“Oh yeah, I’m bound to miss it.” Andrew Davies, the man who has been chief executive of Kier for the past six and a half years, is leaving later this month. Not to another job, no non-exec roles lined up. Nothing. Time for someone else to have a go, he says.

He officially leaves on 31 October. So, then, what is he going to do on 1 November? Handily, it’s a Saturday. He didn’t know until it’s pointed out to him. “In that case, ride my bike.”

Even chief executives have to go through the rigmarole of leaving a company, just like anyone else. “They’ll take my email off me, I’ll hand in my pass just like any other employee.” And that will be it. Slate wiped clean and then the new man, Stuart Togwell, currently in charge of the firm’s construction business, takes over.