Mowlem splits up civils and building again

Mowlem's £1bn-a-year construction services division is being restructured by new chief executive Simon Vivian, effectively reversing Sir John Gains' decision of three years ago.
Vivian is de-layering the construction division and a heavy toll of redundancies among senior executives is anticipated.
Mowlem Construction Services has been split in two. Peter Clay will be managing director of civils, containing both road and rail, while Chris Pape has been given responsibility for building.
Willie Smith, who had been in charge of the former combined business since its formation, is said to have been given a "hibernation" role.
He was made head of Mowlem's civils division in September 2002 when Steve Bowcott, head of Mowlem Building, left. At this point, the two divisions were merged with Smith at the helm.
A source said: "When you put two diverse cultures together it's not easy. Mowlem's customers in building are very different to its civils customers, yet Mowlem tried to mix its two sets of people, to impose the same valuation policies. Since then, it has ended up with a big hit in one side one year and a profit in the other, then the situation reversed the next time round."
Within Mowlem Construction Services were 10 subsidiaries containing a total of 30 limited liability companies. Each subsidiary had a managing director. They are being given new job titles as part of the shake-up.
"With loads of MDs about, there were fiefdoms, especially in civils, and Simon Vivian has to break that down," a source said. "Some are being 'de-badged' and moved into operations; others will find themselves redundant. People are in consultation right now."
Clay was previously MD of Mowlem Infrastructure (North), while Pape has been promoted from the post of MD of Mowlem Building (Southern).
Mowlem has issued three profit warnings in six months, and earlier this month it sacked finance director Gerry Brown (CJ 9 February). While Mowlem has said that there will be a loss of £7.5m in 2004, analysts think there is more bad news still to come.
Vivian took over from Sir John Gains as chief executive in January. Even after initiating drastic 'surgery', a source said of Vivian's position: "He is still grappling with fog."
A Mowlem spokesman declined to comment. Nevertheless, CJ expects confirmation of Vivian's restructuring when Mowlem reveals its financial results for 2004 on 3 March.