She will oversee the construction team of the Carlisle-headquartered firm, which has a forecast turnover of £30m this year.

Porter has worked in the construction industry for 11 years and will re-join Story Contracting on 01 April after a successful spell working in Advisory Services at Arup.

She first joined the Story family business in 2007 working in a variety of roles at the company over a six-year period, before moving to Paris to complete an MBA at INSEAD – one of the best business schools in the world.

After moving back to the UK in 2014, Emma joined Arup as a senior operations consultant working principally in the nuclear sector, and then returned to Story Contracting as the company’s Head of Operations a year later.

Jason Butterworth, CEO of Story Contracting, said: “Our Construction division has experienced a promising start to the year having secured work for 60% of our 2019 business plan, and as such, we identified the need for a strong leader to help us deliver on these projects.

“With her industry knowledge and experience, passion for equality and diversity and hunger for success, we are confident that Emma is the perfect person for the job.”