Ørsted has appointed Laura Jones as head of site for Hornsea 2, the world’s largest single offshore wind farm.

Hornsea 2, nearly 90km off the Yorkshire coast, has 165 turbines that can generate enough power for 1.4 million homes. The wind farm is maintained out of Ørsted’s East Coast Hub in Grimsby.

Jones joined Ørsted’s Projects Transformation team a year ago, where she has been combining day-to-day operations with long-term strategic and commercial thinking

In her first year, Laura’s priorities for Hornsea 2 include strengthening safety, reliability, building on the excellent work of the team and the ongoing digital maturation of the site.

She said: “I'm excited to lead Hornsea 2 at this pivotal moment. My focus is on what we can control - safety, reliability, and developing our people and partnerships - to deliver sustainable energy for the UK, now and into the future.”

Hornsea 2 sits next to its sister project Hornsea 1. Its turbines stand at more than 200m tall, with most of the blades being delivered from the Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull. One rotation of the blades on each turbine generates enough electricity to power a home for 24 hours.

Other key appointments across the sector include:

Kier has appointed Barry Jupp as managing director of its highways business within its infrastructure division.

Jupp has been with Kier for more than 23 years and will lead its delivery team, which employs around 2,000 staff, providing essential highways construction and maintenance services across the UK. He will focus on supporting customers across local authority and strategic highway network contracts and projects, while continuing to grow the business.

Having progressed through a number of leadership roles across the business, Jupp was most recently finance director for transportation. 

He said: “My focus is to build on the strong foundations already in place, supporting our people to perform at their best, and continuing to improve how we deliver for our customers with safety and consistency at the heart of everything we do.”

AECOM has appointed Andy Thorne as client director, defence, UK and Europe. A British Army veteran with more than 30 years of experience, Thorne will be responsible for maintaining and developing AECOM’s long-standing relationship with the UK Ministry of Defence’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO).

Among his responsibilities during his 33-year military career was serving as an infrastructure programme director, delivering several strategic infrastructure projects for the British Army and Royal Air Force, including elements of the Defence Estates Optimisation Programme, the Vehicle Storage and Support Programme and the Royal Air Force's construction at MOD Lyneham.

His most recent role saw him as the chief of staff and head of portfolio at the Defence College of Technical Training, where he was responsible for delivering the headquarters function across four technical training schools and outsourcing future training to meet Strategic Defence Review outcomes.

Independent built environment consultant, Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB UK), has appointed of Helen O’Reilly as head of sales and marketing, UK and Europe.

Previously a UK board director at Colliers, O’Reilly led a multidisciplinary team spanning marketing and communications, driving growth across digital channels, lead generation and brand visibility.

The announcement follows an earlier appointment of Nicole Bisson as business development partner, supporting RLB’s growth, market expansion and scale across the UK, Europe and globally.

Guy Robinson, RLB’s strategic growth director and executive board member said: “The strength of our business is built on the quality of our people. This appointment reflects our ongoing commitment to investing in exceptional talent and strengthening our sales, marketing and business development capabilities. Helen’s appointment will play an important role in driving growth, enhancing client relationships and supporting the delivery of RLB’s long-term strategic ambitions.”