Severfield said that Alan Dunsmore wil leave the group “by mutual consent” on June 30.

The search is now underway for a successor with interim leadership arrangements put in place to ensure business continuity.

Charlie Cornish (Chair of Severfield) will support and guide the interim executive team led by Rob Evans (Divisional Managing Director of Severfield’s largest division, Commercial & Industrial) and Adam Semple (CFO).

Cornish said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Alan for his commitment to Severfield over the past 15 years and for the last seven years of dedicated leadership as CEO. Alan has been pivotal in shaping our purpose, strategy and values, driving growth both organically and through acquisitions.”

Dunsmore added: “It has been a privilege to spend 15 years of my career at Severfield and to have led the development of the business in the UK, Europe and India. Now is an appropriate time to hand over to a new CEO to build on Severfield’s unique strengths and accelerate the growth of the business.”

Severfield issued a profit warning earlier this month blaming project delays and falling business confidence.

In a trading statement, Severfield said it would look for a further round of cost reductions and had cancelled the £10m share buyback programme to manage the fall off in workload.

The warning followed a reported £6m half-year loss last November when the contractor revealed a £20m hit from welding defects on several HS2 and National Highways bridge structures.