The civil engineer who returned to help Balfour Beatty build
When Balfour Beatty Group Chief Executive Leo Quinn took up his position as the head of the UK-based multinational international infrastructure group in January 2015 he was returning to the company where he started his career as a civil engineer.
Balfour Beatty was established in 1909 by George Balfour and Andrew Beatty, who at that time focused on power generation and distribution projects.
Over time, the company expanded into construction and civil engineering, growing through acquisitions and in 2023 had a payroll of between 25,000 and 30,000 people globally.
Among the high-profile projects it has undertaken are the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in the UK, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, and ongoing work on the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station.
Balfour Beatty also contributed to the construction of the London Olympics 2012 Aquatics Centre, and has been involved in the expansion of Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.
Quinn joined Balfour Beatty following five years as Group Chief Executive of QinetiQ, a multinational defence technology company. Prior to that he spent five years as CEO of De La Rue, a company that produces secure digital and physical protections for goods and trade. He led both companies through successful transformations, which restored each business to strength and created over £1 billion of value.
Before this he spent four years as COO of Invensys $3bn Production Management division, and he also worked with Honeywell for 16 years in various senior management roles across the US, UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, ending as Global President of H&BC Enterprise Solutions.
Quinn was educated at Portsmouth University, where he studied civil engineering, and also Imperial College, London, where he studied for a masters in management science.
In 2021, his contribution to business was recognised through his appointment as a visiting professor at the College of Business and Social Science at the UK”s Aston University, in Birmingham.
As Group Chief Executive, Quinn not only provides executive leadership but also strategy development.
“I also provide stewardship of physical, financial and human resources,” he says, “as well as group operational and financial performance and health, safety and environmental performance.”
His leadership on sustainability has been crucial, as Balfour Beatty has sought to integrate environmental considerations into its business strategy.
The company has set a goal to achieve Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040, and its focus is on reducing waste, by increasing the use of recycled materials and implementing sustainable building practices.
Balfour Beatty also invests in renewable energy projects and emphasises biodiversity and environmental protection in its operations.
It has been under his leadership that the company became involved with a Cambridge University project to find a way to recycle cement already used in existing construction projects.
The outcome of this – dubbed ‘electric cement’ – has the potential to reshape the future of the construction industry. (See feature on page xx)
Quinn’s other responsibilities include setting corporate culture, embodying values, ethics and social responsibility and overseeing succession planning and talent management, including objective setting for the senior management team
In 2013, he founded The 5% Club which encourages companies to invest in the next generation of businesses, and to address the national skills shortage.
Its aspiration is for at least 5% of employees to be either apprentices, interns for graduates in formal training programmes.
“We're building a better business from the inside out, by engaging the people who know best – our employees,” says Quinn.
He adds: “Our employees are our experts. They have fresh and insightful ideas about how things could be done better or more efficiently. Through our My Contribution programme for employee-led business change, we tap into this rich seam of creative thinking from people who understand our business better than anyone and want to make a meaningful contribution.
“This encourages and empowers everyone to be an innovator and for innovation to take place across every part of our business.”
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