Sally Cox has been appointed managing director of EKFB, the joint venture between Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial Construction and Bam Nuttall.
She will be responsible for overseeing 80km of the first phase of HS2 between the Chiltern Tunnel and Long Itchington Wood.
Cox said: “It is an engineer’s dream to work on a project of this scale and magnitude and I am looking forward to working collaboratively with all the JV partners, our supply chain and the customer to deliver around 80km of excellence in civil engineering”.
Cox replaces Kier’s Mark Pengelly, who took the helm in January this year. Pengelly will retire at the end of the year, after 39 years with the company.
Cox was previously project director of the JV between Bam Nuttall, Morgan Sindall and Balfour Beatty working on Tideway West. She has also acted as Managing Director of Hochtief UK Construction and as Construction Manager on major rail projects in Australia for Leighton Contractors.
Kier chief executive Andrew Davies said: “Sally has a very impressive track record of delivering major infrastructure projects wherever she has gone, and this experience made her an ideal choice for this role.”
EKFB’s section of HS2 includes 6.9km of green tunnels, 22km of road diversions, 81 bridges and 30 cubic meters of excavation.
The JV is also responsible for 15 viaducts. These include the 880-metre-long Thame Valley Viaduct in Oxfordshire, which is the UK’s first modular viaduct, and the Wendover Viaduct in Buckinghamshire, the UK’s first major railway bridge to be built with a ” double compound” with low carbon emissions.
In June, HS2 began reallocating some of EFKB’s assets within the central section of the route in the North Chilterns.
