Wates has poached Laing O’Rourke’s education head and put him in charge of the firm’s PPP schemes

Stephen Beechey has been made group investment director at Wates, having previously worked for Laing O’Rourke, Carillion and Jarvis.

Dave Smith, chief operating officer at Wates, said: “Stephen brings skills developed in a number of private finance roles.”

It is another key departure from Laing O’Rourke, which lost finance director Iain Ferguson in March and chief operating officer Tony Douglas in November of last year.