Kier Group plc, the London-based construction and services firm, has named Stephen Bowcott as chief operating officer, a newly created position in the company. The appointment comes as the firm completes its July 1 acquisition of Norwich, England-based municipal infrastructure-maintenance contractor May Gurney. The $337-million transaction creates a firm with a total of 16,000 employees and estimated revenue of $4.2 billion, says the firm; about half is from construction, 41% from environmental and other services, and 9% from property development. Bowcott, who joined Kier in 2007, was a board director responsible for the construction division. He formerly worked for U.K. construction firms AMEC and Mowlem. John Wilkinson, former May Gurney managing director of public-sector services, now is executive managing director of Kier Services. Kier says the firm is part of a joint venture that is the preferred bidder to design, build, finance and operate the estimated $900-million Mersey Gateway toll-bridge project in England that is set for financial close later this year. Its partners are Samsung C&T Corp. and Spain's FCC Construcción S.A.
Felipe Andre Isore Gutierrez has joined Hill International as senior vice president in charge of its construction-claims group operations in Latin America. He is based in São Paolo, Brazil. Gutierrez is a former partner-director at consulting firm KPMG, at which he led the company's major-projects advisory-consulting practice in Brazil.