George Marsh, deputy chief executive of Galliford Try, was expected to have taken over this summer when Calverley was to retire. Instead, he resigned in November after warning investors that the projected 12-month profit for the construction division had fallen 拢3.5m.
Calverley will now stay until the start of next year, by which time the group鈥檚 construction operations should be revamped.
A City analyst said: 鈥淚f Sturgess sorts out the construction side I鈥榙 have thought he would have a good chance of succeeding Calverley.鈥�
Sturgess, who was UK building managing director at Skanska for five years until his resignation last year, refused to comment on the speculation. He said: 鈥淢y job is very straightforward. I鈥檝e got a full-time job.鈥�
Sturgess said the company would concentrate on long-term commercial work and jobs in the regulated market.
Galliford Try chairman Tony Palmer said of the appointment: 鈥淎ndy brings to us the experience of managing one of the UK鈥檚 leading building contractors, and in particular has extensive expertise in working for the public and regulated sectors as well as for commercial clients, much of it through partnerships and framework agreements.鈥�
In a further move, Chris King, managing director of Galliford UK, is to become business development director of the group鈥檚 construction division.
