Leo Quinn, the CEO of London-based construction giant Balfour Beatty, will step down from the position in September, according to a Wednesday news release from the company. He will be succeeded by Philip Hoare, chief operating officer of AtkinsRéalis, an engineering and nuclear services business based in Montreal.
Hoare, a civil engineer by training, built his 30-year career in the industry at AtkinsRéalis Group, according to the news release. He served as CEO of Atkins in the U.K. and Europe, and then as president of the global engineering services business for the firm.
Following Hoare’s appointment to Balfour Beatty’s board of directors in September, Quinn will continue in an advisory capacity for several months to aid with the transition.
Philip Hoare
Courtesy of Balfour Beatty
“It has been my great privilege to lead Balfour Beatty through over ten years of transformation into a focused and leading international infrastructure Group,” Quinn said in the release. “I believe that our industry-leading safety performance, financial strength and strategic position in growth markets come from directly investing in outstanding people to ensure what is now an enviable 115-year heritage.”
Quinn started his construction career at Balfour Beatty as a civil engineer in 1979, according to The Independent. He left to take executive positions at companies across the AEC space until he joined Balfour Beatty’s board of directors in 2015 in the chief executive role, per his LinkedIn profile.
At the time, the company had issued five profit warnings within two years, and was fending off a takeover attempt by then-industry giant Carillion, The Independent reported. Carillion, headquartered in Wolverhampton, England, collapsed under the weight of its debt in 2018.
Today, Balfour Beatty is one of the largest contractors in the U.K., and its U.S. arm is ranked 32 among all commercial contractors in the country by revenue, according to Engineering News-Record.
The company’s flagship project is the construction of High Speed 2, Britain’s forthcoming high-speed railway, alongside infrastructure titan Vinci. However, costs have ballooned since construction began in 2020, according to The Guardian. The British government has since canceled legs of the project, and announced in October that it was launching an investigation into the project’s oversight.
Succession plans
Quinn’s departure marks at least the fourth major construction CEO switch of 2025. Ron Tutor, the longtime CEO of Los Angeles-based Tutor Perini, stepped down in January, and former CFO Gary Smalley took the reins. The change was announced in November 2023.
The move happened simultaneously with Derek Cunz taking over the lead role at Minneapolis-based Mortenson from Dan Johnson, who retired, to start the new year. That long-planned change was announced in September.
Then last month, Irving, Texas-based Fluor revealed that Jim Breuer, the company’s chief operating officer, would step into the CEO role and take over from chief executive David Constable on May 1.
