Laing O’Rourke has introduced that group chief government Ray O’Rourke is to step down and hand over to his son.
The tier one contractor introduced immediately that the person who has run the agency since founding it in 1977 had given discover to the board of his intention to depart.
He’ll proceed to serve on the Laing O’Rourke group board as deputy chair of the agency, and will probably be succeeded subsequent week as chief government by his son, Cathal.
Ray O’Rourke stated: “I’m extremely pleased with our individuals and what now we have achieved as a enterprise.
“We now have maintained a dedication to rework our trade, and our persons are recognised for his or her means to ship advanced engineering tasks utilizing superior and complex strategies throughout the globe.”
The agency’s chairman Sir John Parker stated: “We salute the distinctive creativity of Ray’s management in constructing the group and its tradition that we all know immediately.
“We’re lucky that he’ll proceed to serve, offering ongoing steering and mentorship.”
Ray O’Rourke initially based the enterprise, R. O’Rourke, in 1977 as an east London-based formwork contractor.
In 2001, the agency purchased financially-stricken foremost contractor Laing Development from John Laing plc for £1.
In 2021 Ray O’Rourke cancelled his original plan to step down, and his designated substitute Seamus French left the corporate.
The agency has pioneered the usage of offsite manufacturing all through its tasks.
Cathal, a graduate engineer, returned to the UK final 12 months as chief working officer after main the agency’s Australian enterprise.
In January, Development Information named him in its checklist of 10 people to watch in 2024.
The UK’s largest privately-owned contractor has now made a mixed pre-tax lack of £636.5m in its previous 10 reported monetary years – regardless of seeing its income regularly enhance to achieve £3.3bn in its latest results, launched in December, overlaying the 12 months to 31 March 2023.
Its losses for that 12 months ballooned to £288.1m, which it blamed on points with inflation, challenge delays and a legacy contract in Australia.
