The Austrian civils giant said the move had accelerated plans to enter the building sector by more than a year.

Strabag UK has established a new office in Solihull, Birmingham to ensure continuity for the pool of staff joining and to further expand its geographical presence across the UK.

Former Buckingham Group director of building, Ian Burford, will head the new division, which will target light industrial and logistic centres, data centres, advanced manufacturing facilities and commercial developments.

He said: “My ex-colleagues from Buckingham Group are thrilled to be joining Strabag UK.

“To be part of such a major international company at such an exciting time, where the UK business is growing from strength to strength, is a fantastic opportunity.”

Strabag aims to replicate in the UK the successes of its wider mainland Europe operation providing end-to-end capability services from finance, design, construction and fit-out.

Joint managing directors for Strabag UK, Simon Wild and Andy Dixon, said: “We have been looking to expand the UK business in this area and to be able to recruit such a talented pool of staff immediately was an opportunity we could not miss.

“We believe that Strabag Group’s financial stability, combined with its extensive experience, will be extremely attractive to future UK customers.”