Interserve appoints new commercial director for construction

Interserve have appointed Ben Edwards as commercial director of the company’s UK construction business.

Edwards joins Interserve from Sobha in Dubai, where he was group commercial director of its Middle East construction business. He has previously held senior leadership roles at Lang O’Rourke and Kier and has worked in the construction sector for more than 20 years.

Paul Gandy, managing director of Interserve Construction, said: “Ben brings considerable commercial leadership experience to our business having operated at a senior level across a range of markets. I am delighted to welcome Ben to the team. I look forward to working with him as we continue to deliver on our strategy to build world-class facilities for a range of key public and private sector clients on projects across the healthcare and education sectors as well as major frameworks.”

Interserve is a multinational group of support services and construction companies based in the UK, with a revenue of £2.7bn in 2018 and a workforce of 68,000 people worldwide. Financial difficulties forced the company to restructure and refinance in March 2018. Its financial situation worsened in late 2018, and debt holders discussed a further financial restructuring of the business. The debt-for-equity plan was rejected at an annual general meeting on 15 March 2019 and the parent company went into administration owing creditors over £100m. In a pre-pack deal, the rest of the group was immediately sold to a newly incorporated company owned by lenders, Interserve Group Ltd.

Ben Edwards succeeds Andrew Jarman, who joined Interserve in 1990 and is retiring.