Douglas Kell has retired as CECA Northeast director after more than 40 years’ service to various organisations in the region’s civil engineering and construction industry. He had led CECA (NE) since 2001.
“I’ll miss the members and the day to day activities but not the frustrations and annoyance at the lack of recognition the northeast receives from government and other agencies,” Mr Kell said.
His successor, 42-year-old Stuart Miller, hopes to change all that. He was previously with the North East England Chamber of Commerce for the past four years, as membership manager.
Mr Miller will work with recently appointed CECA (NE) chairman Steve Marshall, senior contracts manager for John Sisk & Son.
Mr Miller said: “With support of our board I’ll be helping members particularly to tackle issues like procurement and payment, while campaigning for a greater share of infrastructure investment from the government. I plan to be pro-active in improving the North East region’s assets in infrastructure, whether in transport, energy, social infrastructure, water, waste or flood defences.
“In recent years the northeast share of government funding in this respect has been below the regional average, and the extent of any northeast participation in the Northern Powerhouse concept is as yet uncertain, though need for public investment here remains considerable. We’re aspiring to secure an increased workload for our members, which in turn will help promote greater opportunities to a new generation of young people.”
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