Alfred McAlpine, the construction and support services group, said in a statement on Tuesday that Oliver Whitehead, its chairman and former chief executive, intended to retire next June at the age of 65.

Whitehead joined the company from Babcock in 1993 as chief executive. He took on the joint role of chairman and chief executive in 2002 but was replaced as chief executive by Ian Grice in 2003.

Whitehead will be replaced by Roger Urwin, the chief executive of National Grid. He was chief executive of London Electricity from 1990 to 1995. Urwin plans to join the board of McAlpine in September as a non-executive director.

In the announcement, made at the firm's annual meeting, Whitehead said: "Over the past five years we have repositioned Alfred McAlpine. Roger Urwin brings a wealth of experience as we continue through the next stages of our development."

Roger Urwin brings a wealth of experience

Oliver Whitehead, Alfred McAlpine

McAlpine said that it was trading in line with expectations. It added that in February it had secured its largest contract to provide facilities management services acting for property company Mapely across HM Revenue and Customs' UK estate.

It has also been awarded an £80m contract by the Bank of Ireland to provide facilities management services at 350 properties across Ireland.