Former Balfour Beatty chief joins nationalised British Steel board
Former Balfour Beatty chief joins nationalised British Steel board
Former Balfour Beatty chief executive Andrew McNaughton has joined the board of British Steel after the government brought the company into public ownership.
McNaughton is one of four independent non-executive directors appointed to the board. The new board also includes two government shareholder representatives and three executives from British Steel.
His appointment comes as the future of steelmaking in Scunthorpe remains under government control. The decision to take British Steel into public ownership was made on 16 July, after ministers said the move would protect domestic steelmaking capacity.
The government also said maintaining that capacity would help support construction, transport and infrastructure projects across the country.
A chartered civil engineer, McNaughton previously led infrastructure group Balfour Beatty. He was also chief operating officer at transport engineering consultant Systra and, most recently, an executive director at AWE plc, an arms-length Ministry of Defence body.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and vice president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
The board appointments follow emergency legislation passed by Parliament in April 2025. The legislation came after British Steel’s Chinese owner, Jingye, proposed closing the company’s two blast furnaces in Scunthorpe.