Laing O'Rourke chief searches for top talent to boost business

Laing O'Rourke chief operating officer Tony Douglas is "turning the company upside down" in a bid to expand the UK's biggest private contractor by 25% a year. Douglas is outlining a major reshuffle of the company that was first revealed in CJ last month (CJ 16 April).

The revamp will see project managers become the most powerful people at O'Rourke as control is wrested away from head office.

Douglas said: "We are turning the organisation upside down so project leaders and owners of specialist businesses will be at the forefront. At most companies, if you are successful, you lead a project, then a bigger one then you get promoted to head office. I think that is a waste of talent and we want to have more players on the pitch, not sitting in the stands. The current way of thinking is a flaw across the whole of the industry."

O'Rourke is hoping to attract the best project managers to its jobs from across the globe. Douglas said: "We are putting a lot of effort into getting these people and the business will be organised around them.

"We want to offer the most attractive deal for big-hitting project leaders so we become the most attractive place to work. The idea is that top people will be joining us from all over the world.

"The plans were outlined to O'Rourke's top 140 directors last week and news of the changes is being spread across the business."

Douglas joined O'Rourke last July from BAA and started to reshuffle the firm after identifying changes in clients engaging them. He said: "We are looking to deliver outstanding service to our sophisticated clients and become a total solutions provider.

"The nature of our work is changing rapidly - 85% of our work now has complete, or a significant, design capability. That figure was less than 25% only a few years ago."

Douglas wants to see the same level of service rolled out to all clients. He said: "Often when a client talks to firms they ask if they will be getting the 'A' team on the job. That presumes there is a B and C team, which won't be the case at Laing O'Rourke."