Move will see creation of new Northern region and disappearance of standalone South-east arm

Bam is restructuring its 1,100-strong construction business in England, cutting back the number of regions from seven to five with the firm saying the move will lead to job losses.

The biggest change will see the North-east, based in Leeds, and North-west, based across the Pennines in Manchester close to the Old Trafford football ground, merged into one Northern region.

This will be put under the leadership of John Phillips, currently in charge of the North-east business and who succeeded Bam Construct鈥檚 boss James Wimpenny when he was promoted to the executive board.

James Wimpenny high res

James Wimpenny said the restructure was taking place in the wake of changing market conditions

The North-west has been led by Ian Fleming for the past six years, having first joined the company in 2000.

The South-east region is being merged across Bam鈥檚 London, Western and Midlands regions with the latter renamed Central and headed by current South-east boss Adam Harding.

The disappearance of the South-east region, which is based at Bam鈥檚 headquarters in Hemel Hempstead, is likely to mean that London, led by Rod Stiles, and Western, based in Bristol and led by Tim Chell, will become bigger regions.

Bam said the move will result in 鈥渁 small number of redundancies鈥� but declined to say how many with speculation it could be around 30. The firm added: 鈥淲here possible we are seeking alternative internal roles.鈥�

Explaining the rejig, Wimpenny, executive director construction, Bam UK & Ireland, said: 鈥淟ike most companies we are constantly reviewing our structure and how we operate in line with best practice and market conditions.鈥�

Meanwhile, 黑洞社区 understands Bam is no longer in the frame for the delayed Gateshead Arena scheme.

Bam had taken over the job, then given a 拢260m price tag, from Sir Robert McAlpine more than 18 months ago.

But rising costs have meant the scheme has been stalled with an original opening date of 2024 now being replaced by a series of staggered completion times with the 12,500 arena not expected to finish until 2027.

The scheme is being developed by the local council and Ask Real Estate with costs now expected to be around 拢350m.

A 344-bed hotel is the first part of the development set to open, with this given an opening date of autumn 2025.

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