The succession strategy has involved the appointment of a chief operating officer (COO) to each of the three companies that currently make up the Capital Works division, a process started two years ago when Charlie Scherer was appointed to the role for Willmott Dixon Housing and Mike Hart for Willmott Dixon Interiors.

John Waterman, currently managing director of the company’s regional Construction office in Cobham, will now step into the final COO role at Willmott Dixon Construction from the beginning of 2015, leading the £700m turnover construction operation across five regions.

All three COOs will report directly to Rick Willmott, Group Chief Executive.

Rick says, “I am pleased we have now concluded the assembly of COO positions to form our new generation of management structure. It enables John, after 30 years of distinguished service with us, to step down at the end of the year and pursue a number of activities outside our business before returning as a non-executive director in January 2016.”

John Frankiewicz adds, “Over the last two years I have been in discussion with the business over my succession. Now we have identified the three COOs for our Construction, Housing and Interiors companies, I can step away from my Divisional Chief Executive role from the end of 2014.

I have been in the Construction industry for forty years of which almost thirty has been with Willmott Dixon. In that time I have had a fantastic experience and been fortunate to have worked and been supported by many excellent people both within the business and the wider Construction sector.

Construction has been a large part of my life and as such I expect to continue to play a wider role in the industry in due course. I will continue to play a role for Willmott Dixon by taking a non-executive role with the Group from January 2016. This will allow me to provide continuous support where I can to a company which I value immensely.

In terms of my wider role, I will consider many options and I cannot discount other opportunities outside the industry. However, my early thoughts are to play a role in the industry that served me well but still needs radical change to achieve the performance required. It is my belief that the thinking and delivery has to be improved and this will be achieved with both innovation and collaboration.”