Engineer chosen as next construction adviser

Peter Hansford: “exemplary choice”

Figures from all sides of the industry gave their thumbs up this week to the man who has been chosen to replace Paul Morrell as chief construction adviser when Morrell steps down in November.

Former Institution of Civil Engineers president Peter Hansford beat five shortlisted senior industry figures for the job and will step down from his role as executive director at management consultant Nichols Group upon taking up the post in December. A total of 17 people applied for the two-year appointment, which comes with a £124,920 salary.

Carillion’s group chief engineer Quentin Leiper told Construction News the appointment was “absolutely fantastic”. He said Mr Hansford’s strengths included analysing, listening and finding solutions, and ensuring the “strategy is right”.

“He has got credibility; he has absolutely got the authority to deliver this,” added Leiper. “We have not taken somebody out of some government role – we have taken somebody who’s definitely an industrialist.”

Civil Engineering Contractors Association director of external affairs Alasdair Reisner described the appointment as an “exemplary choice”, adding that Mr Hansford was “really enthusiastic about making the industry better by working together”.

Construction minister Mark Prisk said that Hansford, who sat on the panel overseeing Infrastructure UK’s review of civil engineering costs, had been chosen because of his “wealth of experience” in the private sector and “very good reputation in the industry”.

Prisk added: “We had a strong list that was whittled down and there was a fair bit of deliberation, but Peter has the right balance for the job,” Building reported.

Chartered engineer Hansford was ICE president from 2010 to 2011, and will take over from Morrell overseeing the implementation of the 2011 Construction Strategy, which was designed to cut build costs on public projects by 15-20%.

Morrell told Construction News: “Peter has been engaged with the strategy virtually since its inception, chairing the steering group for infrastructure and attending the equivalent steering group for the government’s direct programme. He therefore has a deep understanding of what we are trying to do, combined with the organisational skills to lead implementation and the experience of the industry to know if tuning is required.”