More senior figures to leave Lend Lease amid shake-up

Two further senior figures are set to leave contractor Lend Lease following news that managing director Michael Dyke left his post at the firm, Building can reveal.

Last week, Building revealed four senior figures were leaving the firm, including Michael Dyke, Lend Lease’s managing director of construction in Europe, the Middle East and Asia (EMEA), as part of a major streamlining of the business that has seen 90 jobs put at risk.

Dyke has left his role with immediate effect, with Lend Lease’s EMEA commercial director, Tom Spilsted; operations director Simon Parham; and senior legal counsel Alistair Cutts also understood to be leaving the firm.

We are streamlining our central overhead to maximise cost effectiveness

Lend Lease company statement

Now, Building understands two further senior staff are on their way out of the business.

David McKenzie, head of London and director of Lend Lease Construction, is set to leave to take up a role at consultant Aecom, while Stephen Peckitt, head of health and safety in Europe at Lend Lease, has also left the firm.

Dyke will be replaced as managing director by Neil Martin, the firm’s current EMEA director of operations, on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is appointed.

The moves follow a strategic review undertaken by Simon Hipperson, Lend Lease’s chief executive of EMEA, who took up his role last October.

The review has resulted in a drive to cut the firm’s overheads.

In a statement the firm said: “Like any agile and forward looking business we are continuously reviewing how we work to ensure that our development, construction and investment management operations are as integrated and effective as possible in order to deliver the best value for our shareholders and partners.

“We are streamlining our central overhead to maximise cost effectiveness, to ensure that our projects have the optimal level of support and to position Lend Lease for continuing growth in the region.”

Dyke joined Lend Lease from National Grid, where he had been head of construction, in July 2011.

At Lend Lease, he was responsible for leading on the design and construction of major infrastructure projects.

The shake-up is the latest in a string of senior staff changes at the company.

Last month, it emerged that Stephen Grist, Lend Lease’s EMEA chief financial officer, had left the firm to be replaced by another Lend Lease manager, Victoria Quinlan.

The firm also announced that Roy Allport had been promoted from within to run the company’s Scottish business from October. In January, the firm appointed Gordon Ray, former Morgan Sindall managing director, as head of its North-west division.