RLB veteran to step down after three decades at firm

Rider Levett Bucknall veteran Ann Bentley is stepping down from the firm after 33 years at the consultant.

Bentley, who turned 61 in February, will leave her UK board member and global board director roles at the end of the month, the company has confirmed.

RLB’s commercial and technical director Mark Weaver, also a a UK board member, has now been appointed a global board director.

The move is part of a wider rejig at the business which saw UK chief executive Andy Reynolds, who remains in charge of the 1,000-strong UK and Europe business, appointed global chairman over the summer.

Bentley played a key role in helping organise a management buy out of the company from a venture capitalist-backed firm called Citex in 2003.

“The last year of Citex was possibly the greatest learning experience of my life – it was also one of the most unpleasant years of my life,” she told Building three years ago adding Citex’s “only objective was to get the maximum value out of it”.

Bentley was one of 22 original investors who had to find close to £2m – £750,000 to buy the firm plus enough working capital to keep it going – to get hold of a business whose roots go back to 1947. The firm rebranded as Bucknall Austin, changing its name again in 2007 to become Rider Levett Bucknall.

Paying tribute to the departing Bentley, Reynolds said: “From playing a leading role in many of our company milestones, including the UK management buyout and the formation of our global practice, to her pioneering work around Procuring for Value within her role on the UK Government’s Construction Leadership Council, Ann has been an inspiration to us all in her unstinting dedication to ensuring our industry remains future fit.”