Former Kier boss says opportunities to leave construction were 鈥渓ess attractive鈥� than joining the contracting giant
Former Kier chief executive Paul Sheffield has said a desire to get away from 鈥渓ooking at spreadsheets鈥� was a key factor in his decision to join Laing O鈥橰ourke as its European boss.
Last week, Laing O鈥橰ourke announced it had hired Sheffield as managing director of its Europe Hub.
The move is a step down in seniority for Sheffield, who held the top post at Kier. He will now report to Laing O鈥橰ourke Group chief executive Anna Stewart in his new job.
Speaking to 好色先生TV this week, Sheffield said he was at a 鈥減oint in life鈥� where his priority was to do something he enjoyed and money and seniority were less a concern.
He said he was looking forward to 鈥渞olling up his sleeves鈥� more often than he had been able to when dealing with the demands of investors and analysts as chief executive of the publically traded Kier, which he said had taken up 鈥渁round 50%鈥� of his time.
He added: 鈥淚 have made no secret about the fact that what I enjoyed most about the last 20 years is building things not looking at spreadsheets.鈥�
Upon announcing that he was leaving Kier in February, Sheffield suggested he wanted to find a new role outside of construction, saying it would be 鈥渆xciting to try your skills at something completely different鈥�.
But this week he said he had had 鈥渋nteresting conversations鈥� with firms outside construction but that it would have been 鈥渄ifficult to do something in an industry that I鈥檓 not passionate about鈥�.
鈥淚 have had a very careful look at things outside the industry but none are as attractive as the opportunity I have got to stay in it,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 have done a lot of due diligence on the business [Laing O鈥橰ourke] and the one thing that has convinced me it鈥檚 the right move is the passionate ambition that they have to do things differently.
鈥淚 was quite clear that I didn鈥檛 want to do the same thing for another company but the ambition and investment that they have done does puts the potential [for the business] on a different platform.鈥�
He said that the industry needed to change if it was to realise the goals of the government鈥檚 construction strategy for 2025 and that Laing O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 investment in offsite manufacturing plants was an attractive way of doing that.
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