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    Rodgers to lead Expanded Geotechnical: delivery and temporary works lens for engineers

    July 20, 2026|

    Reviewed by Joe Ashwell

    Rodgers to lead Expanded Geotechnical: delivery and temporary works lens for engineers

    First reported on The Construction Index

    30 Second Briefing

    Laing O’Rourke has appointed Clare Rodgers as head of Expanded Geotechnical, making her the first female business unit leader across any of the contractor’s specialist trading businesses. Rodgers moves from Select, where she was lifting solutions leader responsible for complex crane and heavy lifting strategies, bringing temporary works and lifting logistics expertise directly into the ground engineering unit. She succeeds Ronan O’Rourke, who becomes director of clients and markets for Laing O’Rourke’s Europe Hub, signalling closer alignment between geotechnical delivery and major project clients.

    Technical Brief

    • Role change consolidates geotechnical delivery under a standalone business unit, rather than dispersed project teams.
    • Expanded Geotechnical typically interfaces early with temporary works, piling, retaining structures and deep excavation support design.
    • Integration of lifting and geotechnical planning should streamline crane pads, working platforms and excavation staging on constrained sites.
    • Earlier coordination of heavy lifting with ground improvement and foundations can reduce overdesign of temporary works and plant mat thicknesses.
    • For major basements and shafts, unified leadership may simplify responsibility for ground movements, propping, and tower crane base design.
    • Similar contractor structures have cut programme risk on complex urban projects where piling, retention and lifting logistics are tightly coupled.

    Our Take

    Laing O’Rourke’s recent 45% order book growth and strong UK healthcare wins in Calderdale and Sussex suggest Expanded Geotechnical will be under pressure to support a larger pipeline of complex, urban foundation and below-ground packages in the United Kingdom.

    With Laing O’Rourke scaling its Crown House Technologies Manufacturing and Explore Manufacturing offsite plants, Expanded Geotechnical is likely to be drawn further into integrated, design-for-manufacture-and-assembly ground engineering solutions rather than traditional stand-alone piling contracts.

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    Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.

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