Esh Construction positioned for growth following senior appointments

The announcement follows a 35% uplift in turnover for the division over the past 36 months with a £200 million forward order book now secured.

North of England contractor, Esh Construction, is building on the success of continued growth within its civil engineering division by announcing nine director and senior-level promotions.

Strengthening the division in all sectors both commercially and operationally, the new appointments will drive forward growth plans across the North East and Yorkshire regions.

Stephen Wilkie, executive director at Esh Construction, explained: “Successful growth in this industry takes careful planning and timely execution to ensure the business model is sustainable. Over the past three years, we have been re-positioning our civil engineering division to grow organically, to secure larger capital projects, to demonstrate our abilities to deliver such schemes and to do so with client collaboration and maximum social return at the forefront.”

The firm’s civil engineering capabilities covers an array of sectors from highways and infrastructure, public realm and flood alleviation projects, to small works and capital schemes across the water and wastewater network, as well as housing infrastructure for the region’s housebuilders.

Strengthening the proven operational capabilities of the civil engineering division is Steven Garrigan, who has been appointed as divisional director. Steven takes the reins following his success as project director for Esh’s flagship scheme, Phase 3 of the Sunderland Strategic Transport Corridor, and builds on a 33-year career in the industry.

The operational team will be supported by Alan Croft and Stephen McClean, with the pair promoted to general civil construction manager and special projects construction manager, respectively.

Elsewhere, the division’s work winning abilities has been boosted by the appointment of Steve Conn as pre-construction director, Giovanni Asoni as estimating director and Ross Markwell as business development director.

The combination of sector and regional knowledge within the business development function, coupled with the technical and estimating expertise has seen the firm recently land two significant contract wins worth over £40 million. Notably, the Tyne Bridge Restoration and the Stockton Waterfront Regeneration scheme.

The string of new appointments includes Lee Taylor as commercial director for Esh’s housing infrastructure division, Lumsden & Carroll, as well as Norman Barnett who has been appointed as framework director with the responsibility of managing the delivery of Esh’s small works schemes with the Environment Agency and Northumbrian Water Group.

Finally, Martin O’Connelley has been appointed as group commercial director for all Esh Construction divisions. Martin has 12 years’ experience within Esh’s civil engineering division and is now tasked with driving performance and collaboration across the wider group as part of the new leadership team.

Stephen Wilkie concluded: “At Esh, we are proud of our ‘grow your own’ culture which allows people within our business to develop and build their career with us. This new structure provides a strong platform for us to execute our ambitious growth plans over the coming years.”