Morning all. Here's what's caught my eye in the people market this week.

Balfour Beatty stacks the major projects deck. Angus Murray takes over as MD of UK Major Projects from 1 September. That's the seat that carries the heaviest programme risk in the business, and they've gone for it well ahead of the start date, a sign they wanted certainty locked in rather than a scramble. Watch how he reshapes the leadership tier beneath him; new MDs at this level almost always bring one or two people with them within six months.

Mace's split is now a people story, not just a structure story. With Jason Millett heading for the exit at year end and Mace Construct standing up as its own contracting business, every senior name in that division is effectively being re-benchmarked. When a group carves out a standalone contractor, the org chart gets redrawn twice: once on paper, once in practice. Expect movement, and expect competitors to be circling the good ones.

Sizewell C keeps buying commercial firepower. Jon Loveday in as Chief Commercial Officer. Nuclear new-build lives or dies on commercial discipline, and SZC is clearly building a team that can hold the line on cost as the programme ramps. If you're commercially strong and nuclear-curious, this is the programme writing the cheques.

Kier's Niki Steel starts this month as CHRO, in from IMI. An outside-sector people hire at that level usually signals a culture and retention agenda, not just admin. Worth noting given how tight the senior civils market still is.

Quick hits: Balfour also added Melody Meyer and Sandra Stash as NEDs, energy and resources heavyweights, which tells you where the board's head is. Travis Perkins named Pete Redfern CEO. Currie & Brown appointed a new head of infrastructure.

The thread running through all of it: the tier ones are investing in major-programme leadership now, before the NHP, Sizewell and AUKUS pipelines fully bite. The good people know it, and they're being moved on quietly.

One to watch next week: who lands in the reshuffle beneath Angus Murray at Balfour. That's where the real intel will be.

Question for the group over the weekend: is the Mace carve-out a genuine talent opportunity, or a warning sign? I've got a view. Curious what you're all seeing.

*Sources: New Civil Engineer (Movers & Shakers, July 2026); Balfour Beatty media centre / Construction News (Angus Murray appointment); Construction Enquirer (Mace Construct CEO Jason Millett to step down); The Construction Index (Currie & Brown head of infrastructure); MarketScreener (Travis Perkins CEO).*