The big news this month in transport and infrastructure is of course the announcement of the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, in what is probably the biggest shake-up of the UK railway industry in more than 25 years. I’m sure we’ll be seeing some key appointments over the coming year or two on this.
But who else has had an eventful month in the industry? Let’s take a look at the movers and shakers from May…
National Infrastructure Bank
Ex-British Land Chief Executive Chris Grigg has been appointed as chairman of the government’s new National Infrastructure Bank.
Vinci Construction UK
Scott Wardrop has been named as UK Construction Chief Executive in the newly created role, he has been CEO of Vinci-owned Eurovia since 2007 and will retain the role alongside his new position.
IPA
The Infrastructure and Projects Authority has recently appointed Helen Campbell as its new Director of Strategy, Performance and Assurance. She joins from National Grid and will be responsible for driving cross-government and industry collaboration and pushing improvements in project delivery.
Buro Happold
Current CFO James Bruce has been appointed as the new Chef Executive, he recently announced plans to double the headcount at the consultancy from 2,000 to 4,000 employees over the next 6 years.
Balfour Beatty
Ex-ITV Chief Executive Charles Allen (now Lord Allen of Kensington) will take on the role as Chair in July, succeeding Phil Aiken.
Construction Industry Council (CIC)
Nick Mead has recently been appointed as its Champion for Modern Methods of Construction, he will advise the organisation on digital construction policy, he has sat on the board as a member-appointed Director for the past 5 years.
WSP
Ex-Isle Utilities Business Development Director Louise Elliott has recently been appointed as Strategy & Business Growth Director at WSP.
Mace
Atkins veteran Andy Oldham has joined Mace Consult as Business Unit Director for Defence, Nuclear, Energy and Utilities.
Peter Waddingham recently joined Mace as an Operations Director in Programme Management.
Story Contracting
Liz Hughes joined Story Contracting this month as Technical Director leaving her role as Head of Rail Assurance at Amey.
HS2
Sir Jonathan Thompson has recently been appointed as a non-executive Director of HS2.
SYSTRA
Ben Hamer has joined the firm as Director of Operations, High-Speed Rail.
Speedy Hire
Ex-South Western Railway’s Head of Sustainability Amelia Woodley joins Speedy Hire as its new Sustainability Director.
Defence Infrastructure Organisation
HS2 Procurement boss David Poole will be taking on a new role as Commercial Director for the DIO.
Women in Transport
Jo Field has been elected as Women in Transport’s new President; she succeeds Katie Hulland. Jo is currently Managing Director of JFG Communications.
CrossCountry Trains
Jon Fenn will be joining the company as Service Delivery Director in early July.
SSE Enterprise Energy Solutions
Paul Rees joined SSE Enterprise this month as their new Director of Energy Infrastructure in their Energy Solutions business.
Mott MacDonald
Simon Cartwright joins the consultancy to head its Transport & Mobility service in the Middle East.
Atkins
Jo Jarman leaves Skanska and joins Atkins as its Finance Director for the UK and Europe. She replaces Mark Anderson.
Rami Mansour has also been appointed as Head of Design for Manufacture and Assembly and Eugene Smethurst as Head of Lean.
Thames Water
Francis Paonessa joins the firm as its new Capital Delivery Director. He was previously managing director of infrastructure projects at Network Rail.
Laing O’Rourke
Vicky Bullivant has been appointed as the groups first ever Group Head of Sustainability, she will join the company on the 21st of June from Drax Group.
Kier
Kier has recently promoted two new Directors to its executive team, Sophie Timms has been promoted to the role of Corporate Affairs Director and will report to Chief Executive Andrew Davies.
Alpna Amar has also been promoted to the role of Corporate Development Director, she will report to CFO Simon Kesterton.
United Living
Conor Bray has been internally promoted to Chief Operating Officer at United Living following the departure of Daren Moseley who left the firm at the end of April.
TransPennine Express
Matthew Golton has been appointed as Managing Director of TransPennine Express.
Go-Ahead
CEO David Brown will depart at the end of the year after leading the company for more than ten years.
Bridges
MEICA contractor Bridges has recently appointed ex-Kier Director Toby Harding as its new Operations Director.
SCAPE Scotland
The procurement specialist recently appointed Lillian McDowall as Senior Relationship Manager following the launch of the Scape Scotland Consultancy framework.
ENGIE
Tim Wood joins ENGIE as its new Managing Director for the North West. He leaves his role as Group Commercial Director at United Living.
Redrow
Richard Akers will join the board as Chair on the 1st of June, he takes over from long-serving board member John Tutte.
Wates
Andrew Savege has been named as the firms first Head of Partnerships; he leaves Morgan Sindall Investments after more than 16 years with the firm.
BRE
Former Heathrow Expansion Programme Director Phil Wilbraham has been named as Chairman of the BRE Trust.
Careys
The family-owned contractor has promoted Bjourn Bigley as Managing Director of its Civil Engineering business.
Rail Supply Group
Two leading experts have been appointed to the industry-wide council. Jacqueline Starr CEO of the RDG and Elaine Clark CEO of the Rail Forum Midlands.
Tilbury Douglas
Lucy Davies has been appointed as the new Head of Social Value to spearhead the corporate social responsibility programme across the UK business.
Midlands Connect
Karen Heppenstall has been appointed as Head of Rail; she leaves WSP after 6 years.
TfN
John Cridland is set to retire as Chairman of TfN, he will remain in the post until July.
