Balfour Beatty has appointed Lee Hewitt as UK health, safety and environment director following the announcement that Heather Bryant is retiring on 18 November, after spending eight years at the company.
Starting his new role on 5 September, Mr Hewitt will be responsible for driving the company’s Zero Harm, Health, Safety and Wellbeing strategy across the Balfour group, working closely with the leadership teams and the Board Safety and Sustainability Committee.
In a statement, the company described Mr Hewitt as an ‘experienced construction and infrastructure leader’, who has undertaken several strategic roles including programme director for Site Wide Delivery and Logistics for Balfour Beatty VINCI’s HS2 Area North contract.
He has also 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, and the head of UK procurement for National Grid where he spent 25 years.
Mr Hewitt joined Balfour Beatty to work on the HS2 project in 2020 and his ascension is part of Balfour’s commitment to 'internal mobility’ and developing broad leadership careers through
While in the role, Ms Bryant was instrumental in progressing Balfour Beatty’s health and safety agenda, 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.
She also co-founded 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.’
