Laing O’Rourke has brought in its first independent chairman to head up the company.
Sir John Parker GBE FREng will this year take up the chairman’s role, replacing Ray O’Rourke who will remain as chief executive.
“Sir John has built up an enviable reputation across a range of industrial sectors as a leader in the boardroom, including chairman at five FTSE100 companies,” Ray O’Rourke said today.
“As former president of the Royal Academy of Engineering and a visiting fellow at Oxford University, he takes a keen interest in the development of engineering technology and talent, a core value of our global business.
“I am excited to work closely with Sir John to make Laing O’Rourke the recognised leader for innovation and excellence in the construction industry.”
Sir John said he would take up the position later this year after stepping down from the chairman’s role at Anglo American plc. In the interim, he would familiarise himself with O’Rourke’s key projects and clients.
In its report and accounts for 2016, profit after tax from joint venture companies fell from £1.2m in 2015 to a £86.8m loss, due entirely to a £93.1m writedown of a major construction joint venture in Canada. This was a £1.3bn PFI hospital in Montreal built in a joint venture with Spanish contractor Obrascón Huarte Lain.
In an interview earlier in the year O’Rourke confirmed that he would step away from the business in three years and that if its design for manufacture and assembly business took off in the UK it could be floated on the London Stock Exchange.
