Wates has announced a major restructure as part of an effort to target more residential and public sector work as it looks to recover from the coronavirus crisis.
The changes will see Wates Residential will become a standalone business under the leadership of Helen Bunch, who is moving from her role as MD of its fit-out business Wates Smartspace. A statement from Wates Group added that this is part of a strategy to grow its residential offering.
Wates Smartspace is to become a division of Wates Property Services alongside Wates Living Space and Wates FM under the leadership of David Morgan, executive managing director of Wates Property Services. A new Smartspace MD is due to be appointed in the coming weeks, the firm added.
Its SES Engineering Services, Wates Building Services and Prism offsite manufacturing arms will be brought together under the umbrella of Wates Integrated Construction Services. Rob Clifford, MD of Wates Building Services, has been appointed managing director of the new unit and will report to Paul Chandler, Wates’s executive director of construction.
Steve Joyce has been appointed new managing director of SES, which is due to continue providing specialist M&E services. He replaces Jason Knights, whose departure was announced last month.
Announcing that around 70 per cent of its turnover is expected to come from the public sector from next year, the company revealed it had moved strategy director Steve Beechey to group public sector director.
Wates was the first major contractor to announce a programme of redundancies during the coronavirus crisis, stating in May that it would cut 300 staff, or 8 per cent of its total, in order to match expected levels of future activity. All parts of the firm were due to be hit by the cuts, with its Construction and Property Services divisions most affected.
The contractor's statement also said the group’s construction business will “intensify its focus on design and offsite manufacturing, and strengthen its capabilities in complex sectors, such as healthcare”.
Wates chief executive David Allen said staff has met the challenges of the last four months with “great ingenuity, determination and success”.
“We are now adjusting our structure to focus on the great opportunities that we believe lie ahead in our key sectors. These changes give us the best possible prospects of thriving in the current environment and once the coronavirus crisis has passed and we’re confident that our future direction is clear.”
Helen Rieman, former head of business development and partnerships at United Living, has also joined Wates Developments as a partnerships director. The company said she will help identify, develop and fund new housing, key worker, build to rent and senior living schemes.
The firm's accounts for the year ending 31 December 2019, released in April, showed a marginal increase in pre-tax profit for the company to £34.6m. Revenue was also up from £1.5bn to £1.55bn, leaving the business with a pre-tax margin of 2.2 per cent.
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