Cammell Laird Appoints Two New Members of the Senior Leadership Team as part of Business Transformation

Merseyside shipyard and marine engineering services company Cammell Laird has made two senior hires as it looks to strengthen the business.

The Birkenhead shipbuilder has appointed Rich Caton as HR director and Sean Nuttall as health and safety director as the business prepares for a period of significant change to successfully deliver our forward order book.

The new recruits will increase governance, best practice and review and improve process, policies and procedures. Rich, who comes to Cammell Laird from aluminium manufacturer Hydro, based in Derbyshire, said his role was to take the business on a journey to continually improve people processes.

He said:

“HR is a key business support function that looks after your most important asset – your people. Every business says this, but not every business believes it and proves it. Cammell Laird has always been a people business based on personal relationships and respect. Because of our business plans we now need to formalise our people policies so that there is consistency and robustness in our people focus as we modernise.”

Richard’s aims for the next five years include bringing in a more structured performance management system to include long-term career plans and formal management training for those in line management roles. Improving communication with the workforce and unions is also a high priority.

A Bournemouth University graduate, Richard, a dad of one, joined Pilkington Glass on a graduate training scheme and has worked in senior HR roles in large manufacturing businesses. As well as the chance to be involved in transforming the business, Richard said he was drawn to Cammell Laird because of its rich history and reputation.

He said:

“A chance to work for an iconic company is always very attractive. I’ve always tried to stay in the area of manufacturing because I’ve always liked the fact that I worked for a company that made something and I’ve joined at a time when Cammell Laird is attracting a lot of attention through its work on various projects including the RRS Sir David Attenborough.”

The shipyard has made several hires in senior positions as it looks to the future. “We want to spend time transforming the business and we’re bringing in the right people to do the job and who want to go on that journey with us,” Richard added.

Sean Nuttall joined the business at the start of 2020 after working as a health and safety director across the world but predominantly in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. His previous role was with the US headquartered environmental solutions company, Harsco Environmental, which serviced steel mills globally. Based out of the United Arab Emirates, his role covered operations from South Africa to New Zealand.

He began his career in the chemical department of AstraZeneca, in Macclesfield, as a chemical plant operator, where the shared reliance upon engineering excellence, process control, operator competence and development ignited his passion in occupational health and safety.

Brought up in Cheshire during the late 1960s and 1970s, he was surrounded by industrial and cutting-edge engineering excellence and it was this continuing appreciation that drew him to Cammell Laird.

He said:

“Very few businesses can claim the history, the incredibly skilled workforce and the recognised quality output that Cammell Laird can, whether it’s providing support to vessels that contribute to the defence of the nation or completing new builds that will ultimately benefit the global population with research from the polar regions. I’m passionate about the company and the incredibly optimistic future the business has before it, and I believe this is a chance of a lifetime to be part of transforming this business.”

Sean, a father of two children, holds a Masters degree in workplace health and wellbeing from the University of Nottingham and sees his role as facilitating the development of a framework whereby health, safety, environmental and wellbeing considerations form an integral part of the business development and employee engagement strategy.

About Cammell Laird:

Cammell Laird is one of the most famous names in British industry with roots tracing back to the early 19^th Century. The business is located on the River Mersey, in the Liverpool City Region, on the West Coast of England. It is in the centre of a marine cluster, with direct access to many support services. It has a 120 acre site with four dry docks, a non-tidal wet basin, large modular construction hall and extensive covered workshops. Cammell Laird specialises in military ship refit, commercial ship repair, upgrade and conversion and heavy fabrication and engineering. It deals with a wide variety of projects ranging from specialist offshore conversions and fabrication, commercial ship-repair through to the refit and upgrade of highly complex naval auxiliaries. It has also recently re-entered the ship-building market. The business is further active in the energy sector. It has become a hub of the off shore wind industry and it is offering its facilities and highly trained workforce of engineers for work in the civil nuclear sector and the off shore oil and gas sector. w: www.clbh.co.uk