Move triggered by Andrew Davies’s decision to stand down as chief executive over summer

Kier has brought in Laing O’Rourke director Martin Staehr to head up its construction business.

The FTSE 250 listed firm said Staehr will sit on the group’s executive committee and be responsible for its regional build and strategic projects businesses, along with its housing maintenance unit Kier Places and M&E arm KME.

The move has been triggered by the announcement over the summer that chief executive Andrew Davies is stepping down at the end of this month after more than six years in the role.

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Martin Staehr starts his new role next January

Stuart Togwell, the current head of construction, will take up the chief executive’s post on 1 November.

Kier said its construction arm has an order book of £4.5bn and around 200 live projects at any one time.

Its strongholds include the education sector, which has seen it build more than 250 projects in the past six years, prisons – recently completing the all electric HMP Millsike near York for the Ministry of Justice – while it also maintains 70,000 residential properties. It is also wrapping up work on the £100m Network building in central London for Derwent.

Staehr has spent 17 years at O’Rourke most recently as a delivery director working on data centres, justice and defence schemes as well as higher education work. He was also a business unit leader for O’Rourke’s M&E arm Crown House.

>> See also: ‘A man you can have a bit of faith in.’ How Andrew Davies turned around Kier

>> See also: It’s hard to let go: Laing O’Rourke and the problem with succession

Kier said Staehr will start his new role in January next year with James Askew, construction’s commercial director, filling in as interim group managing director of the business in the mean time.

Staehr said: “Kier has a rich history of innovation and collaboration within the UK construction industry, which I know first-hand working with the team which delivered HMP Five Wells [in Northamptonshire]. I believe it’s an exciting time to be joining Kier and leading the construction business in its next chapter.”

Togwell said: “Martin brings fresh thinking and a drive to make a meaningful difference within the construction industry and I am delighted he is joining us.”

It is not the first time Kier has turned to O’Rourke for a new construction boss. Liam Cummins, now in charge of cladding contractor Permasteelisa, joined as group managing director for the division in 2019, having spent 16 years at O’Rourke.

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