Al Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG), a leading construction group in the region, has appointed Laurie Voyer as the group's new managing director. He will officially replace David Savage on October 1.

Savage will relocate to Australia in a senior role with the Leighton Group, a major shareholder of HLG and Australia’s largest contracting and project development group, said Riad T. Al Sadik, chairman of the Al Habtoor Leighton Group (HLG) on Wednesday.

He will remain an executive director of HLG. Voyer relocated to Dubai in July this year and has been working through a transition phase with Savage since then.

As managing director of HLG, Voyer will oversee the operations of one of the region’s largest broad-based construction groups. He has over 35 years’ senior management experience in the construction industry, and is recognised as a leader in the industry in Australia.

Prior to relocating to Dubai, Voyer was deputy managing director for Leighton Contractors, the Leighton Group’s flagship operating company.

Laurie was largely responsible for Leighton Contractors’ outstanding performance over the past few years, and was in charge of the company’s construction and mining operations across Australia and New Zealand.

His extensive experience incorporates some of Australia’s largest civil infrastructure, building and mining projects for both the public and private sector.

“I’m delighted to have been appointed managing director of such a well respected organisation as the Al Habtoor Leighton Group,” Voyer said.

“The group has a well-earned reputation for delivering high quality, large-scale construction projects, and is regarded as an industry leader in this region.

“I look forward to picking up from where David left off and reaffirming HLG as the most successful construction group in the Middle East and North Africa,” he said. The Al Habtoor Leighton Group’s work in hand currently exceeds $6 billion.

Savage had been managing director of HLG since it was established in September 2007 following the merger of Al Habtoor Engineering and Gulf Leighton, the Leighton Group’s operating entity in the Gulf region.

“It has always been our intention that David would only be in the role until we found a suitable replacement, as he was juggling the dual role of managing director of Leighton International (the Leighton Group operating company responsible for managing the Group’s investment in HLG),” said Sadik.

“While we are sad to see David go, we are very fortunate to be able to someone of Laurie’s calibre to take over the running of the company.

“Under Laurie’s management, we expect the Group to enter a new phase of growth, and consolidate its position as the leading construction group in the Middle East and North Africa,” Sadik said.-TradeArabia News Service