Press Releases

Deryk Eke to be Construction Director

07/2000

Deryk Eke is to be appointed Construction Director at the Office of Government Commerce, Peter Gershon, Chief Executive announced today.

Speaking about his appointment Peter Gershon said:

"I am delighted to have secured the services of a senior executive of Deryk Eke's standing, particularly from such a leading private sector company and client of the construction industry. He brings excellent private sector skills to his new job in the public sector.

"Deryk's appointment will bring added impetus and a new focus, enabling the OGC to drive forward its own construction agenda into the next important phase of development of the Achieving Excellence initiative. I am confident that we can upgrade our best practice agenda for the benefit of the whole of the public sector."

Andrew Wolstenholme, Group Construction Director at BAA said:

"We are proud that Treasury have looked towards BAA to secure such a senior figure within the construction industry and it comes as no surprise that Deryk, with his considerable construction experience, has been chosen for this role."

Deryk Eke, currently Deputy Group Construction Director at BAA said:

"With over 25 years construction experience in the private sector, the last 6 developing BAA's construction policy and strategy, I have had a very clear focus on improving the performance of BAA as a construction client.

"I believe there is much commonality between the public and private sector initiatives to improve construction performance and the experience and learning I have gained in BAA is readily transferable to public sector and will help me build on the foundations OGC has already put in place."

The Construction Procurement Team in the OGC is responsible for identifying, and supporting the introduction of, best practice in construction procurement in central Government organisations. Currently the team is driving through the Achieving Excellence initiative which is the Government's three year plan to improve its performance as a client of the construction industry.

NOTES TO EDITORS

• Deryk Eke replaces Mike Burt as Head of Construction Team who left in May.
• Deryk Eke has been a Senior Executive at BAA for some years during which time he has worked on developing polices and strategies as well as implementing projects. He will commence work at the OGC on 1 August 2000.
• The construction team under Deryk Eke will shortly move to new offices to be collocated with PACE, part of OGC, at Trevelyan House, Gt. Peter Street, London, SW1 2BY.
• The OGC was set up on 1 April 2000 as an Office of the Treasury.
• The Construction Team works in collaboration with the Government Construction Clients' Panel, with some 50 representatives from across Government, which is chaired by the Director of Construction.
• The Achieving Excellence initiative has set a range of challenging targets for the Team itself and for individual organisations to be met by March 2002.
• Press calls to Malcolm Graves on 020 7211 1366. Public enquiries to 020 7211 1300.