Shepherd Construction announces new chief executive

Shepherd Construction has appointed Richard Vining, formerly director of its south division, as its new chief executive.

He replaces Allan McDougall as head of the £326m-turnover operation, who has moved to Shepherd Group’s head office as part of wider shake-up of the firm’s senior team.

Vining said: “This new structure will give us further cohesion and consistency nationally, whilst we continue to deliver a first class service and expertise at a local level.

“Allan McDougall has taken on a new role with Shepherd Group and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for steering the company through a difficult time and wish him every success with his new post.”

As part of the wider move, Phil Greer, formerly managing director of the east division, becomes executive director operations with responsibility for the divisional managing directors, safety, health & environment and business improvement.

Together with Vining, he joins Gary Edwards (business director), Sean Smylie (commercial director) and Mike Porter (finance director) as the executive board team.

In January this year McDougall said a planned restructuring would reduce turnover towards £200m in 2009/10 as the firm focused on higher levels of profitability.

The company, which reduced staff levels by 180 to 750 last year, made a loss of £10.5m in 2009. The figure included restructuring costs and a £12.4m write down after the collapse of the £200m Trinity Walk scheme in Wakefield.

At the time McDougall said: “We felt we needed to change direction. We wanted more of our work to be on frameworks and partnerships. We want more repeat clients. But it’s also about trying to move away from a confrontational construction relationship.”