Martin Smith joined Story last year as regional operations manager. He started his career at British Rail before moving to Tarmac/Carillion where he worked for 22 years, latterly as project director across rail, highways, civils and utilities.
A key focus of his new role at Story will be its Network Rail CP6 frameworks on the London North East (LNE) and London North West (LNW) routes.
Martin Smith said: “I am really excited to be given this opportunity to lead the operational delivery for the rail division in England. After only being with Story for a short while, I feel extremely honoured to be recognised by the business in this way. It is testament to the overall ethos of the business that it looks to develop its people and promote from within.”
He will be supported in his new role by contracts managers Dan Jones for LNE and Jonny Fearon for LNW North, both promoted from within the Story team. Both men have developed their career at Story, with Jonny Fearon joining the business as a trackman in 2002.
Story is also recruiting for a third contracts manager for LNW South working between Manchester and Birmingham.
The LNE contract is for five years and worth up to £50m for geotechnical work stretching from London to Scotland. This followed a framework contract win worth up to £38m for structures and property works on the south of the LNW route, which is home to the West Coast Mainline.
Story has also secured three framework agreements with Transport for Greater Manchester. These cover the renewals of structures, property and track on the Metrolink network and could be worth up to £50m.
Martin Smith said: “These frameworks will provide the bedrock for the business, but we also need to search out and deliver works for other clients such as Transport for Greater Manchester, HS2 and others.”
The Carlisle-based company has recently established a new office in Birmingham to deliver work on LNW between Crewe and London and an additional office in York to deliver work on LNE.
He added: “As we expand to Birmingham and York the big challenge we have is to continue to ‘do it right’. We must invest in the team and the regions, to ensure we have the right people with the right values and behaviours to help us maintain our reputation for delivering in the industry.”
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