Meet James Hayward: Our new Head of Planning at Walter Lilly
Please join us in congratulating James Hayward, promoted to Head of Planning at Walter Lilly.
James originally joined as a Trainee Manager in 2012, following a degree in Construction Engineering Management from Loughborough University through our sponsored student programme. James was initially placed in the planning department following his graduation to gain an insight into the planning process. The different perspective in building that planning offers was of great interest to James, so he decided to make the change of role permanent. As a key member of our planning department for the past 10 years, James has excelled in leading the programming and planning requirements for many of our complex projects, both at tender stage and on site, across all three of our divisions.
As the new Head of Planning, James will lead the Planning Department and all planning-related activities from tendering and pre-construction to construction, department administration, staffing requirements and training. The team will oversee 12-15 live projects and up to eight tenders at any time.
Over the next 12 months, James aims to increase Walter Lilly’s tendering capacity and integrate our planning processes to the requirements of our three respective divisions. He will also empower people within the planning team to do their jobs effectively, expand the planning department resources, and build on our excellent relationships with our suppliers.
James has worked on some prestigious projects during his time with us. His favourite was the first project he worked on straight after university – a £30m single residence in central London. James said, “It was fitted out to an extremely high standard – typical of all Walter Lilly projects – and involved various construction techniques. Plus, it was a great team with an inspiring project manager.”
In recent times, James has enjoyed leading the planning and programming requirements of our new build science research facility for the Medical Research Council (MRC).
James says, “I really enjoy the role of a planner, as I can build schemes in my head and transfer this information to paper, whether it be construction programmes or method statements for tender submissions. I also love people management, and I’m looking forward to the journey we’ll take in the Planning Department in the short and long term and how we’ll work collaboratively with all departments at Walter Lilly.”
In his spare time, James enjoys football and going to Arsenal matches. Extra time has been curtailed in recent months however, when he became a father for the first time with the arrival of his daughter. Welcome to the world Edie (now seven months old)!