The new Engineering Excellence Group (EEG) is a critical component of the company’s 2020 strategy, and is set to play a leading role in shaping the future of the business by responding to the engineering challenges facing clients.

This new centralised capability will comprise a team of engineering lead directors in the key disciplines – heavy civil, structural, mechanical, electrical, electronic, and chemical process & manufacturing - working in a dynamic and ‘boundaryless’ environment, operating outside of normal business and project governance.  The principal role of the EEG will be to devise engineering strategies to give LOR competitive advantage and to drive industry innovation.

The EEG will be made up of world-class professionals drawn from academia and industry, and will be a focus for creating innovative client solutions, partnering with external consultants at the highest levels to positively differentiate LOR’s core capabilities.  The various disciplinary teams will also manage and participate in collaborative research and development projects with the LOR engineering centres sited on the Group’s partnering universities’ campuses.

The EEG will be strategically led by a world-renowned engineer capable of operating in a powerful advisory capacity, combining the leadership, innovation and teaching qualities necessary to ensure success.  Laing O’Rourke is therefore pleased to be announcing the appointment of Professor Robert Mair as the new Chief Engineering Adviser, reporting directly to chairman and chief executive officer, Ray O’Rourke.  Professor Mair will combine this consultancy role with his continuing commitments as Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cambridge University.

Working closely with the EEG team and its lead directors, his principal role will be to provide advice on the strengthening and promotion of engineering throughout the core delivery operations of the company.  This will include the recruitment and career advancement of a cadre of high quality engineers, to strengthen high level engineering across the business.  He will also provide strategic direction to the creation and implementation of the Group’s research and development collaborations with universities, including their practical application onto construction projects to drive innovation and value creation.

Professor Mair is currently Master of Jesus College, Cambridge and Professor of Geotechnical Engineering at Cambridge University, where he is Head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Division in the Engineering Department.  He was awarded the CBE in the 2010 New Years Honours for services to engineering.

He is a globally respected figure in his field, and has extensive practical knowledge gained in industry over 27 years prior to him joining Cambridge in 1998.  As a founding director of the Geotechnical Consulting Group, he was responsible for geotechnical aspects of numerous major international engineering projects, and now heads a world-leading research group at Cambridge.  He also has extensive experience of dealing with industry, governments and both professional and academic institutions, in the UK and overseas.

Professor Mair takes up his new role on 1 October, when he steps down from his position as Master of Jesus College, Cambridge.  In the interim he will be providing strategic advice to the company.

Joining Robert, in the first of a number of strategic appointments, Laing O’Rourke is also pleased to be announcing that Dr Andrew Harris will be joining the EEG on a full-time basis as the lead director responsible for chemical engineering.  Working closely with the Chief Engineering Adviser, Andrew was associate professor and head of the sustainable engineering research group at the University of Sydney, Australia.  His areas of expertise are in sustainable engineering and technology development, nanotechnology, zero emission product and process design, energy generation and water capture.

Andrew has a reputation as an engineering industry innovator who delivers practical solutions to construction challenges.  Based out of Australia, he will continue to maintain close links with the University of Sydney, and will bring valuable insights to the teams that support growth in the oil and gas, and building sectors in particular.

Commenting on the announcement, Ray O’Rourke, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said: “The launch of the Engineering Excellence Group and these strategic appointments are significant milestones for Laing O’Rourke.  They mark the beginning of the next stage of our journey, and are a tangible demonstration of our commitment to transition LOR into a world-class engineering enterprise.

“I am confident that through the attraction of world-class talent, collaboration with leading partners, combined with our relentless focus on innovative delivery, we will advance our engineering capabilities to a globally recognised level of excellence.”