Former Beazer chief executive John Low has joined construction and packaging company Send Group to run its social housing arm.
Low left Beazer soon after it was taken over by Persimmon earlier this year. He is also non-executive chairman of small Kent-based housebuilder Honeygrove.

Low's arrival was announced as Send published its interim results to 30 June.

The group obtained a listing on the alternative investment market in May so the published figures are for the six weeks from the middle of that month. Turnover was £14.8m for the period, with a pre-tax profit of £805,000.

Send chief executive Stephen Compson said his group planned to expand throughout the UK. He was bullish about the company's prospects, saying major growth opportunities existed for its modular accommodation arm, Rollalong, in the telecoms and public sectors.

He said: "We are attempting to burst out of our southern base, as things across all of our businesses are looking buoyant."

Compson said he had high hopes for the social housing arm, which has won its first contract – for a £1.6m nurses' accommodation block in Redbridge, east London.

He added that he expects to win more business from the rail, defence and education sectors.

Send has also won a £10m contract for 1400 student accommodation units in Manchester. And despite the recent downturn in telecoms spending, Rollalong's equipment arm Armado has won a number of fibre-optics contracts from firms such as Energis.

However, Compson lamented the dearth of talent entering the industry, in spite of recent efforts by the Construction Industry Training Board to reverse this.

He said: "The biggest constraint to growth is recruiting quality workers."