Directors exit at piling specialist Van Elle

Aaron Morby 6 years ago
Share

Ground engineering specialist Van Elle’s interim managing director has started rationalising the business with two high-profile directors exiting.

Steve Prendergast merges pre-cast beam Smartfoot business and Scottish Division
Steve Prendergast merges pre-cast beam Smartfoot business and Scottish Division

The rejig at Van Elle will see the Smartfoot precast modular foundation system division move up to Scotland from Nottinghamshire, where it will be merged with the Scottish division of Van Elle.

Phillip Chippendale, director of the Smartfoot division, will be leaving the firm, which will now be headed by Tony Pontiero from the start of August.

As part of the shake-up Mark Williams, group business development director, is also leaving.

Williams has been with Van Elle for 12 years and helped move Van Elle from a £35m company to a £100m company. He will be replaced by Philip Norville.

In a circular to staff, interim CEO Steve Prendergast, said: “Due to changing market conditions we have decided to rationalise our business structure.

“Our Scottish Division has been successful in expanding the Smartfoot business north of the border and as a result of its current and predicted volume we will merge the divisions of Scotland and Smartfoot together creating a larger Smartfoot division.

“We need an agile business structure that is able to adapt to the continual changes in market conditions and we are continually looking how we can improve our valued proposition to our customers in order to maintain a growing business.

“We plan to be more strategic in our business approach rather than reactionary and believe the results will be a stronger sustainable growing business.”

Mark Cutler, former regional managing director of Balfour Beatty, will take on the role as chief executive before 1 October.

Most recently Cutler was managing director of the Balfour Beatty/ Vinci joint venture, with responsibility for the High Speed 2 programme.

From 2010 to 2014 he was chief executive at privately-owned civils contractor Barhale.

Latest news

McAlpine healthcare MD joins BAM as Northern chief

Mark Gibson joins as Northern regional director
2 days ago

HS2 Align JV completes Britain’s longest rail bridge – video

Final deck segment sees HS2 viaduct break 137-year old record held by Tay Bridge
2 days ago

Green light for major London city fringe office retrofit

Overhaul of 30 Finsbury Square to start next Summer
2 days ago

John Lewis submits plan for £80m Reading rental flats scheme

Construction hoped to start on 215 flats scheme at the start of 2026
2 days ago

Balfour Beatty lands £27m Highlands flood defence scheme

Work to start imminently building river walls in Comrie
2 days ago

Buyers believe construction has “turned a corner”

Residential rebounds, commercial still strong but civils slows
3 days ago

Vistry unseats Barratt as Britain’s biggest house builder

Partnership homes specialist on track to build 18,000 homes this year
3 days ago

23 jobs axed as Lincolnshire contractor goes under

C G Godfrey provided civils and M&E services in Eastern England
3 days ago

Winvic first to use remote-control tower crane on site

Crane driver sits in ground floor command centre at Birmingham 33-storey tower
3 days ago

Starmer vows to ban Grenfell firms from public contracts

Prime Minister to write to named and shamed construction firms
3 days ago

Grenfell Inquiry calls for uber construction regulator

Shake-up must include licensing of main contractors taking on high rise projects
4 days ago

Robertson to restore historic Newcastle market

Work to revamp Grainger Market to start by the end of this month
3 days ago

Three bidders chase £1.4bn Midlands rail hub alliance

Balfour, Skanska, Bam and Laing O'Rouke in bidding for eight-year rail upgrade
4 days ago

Barratt profit nosedives as margin slumps to 4.2%

Fire safety provisions jump by an extra £126m to total £628m
4 days ago

First viaduct completed on HS2: Video site report

Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and Bam Nuttall finish 163m long Highfurlong Brook Viaduct
4 days ago

Bouygues bags £28m Oxfordshire school job

St John’s Academy to be at heart of Wellington Gate Development
4 days ago

Willmott Dixon wins £49m Wigan college expansion

New campus for Wigan & Leigh College to be net zero in operation
4 days ago

Work to start on Liverpool office to flats job

Truman D&B wins resi conversion in Moorfields district
4 days ago

Government mothballs plan to scrap CE Mark

Building safety minister warns there is insufficient capacity in present testing regime
5 days ago

Government backs record number of clean energy projects

131 projects will produce electricity to power 11 million homes.
5 days ago

Tube station housing plan gets Government green light

Plans to transform Cockfosters Tube station were blocked by previous regime
5 days ago

Go-ahead for Bristol Temple Quay hotel and build to rent job

A trio of blocks will house a 230-room hotel, 170-room apart-hotel and 100 rental flats
5 days ago

Construction costs cut for Plymouth city centre revamp

Price of Armada Way scheme falls to £30m after exploratory work on site
5 days ago

Tilbury Douglas chief Paul Gandy to step down

Craig Tatton to take on CEO role from November
6 days ago

Local pressure unblocks £240m Oxford sewage works upgrade

Council warns Thames Water delay is halting building of thousands of new homes
6 days ago

Knights Brown bags last phase of £86m Portsmouth flood defence job

Contractor has already completed second and third phases of North Portsea Coastal Scheme
6 days ago

Bidding starts for £1bn housing decarbonising framework

National housing energy efficiency retrofit deal will come into force in 2015
6 days ago

World’s strongest land-based crane launched

Mammoet crane will help build major energy and infrastructure projects
6 days ago

Big Yellow gets go-ahead for largest London site

Storage giant to build 176,000 sq ft scheme next to Kensington Olympia
6 days ago

Worker dies after being buried by trench collapse

Court hears workers on new build housing site had no training on working within excavations
6 days ago

Contractor services