Mr Hewitt will take up his new role on 5 September, following the retirement of Heather Bryant on 18 November, having spent eight years at Balfour Beatty.

He will be responsible for driving the company’s Zero Harm, Health, Safety and Wellbeing strategy across the group, working closely with Balfour Beatty’s leadership teams and the Board Safety and Sustainability Committee.

An experienced construction and infrastructure leader, Mr Hewitt has undertaken several strategic roles, most recently as programme director for site-wide delivery and logistics for Balfour Beatty VINCI’s HS2 Area North contract, Britain’s new high-speed rail line and the largest infrastructure project in Europe.

In addition, he has held roles at the SMB (Skanska MWH Balfour Beatty) joint venture delivering the Thames Water capital programme, as well as the head of capital procurement for Gatwick Airport Limited, director of procurement and contract management at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, head of infrastructure, project management and construction EMEA for Lendlease, and the head of UK procurement for National Grid where he spent 25 years. Lee’s experience will drive further operational focus and insights as the group continues to deliver against its Zero Harm strategy.

Heather Bryant has been instrumental in progressing Balfour Beatty’s Health & Safety agenda, a core value of the group’s Build to Last strategy, most notably, overseeing a 50% reduction in Lost Time Injury Rate since 2014, and the launch of the company’s Observation App which has seen over 750,000 health and safety observations. Heather has also been instrumental in many industry-wide initiatives including co-founding the Health in Construction Leadership Group to focus on treating health like safety and spearheading the industry conversation around mental health.

Leo Quinn, Balfour Beatty group chief executive, said: “Health and Safety is our License to Operate and it is imperative that our teams are empowered and supported to deliver our Zero Harm vision. With his extensive deep domain knowledge and understanding of the industry from leadership and project-based roles, I know that Lee will continue to drive this agenda forward across Balfour Beatty, and I am pleased to welcome him to the group.

“I would like to thank Heather for her steadfast commitment to making the construction and infrastructure industry a safer and healthier environment for everyone.”