Appointments

Wates appoints new CEO

Following the sudden departure of Struan Robertson in January, Wates Group has appointed a new CEO - and he comes from outside the construction industry.

Paul Drechsler, who starts this month, spent 24 years with paint and chemical manufacturer ICI. His career culminated in five years as head of one of the company’s four international businesses and also as a member of ICI’s Main Board. In addition, Dreschler held the chair of ICI’s pension fund (valued at £7 billion).

Drechsler may not be a contractor, but he does have experience as a client. He was responsible for many projects, from small ones up to one valued at £800 million, undertaken while CEO of ICI Polyester.

Crucially for his new employers, Drechsler also has experience of health, safety and the environment. He chaired ICI’s SHE committee and achieved one million injury free hours during major capital projects (worth $400 million) in Taiwan and Pakistan.

“Paul’s skills and experience complement our existing construction expertise and market knowledge,” said executive chairman Andrew Wates. “I believe we share a remarkably similar culture.”

On the up

Ian Blakeman (1) joins Sense Cost Consultancy as director to lead the Engineering Cost Management team in the newly formed consultancy, part of Mace. Two other recent joiners are Nick Eliot and Steve Gillingham who came from Gardiner & Theobald.

AMEC has appointed Nigel Brook to manage the building operations of its construction services division. Brook, 46, was previously UK operations director of Ballast.

Bovis Lend Lease has appointed Mark Nicholson as its new Northern region director, based in Manchester. He joins the company from Jarvis Construction.

Alfred McAlpine Capital Projects has hired Simon Parker (2) as regional commercial manager and Gregg Titley as regional development manager.

Gleeson has made Peter Stone (3) group commercial director.

Overbury has appointed Clive Butterfield (4) as construction director of its major projects team. Based in London, he will work closely with divisional managing director, John Baker. The company also appointed Brendan Collins as operations manager at its Bracknell office.

Gleeson has appointed Mark Holden (5) as senior contracts manager for the South Yorkshire area. He will be based in Sheffield. Aged 37, Holden joins from Kajima, where he was an operational board member responsible for several major projects.

Lovell has appointed Kelvin Dennington (6) as commercial manager for East Anglia. Emma Handley (7) is the new regional training adviser for East Midlands. Kate Southall (8) is regional training adviser for the Midlands. Jenny Hutchinson (9) becomes Southern regional manager.

Scott Biggerstaff (10) joins Thames Gateway developer Tilfen Land, which has also recruited John Logan (11) as project manager, Jon Allen as development surveyor and Steve Hawes as infrastructure designer, all in the last four months.

North East housebuilder Alexander Developments has promoted Barry Smith to managing director.

Construction company Bluestone has appointed Ken Malpass (12) as business development manager for its South West region. Malpass joins Bluestone from sister company Overbury, the fit-out specialist.