you shape your recruitment process from the job description through to the interview process. We will challenge you to make sure you get the best possible result. If we think you need to increase salary, refine your must-have candidate requirements list or modify your assessment process, we’ll tell you. With a 96% completion rate, our record speaks for itself.

**This is the seventh and final blog post based on Newsom Consulting’s eBook The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Senior Managers in Transport and Infrastructure.**

To get your free copy of the e-book of “The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Senior Managers in Transport & Infrastructure” click HERE

We stormed through February like Doris stormed her way across the country; in a blur of Brexit, chemical assassination’s and controversial pies.

In showbiz, award season is well under way and the big award winner for transport and infrastructure this month was HS2. After 3 years of parliamentary scrutiny HS2 has received the royal assent and construction can now start on schedule this spring.

After a busy January for movers and shakers, let’s take a look at the major moves in February:-

Laing O’Rourke

Paul Sheffield has announced that he is to leave Laing O’Rourke after 3 years as Managing Director.

NDA 

Has announced the appointment of David Peattie as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He takes over from outgoing CEO, John Clarke, who is stepping down after five years in the role.

Northern Rail

Alan Chaplin has been appointed as Managing Director, he takes over from Alex Hynes who moved to ScotRail last month.

CH2M

Rachel White will be promoted from her role as European Sales Director to take over from Mark Thurston as European Managing Director.

Kier

Has appointed Martin Duffy as Collaboration and Improvement Director for its Highways Division, a new role that focuses on close cooperation with its clients and suppliers.

HS1

Sean Horkan has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. He has been Engineering Director with HS1 since February 2015.

Mott MacDonald

Has appointed John Seed as its new Global Advisory Services Sector Lead. He was most recently Manager of Mott MacDonald’s advisory and management business in Europe

Mike Salter has also been appointed as Transport Planning Projects Director. He joins from Cambridgeshire County Council.

Vinci

Gary Carvell is moving from Amey to Vinci as UK HSQE Director in April 2017, he replaced Andy Sneddon who moved to LOR last year.

Heathrow Express

Stephen Head has been appointed as Head of Fleet Engineering. He joins from SNC-Lavalin where he was a Senior Rail Systems Consultant.

Align JV

HS2 bidders Align JV announced Geoff French has been appointed as Chair of the HS2 bidder. Geoff is former ACE chairman and former president of both ICE and FIDIC.

Waterman Group

Have strengthened their operations in the UK regions with the appointment of Andy King as Director of the consultancy’s structures business in the North of England.

Tyréns

Appointed a new Director of Urban Design and Masterplanning, Anna Reiter. Anna joins Tyréns from Dar Group, where she was responsible for building the urban design, planning, landscape and graphics team over the last decade, and steering the firm’s sustainability initiatives.

SYPTE

Tim Taylor has been appointed to the new position of Director of Customer Services. He joins from Working Links where he was Head of Customer Services.

EngineeringUK

Chief Executive, Paul Jackson, has announced he will move on from his role in July, after eight years with the organisation.

Turner & Townsend

Has appointed Tom Deacon as its new Global Head of Digital. He joins from EY where he led digital innovation in infrastructure advisory.

Nomad Digital

Reece Donovan, formerly Nomad’s Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed Nomad’s CEO from 1st March 2017, after Andrew Taylor stepped down from the role.

If you’d like to get in touch to discuss how we can help your business with any executive search requirements click HERE

April 6^th 2017, the day the public sector has been dreading for months, the day most assumed would never come, the day IR35 becomes the responsibility of all public sector agencies.

There are close to 50,000 personal service companies currently supplying services to the public sector and this legislation will have lasting consequences for every one of them.

Whereas in the past the onus has been on the individual contractor to effectively comply with the HMRC’s guidelines on applying PAYE and National Insurance, from April it will become the responsibility of all public sector agencies.

All government bodies, including the likes of; Network Rail, HS2, Highways England, Crossrail and TfL will have to decide if the contractor is legitimately self-employed or if they are subject to PAYE and National Insurance contributions. If the latter applies, the company will need to employ the contractor directly and withhold PAYE and NIC’s as well as pay employers’ NIC on these payments.

With more than half of contractors saying they will not continue their contracts in the public sector if the changes come in to effect*, what will it mean for the transport & infrastructure industry?

Freelancers

The obvious risk for freelancers is that many won’t be genuinely self-employed. Many won’t pass the test and will face having to become permanently employed, or alter the way they work and/or who they work for.

Choosing to go down the employment route means that they will be taxed a lot more and see a significant reduction in their net income.

So, if this isn’t feasible, they can opt to walk away from the public sector altogether and take their services to the private sector. 23% of freelancers surveyed said they would no longer undertake work for government agencies if they were taxed like an employee. The worry here, is that if hundreds of freelancers walk away, it could spark the introduction of the legislation in to the private sector as well.

The options to avoid becoming an employee for freelancers are essentially;

• To take their services to the private sector, assuming the private sector will have them.
• To contract with the public sector via an umbrella company or a consulting firm, trying to cut the best deal they can.
• To prove they meet the requirements of an ‘IR35 friendly’ contract by only taking on shorter term contracts when working on government assignments, restricting exclusivity and always ensuring contracts avoid a ‘right of control’ clause – a contractor should not directly report to a senior member of staff within the organisation.
• Or…many may opt to retire.

Public Sector Bodies

The big issue for public sector bodies is the sheer quantity of freelancers they use, particularly at senior levels. Employing someone on an interim basis has been a cheaper way of recruiting the experienced professionals, particularly in niche areas with big skills gaps.

Bearing in mind there are over 2,000 people at TfL alone being paid via a personal service company, of these, almost 400 are earning over £100,000 a year**. The freelance staff numbers for HS2, Network Rail and others might not be at the TfL level but will still be in the hundreds for each company.

Just consider the admin costs in managing the monumental task of assessing and implementing any changes, without taking in to account the unwanted hassle and time lost.

Then, once individuals have been assessed, if they are not deemed to be legitimately self-employed, there is the question of how to proceed; employ them on a permanent contract, or, if they decline, recruit someone in their place.

TfL and Network Rail initially announced a blanket ban last month on limited company contractors, taking a “like it or lump it” standpoint. TfL have since back tracked slightly saying that if the individual is critical to TfL then all options will be considered to retain their services.

On average, the HMRC’s Employment Status Indicator (ESI) will pass around 30% of contractors’, fail around 30% and 40% will be borderline***. Potentially, a lot of contractors will be issued the ultimatum – stay or go.

If, and that’s a big if, they chose to convert to perm, the public sector body will have to take in to consideration the costs that come with full-time employment. Bonuses, car allowances, pension contributions, healthcare costs and travel allowances will all need to be paid on top of a salary that is mutually agreeable to all parties, in addition to the employers National Insurance contribution that will need to be paid.

And, more likely, if there is a mass exodus and government agencies are left with a whole host of gaps to fill, there is the challenge of recruitment. Ignoring the price tag attached to filling so many roles, if companies are to stick to current pay scales, they risk having to sacrifice the quality of the candidates in order to stay within their salary budgets.

The legislation will also make freelancers think twice before contributing to many of the big infrastructure projects that would once have been a very attractive career move. Projects like HS2, the roads investment programme or Northern Powerhouse are likely to lose out on valuable freelance contractors for fear they won’t pass HMRC’s rigid guidelines.

Private Sector Businesses

The private sector can go down one of two roads. The first is to take advantage of the influx of freelance talent that will be available. Suddenly, private sector organisations are going to be very attractive places to work and they will have the pick of the freelance market.

Not only this, but many consultancies might take this opportunity to snap up freelancers who have recently vacated a role and sell them back to the public sector bodies on secondment. The freelancer might retain self-employed status, the consultancy will make a profit and the public sector body will retain the individual. Win, win, win – almost, except the public sector will be paying more for the same individual.

The second option for the private sector is to see this as a chance to take a stand by reducing the number of freelancers they rely on and start to make a shift to employing all new recruits on a permanent basis. After all, they too could be facing this same predicament in the future if the IR35 test is extended to private sector employers.

However companies and individuals chose to adopt the legislation, one thing is for certain come the 6^th April the transport and infrastructure industries are going to face some major changes.

If you are looking at ways to reduce your reliance on interim staff at senior level please get in touch HERE to see how we can help.

*http://www.contractoruk.com/news/0012672public_sector_lose_half_its_pscs_over_ir35_reform.html

**http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/2300-tfl-employees-paid-through-personal-firms-to-reduce-their-tax-a3200211.html

***http://www.contractorcalculator.co.uk/public_sector_bodies_fightback_against_ir35_reform_532410_news.aspx

In the last year we’ve been asked with increasing frequency by transport and infrastructure clients that they would like to see more

women on their shortlists for senior posts. Some are starting to introduce quotas, typically one female candidate on a shortlist of four.

The reasons for this is clear to see when you look around the industry.

With a number of major infrastructure projects in the pipeline, an industry steadily recovering from the depths of the end of last decade, and the spotlight ever turning on the chronic under-representation of women, a number of organisations in the sector are starting to act.

Where a decade or so ago a chief executive at a major infrastructure company might have paid lip service to increasing the employment of women, now we have Thames Tideway Chief Executive Andy Mitchell setting a firm target that 50% of the staff at the body delivering London’s super sewer scheme will be women when it completes in 2023.

He’s not alone. Network Rail CEO Mark Carne has demanded that 30% of his workforce be made up of women by 2018. Carne has also been quoted as saying he would like to be succeeded by a woman.

TfL have launched a campaign to attract more women into leadership roles in the transport sector, as Mike Brown, TfL commissioner put it: “We simply don’t reflect the human race, and this is completely unacceptable.”

Energy minister Andrea Leadsom recently told nuclear firms to set “more ambitious goals” for recruitment of women, while society itself is also changing, and equality bodies such as Women into Construction keep the issue in the spotlight.

All this is why we’re often now asked, when we meet clients – particularly plc’s– whether there is any way we can get some female candidates on the shortlist we’ve been asked to draw up for a critical senior role.

Usually we say yes – we can get the client a female interviewee – but they’ll have to tweak the job and person specification they have just outlined. If the client only wishes to recruit from the management teams of their competition, of which 95%* are men, it will likely lead to a male appointment. To get different results, you need a different approach.

If a client asks us to find a four-person shortlist for an engineering director role for example, with all candidates needing to be chartered engineers with ten years’ experience of running a similar size engineering function in their industry, we’ve got a very limited pool to fish in for a female candidate. If they were already out there in large numbers, we wouldn’t be talking about diversity in the first place.

If we do find a woman with the experience and competencies they want – guess what? She will have had four calls from executive search firms like us in the past six months, and she’ll either have moved job recently with a nice pay rise, or stopped returning the calls.

But imagine we do get through to this in-demand statistic-defying engineering director hotshot. What do I tell her? That the firm wants her in the office 80 miles from her current home at 7.30am five days a week?

No. We would always advise clients embrace flexible working – rather than lower its sights – in order to get the best people through the door.

Several campaigns including Business in the Community have advocated flexible working practices to boost women’s career chances, again giving the firm the chance to find the right person for the job by removing its blinkers. The organisations in the transport & infrastructure sectors that have embraced flexible working are often the businesses with the highest number of women in senior management roles, it makes a big difference to both recruitment and retention. Flexible working is also valued highly by most staff, regardless of gender.

An additional way of increasing gender diversity of senior teams in transport and infrastructure businesses is to be open on attracting candidates from allied industries, where there may be greater gender diversity. This type of candidate may have all the ability, loads of relevant functional management knowledge plus an advantageous outside view of the leadership challenges faced in the role.

The above are just a couple of examples of the way companies can help us to help them to find the right women for their top teams – which in turn is helping the industry and the people it serves.

We recently produced an eBook; “Diversity in UK Transport & Infrastructure boardrooms” where we took a look at the risks the industry faces and what can be done about it. To get your free copy please click HERE

*In our diversity report (which you can attain a free copy of, see above) we found that across the top 150 businesses in UK Transport only 4.6% of the Directors leading core business functions were women. This figure rose to 15% when Directors in corporate support functions were accounted for, with HR being the most likely function to have female representation in the boardroom.

The transport and infrastructure sectors are full of familiar faces.

Often top senior leaders are household names within the sector – particularly now that social media means that most people are only the click of a button away. So it’s pretty easy, when looking to fill a position, to assume that you can source the best candidates through your own personal network. After all, you know everybody right?

Previously, we have discussed how valuable networking, and tapping into your employees networks, can be to sourcing top talent.

Networking is undoubtedly a key tool in the sourcing process. The insight you gain from a personal referral can far outweigh a glowing CV or a well prepared interview.

However, it should be treated as just that – one tool in the arsenal of available techniques to help you find the very best person for the role.

Relying solely on your network to deliver top talent does have the potential to save you time and money but it comes with some risks:-

1. It must be done by you.

These are your contacts, friends, ex-colleagues, maybe even family. Networking isn’t something that you can delegate down the food chain. You must be willing to commit a substantial amount of time to the task in order to produce any significant results.

The alternative is to undertake a full search of the market, where the bulk of the work would be done by your in-house recruitment team (if your business has that capability) or a specialist executive search firm like ourselves.

2. The cost of delay.

We’ve seen it time and time again. What was supposed to be a fast hire turns out to be three times as long as it should have been. You can spend weeks, months, canvassing your network, phoning and emailing everyone you have ever worked with, only to end up back at square one and seeking out professional recruitment help.

This costs you and the company. For every hour spent trawling through your contacts it’s an hour not spent focusing on your current workload. It’s important if you are considering the networking approach that you set, and stick to, a strict deadline. Give yourselves no more than a month to find the ideal candidate and after that admit defeat. Any longer and the exercise is no longer a time saving technique.

3. Lack of diversity.

We are all genetically inclined to like people like us. We feel that we ‘get’ them and that we can trust them.

The people you know are more likely to share the same characteristics and values as you. While this isn’t necessarily a negative thing, as it means they are also likely to share the values of the company, it does mean that by always relying on your network, you run the risk of hiring similar people again and again.

The same people and ideas are constantly being cycled around the business, which can severely restrict creativity and innovation. It’s advisable to bring people in to the company from a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives to avoid progress becoming stagnant.

4. Giving referrals a free pass.

It’s easy to assume that if a colleague or friend you regard highly has recommended a candidate to you, that the candidate will automatically be right for the role.

You risk relaxing the standard vetting process, perhaps skipping a second interview or neglecting to take up references before offering them the role. It is crucial to follow your usual selection and interview processes in order to form your own, solid opinion of the candidate in question. If you know the individual well, it’s also best to get an objective second opinion from one of your colleagues.

5. Limited market.

Finally, and perhaps most critically, you are only seeing a tiny segment of the market.

Even the most well connected people, who attend all of the networking lunches and awards ceremonies can’t possibly know every single person in the market. By limiting your search to only people you know of, you are cutting yourself off from a vast talent pool, filled with people perfectly capable to excel in the role you are looking to fill.

Before approaching any candidates on behalf of our clients, we always produce a longlist for them to check through and give feedback on contenders that they may already know of and have an opinion on. On average they will only be familiar with around 10% to 30% of the names, proving that networking alone can’t be relied upon to give an accurate picture of the talent out there.

While executive search firms will utilise their networks for referrals, the search will not be limited to networking alone, but will explore a variety of avenues and techniques to tap into the best person to fill your roles.

To arrange a call to discuss how we can help you secure the best talent in the transport and infrastructure sectors click HERE

If we thought 2016 was an eventful year, then 2017 is showing no signs of slowing down. It seems the world only had two things to talk about in January. Trump and Brexit.

While the process for Brexit negotiations is starting to become a little clearer, the Trump effect is becoming even less certain; it’s anyone’s guess as to what he might decide to enact tomorrow. The world waits with baited breath to see what the ramifications of both will be.

Unquestionably, the transport and infrastructure industries will be affected by the political events around the world but amidst the uncertainty we are also seeing plenty of hiring activity.

January is always a bumper month for new appointments, let’s take a look at the movers and shakers for the month:

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HS2

HS2 have appointed a new Chief Executive to replace Simon Kirby, who left the company last year. Mark Thurston has been appointed as the new CEO, joining from CH2M where he was Managing Director of the company’s European division.

Network Rail

Mark Tarry has moved internally to take on the position of Business Services Director. He moves from Area Director – North.

Helen Samuels has been appointed Engineering Director, Infrastructure Projects. She joins from United Utilities where she was Director of Engineering.

Andy Haynes will leave his post as Project Director on Network Rail’s Greater West Programme to oversee the procurement strategy across the organisation’s eight routes as Contracts and Procurement Director.

Mott MacDonald

Has appointed Mike Haigh as the new Managing Director of its global business. He has been promoted from his role as Managing Director of the firm’s Europe and Africa division.

Balfour Beatty Vinci

Mark Cutler takes over from Peter Anderson as Balfour Beatty Vinci HS2 bid Managing Director.

SNC-Lavalin

James Howells UK Director, Rail Infrastructure moves to Morgan Sindall Professional Services to become their Rail Sector Director.

Iain Court Director, Major Projects & Business Development UK leaves to become an independent railway consultant.

Taylor Woodrow

Taylor Woodrow has hired former Costain Water Director Gary Mayo as its Commercial Director replacing Les Thorneycroft following his retirement.

SSE Enterprise

Neil Kirkby has been appointed as Managing Director SSE Enterprise. Until October Neil was the Managing Director -Global Power Networks at Balfour Beatty.
Arcadis

Richard Hoare moves internally from Head of Programme and Project Services to Managing Director of their rail division.

Multiplex

Former Laing O’Rourke Commercial Director Callum Tuckett has joined Multiplex as their Chief Operating Officer.

AECOM

Has hired Richard Gammon as Managing Director – Aviation, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMIA). Richard will be responsible for leading and growing AECOM’s aviation business across the region. Richard joins AECOM from HOK.

Amey

Tim Harbot has joined Amey as Director of Technical Excellence in its highways executive team. He joins from Highways England where he was Regional Director, Network Delivery & Development in the West Midlands.

SYSTRA

Gordon Baker is stepping down as Chief Executive of JMP Consultants and Sarah Muirhead is retiring from her role as Managing Director SIAS following the completion of both companies integration into SYSTRA.

CH2M Hill

Have promoted Mark Southwell from Regional Business General Manager to European Operations Director South and Global Director for Rail and Transit.

Southern Water

Matthew Wright steps down after 6 years as CEO, he is replaced by Ian McAulay, ex-CEO of Viridor.

National Express

Managing Director Rail Andrew Chivers has retired. He will be replaced by Tom Stables who will take up the role of Managing Director, Rail and UK Coach.

Chris Hardy steps up from Commercial Director, UK Coach to Managing Director, UK Coach Division.

J Murphy & Sons

John B Murphy has been appointed Chief Operating Officer for the group. He will also continue in as role as Managing Director, North.

Peter Anderson is appointed Managing Director, South taking over from Darren Ramsey who will lead the bidding and delivery for some of the company’s major infrastructure projects.

Mark Singleton joins from Balfour Beatty to become Head of Planning and Project Controls and Miles Cobley is appointed Head of Planning and Project Controls, North. Miles joins Murphy from Laing O’Rourke.

Shaun Sheldrake has been appointed as Operations Director for Construction & Development, he moves from Durkan where he was Development Director.

CalMac Ferries

Martin Dorchester, Managing Director of CalMac Ferries Ltd, and Chief Executive of its parent company David MacBrayne Ltd has announced his intention to step down from the company at the end of March 2017.

East West Rail & ScotRail

East West Rail has chosen Phil Verster to manage delivery of its proposed Oxford-to-Cambridge rail project unveiled by transport secretary Chris Grayling last month. He has spent the last two years leading ScotRail Alliance.

ScotRail Alliance has appointed Arriva Rail North Managing Director Alex Hynes as its new Managing Director.

Hitachi Rail

Jamie Foster Procurement Director has announced he will be leaving the company in February.

Greater Anglia

Richard Dean moves from Southeastern to Greater Anglia as Train Services Delivery Director.

Story Contracting

Jason Butterworth succeeds company founder and owner Fred Story as Chief Executive. He joins from Balfour Beatty Construction Services UK where he was Regional Board Director North & Midlands. Fred Story will resume his role as Chairman.

Greater London Authority

Will Norman has been appointed London’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner. He has been Global Partnerships Director at Nike since 2015.

WSP

Chris Douglas joins from Transport and Travel Research Ltd as the consulting firms Technical Director, Logistics.

Gatwick Airport

Tim Norwood has been appointed Chief Planning Officer succeeding Alastair McDermid. He joins from EDF Energy.

If you’d like to get in touch to discuss how we can help your business in 2017 click HERE

All good things don’t necessarily come to those who wait.

A critical but often overlooked aspect when recruiting senior executives is speed.

You can have a sparkling job description, a winning employer brand and offer a good salary but if you take forever to make a decision then good candidates will go elsewhere.

Just recently I was speaking to someone who had been waiting six weeks for a written job offer, having been promised one verbally. When another firm produced one on the day of his second interview, you can guess which company he joined.

There are two main reasons why recruitment processes grind to a halt – one is poor internal practices, and the other is lack of urgency.

The latter point often comes because employers have a view that people are queuing up round the block to join them. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. It is a candidate’s market, and they have plenty of options. They won’t hang around to be treated badly.

There is no doubt that hiring managers are very busy, and often under added pressure from covering the job they need to fill. Sometimes recruitment seems to be the least important item on their ever growing list of firefighting tasks.

But by prioritising hiring activity, and making it fast and effective, they will get the right candidate in a short timeframe and free up a lot of valuable time to focus on other business-critical issues.

Here is my five-stage guide to getting your internal processes right for fast, effective recruitment of senior staff in the transport and infrastructure sectors.

1. Be clear who is in charge

You wouldn’t run a major project without a clear project leader and you shouldn’t expect good results from a recruitment process without treating it the same way. Appoint someone – potentially the line director – to either run the process themselves or be the sole point of contact for an outside search company. Such external specialists can use their experience and expertise to manage the process from start to finish, keeping it on track for a speedy and successful conclusion.

2. Condense

If you have a six-stage interview and assessment process, followed by an eight-person contract approval system embedded in a temperamental IT system that no one knows how to use, then expect to lose candidates – which means you’ll have to do even more interviews and ask for even more approvals.

Think about who really needs to be involved in interviewing and condense it all down into a couple of visits by each candidate then a quick decision.

3. Organise and communicate

Once you’ve condensed the process down, set some timescales for each of the stages and set about making sure everyone will be available when needed. This requires putting time in people’s diaries internally as well as – critically – informing the candidates with sufficient notice.

Remember you are not the only ones with other time pressures. The candidate may well be attending interviews elsewhere as well as managing their existing high level job on top of outside commitments. Tell them when they will be expected to attend so they can plan.

4. Make a swift decision

It sends out the wrong message if you need weeks to decide which candidate to hire. Not only will candidates lose faith in their commitment to join you, they may well be approached from elsewhere.

The key to swift decision making, is being clear on what you are looking for right from the beginning, and having one person in charge of making a final call. The day after the final round of interviews, schedule a 15-minute meeting to review the candidates and hear any final advice from key personnel. Then the decision maker – who doesn’t have to be the person in charge of the process, but does have to be clearly nominated – does their job and makes a decision.

5. Get the paperwork right

I cannot stress enough how important it is to make sure you have budget sign-off for the role before you even consider starting the
search p
rocess. Don’t go through the whole process, choose your dream candidate and only then knock on the chief executive’s door for approval for the salary level.

Have everything lined up by this stage so you can make a verbal offer through your nominated contact or external search company, then quickly follow it up with an email.

Make sure any full contract that is subsequently sent out is also emailed as I’ve known these get lost in the post. Triple check people’s names, salaries and addresses – a mis-spelt name not only slows things down but it looks careless and unprofessional.

Recommendations:

• Be clear who’s in charge
• Condense interview stages
• Organise and communicate
• Make a swift decision
• Get the paperwork right

A smooth and organised recruitment process won’t source you the perfect candidate, but it will ensure that you hang on to the one you find during the selection process.

Don’t risk handing the very best in the market to your competitors on a plate by dragging out the process for months on end.

**This blog post is the sixth of seven based on Newsom Consulting’s eBook The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Senior Managers in Transport and Infrastructure**

To get your free copy of the e-book of “The Ultimate Guide to Hiring Senior Managers in Transport & Infrastructure” please click HERE