UK ground engineering contractor Van Elle has announced a string of new company appointments and changes.

Recently appointed Chief Executive Mark Cutler has made several changes to the company's leadership team.

John Foster joins as Commercial Director from Saint Gobain's glass and facade installations business. He will be responsible for all commercial activity in the Group as well as business development, estimating and procurement.

Former Van Elle divisional director Peter Handley returns to the company following a stint at Cementation. He will take on the newly created role of Strategy and Business Improvement Director, leading the company's strategic development, business improvement and innovation programmes.


John and Peter will both commence their new roles in early January.

Other changes include the departure of General Piling division director Steve Johnson, who will be replaced by Group Construction Director David Warner on an interim basis.

Mr Cutler has also streamlined the operational structure of the £100m turnover AIM listed Group to five divisions, with the new structure now comprising: General Piling; Specialist Piling; Housing; Rail; and Geotechnical Services.

Commenting on the changes, Chief Executive Mark Cutler said: "I am very pleased to welcome John Foster and Peter Handley to Van Elle at this important stage of our growth and wish to thank Steve Johnson for his contribution. The company has been through a lot of change over the last couple of years but the new strengthened leadership team and streamlined divisional structure allows us to accelerate our improvement, more clearly focus on our customer's needs and better integrate our specialist capabilities across all the sectors we operate in."

(CM/MH)