The U-turn sees former Morgan Sindall Northern Home Counties area director David Rowsell brought in as new managing director of Kier Construction London.

Under Rowsell’s leadership, Kier Construction London will now focus on expanding its private sector offering in the capital to complement an already strong public sector base, while also developing the region further in the Thames Valley area.

As part of the shake-up, Kier’s Health Sector Director Cheryl Parsons has been promoted to the new role of regional director for Construction Southern.

Parsons joined Kier eight years ago and has worked with the regions to significantly grow Kier Construction’s healthcare sector, including leading the emergency Nightingale Hospital Project Management Office.

Her 23 years’ experience in the construction industry spans across private and public sectors, leading on preconstruction and delivery of projects in sectors including defence, justice and higher education.

The two businesses were merged into one two years ago under the leadership of its former construction boss Liam Cummins, who left at the start of the year to become chief executive of cladding firm Permasteelisa.

Kier’s latest change in tack was initiated by Stuart Togwell, who took over as group managing director at Kier Construction, when Cummins left.