Move is designed to speed up decision-making at the family-run firm

Three members of the Wates family have joined the Wates Group board in a simplification of the family-owned contractor.

Andy, Charlie and Tim Wates joined James Wates as directors of the main company on 18 May, and the Wates Family Holding entity which owns the Wates business will disappear.

Chief executive Paul Drechsler said that the move would not cause any change in strategy for the company, which would remain 100% owned by the Wates family, but was instead done to make it easier for the family’s to communicate with the main company and make “faster” decisions.

He said: “It enables the family focus on the long term issues of the company.”

The decision had been made following the retirement in December of the last of the third generation of the Wates family members, Drechsler said.

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