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Aecom has poached one of Arup鈥檚 most senior partners, David Glover, just weeks after prising a team of sports specialists away from the firm.

Glover - who had been at the engineer for 22 years - will become deputy chief executive of Aecom鈥檚 building engineering business, which employs 4,000 people worldwide.

The move comes just three weeks after Aecom tempted four sports architects to jump ship from ArupSport, the division that worked on the Singapore Sports Hub. High-profile director
J Parrish also left for Aecom earlier in the year.

The losses at Arup follow a restructure last year which led to 550 staff leaving the business, 15% of its UK workforce.

However, Robert Care, UKMEA chair, said he wished Glover well 鈥渙n a personal level鈥�, and that the sports team was only poached after a 鈥渞estructuring that made these people available鈥�.

Tristram Carfare will take over Glover鈥檚 role as Arup鈥檚 UKMEA building practice leader.

Steve Morriss, Aecom鈥檚 Europe chief executive, said part of Glover鈥檚 role would be to help integrate the US-based firms鈥� businesses, including Davis Langdon.

Morriss said: 鈥淲e鈥檙e bringing in various capabilities and combining them so that more of our work is done under the one Aecom banner.鈥�

He added the sport recruits were part of a global push to pick up more work in the sector and it was heavily targeting the Moscow 2018 and Qatar 2022 World Cups. Aecom set up a dedicated global sports group six months ago, which is based in London and headed up by Peter Flint.

Morriss said: 鈥淲e want to become even more famous for our specialism in this area. We鈥檝e got a major investment in sport globally.鈥�

Jeremy Horner, chief executive of Davis Langdon, said: 鈥淭his is great news for Aecom globally to have someone of Glover鈥檚 calibre. His appointment signals Aecom鈥檚 emphasis on the built environment rather than just infrastructure.鈥�

Jim Burridge, Arup鈥檚 global sports business leader said Arup still has a broad skill base in the sports market.