John Nicholls has announced two significant promotions within its board structure. David Hebdon becomes chief operating officer and Jez Hampson takes on the role of managing director.

Mr Hampson joined Nicholls as managing director designate in August 2015 after spending nine years in a variety of senior positions with Wolseley UK. Following a successful first few months with the business, Mr Hampson has now taken on the day to day running of the business with Mr Hebdon moving into a more strategic role focusing on the continued expansion of the business and major projects.

Executive chairman Andrew Nicholls said: “As Nicholls has doubled in size in the last three years we identified that we needed to bring in some new management talent and Mr Hampson ticked all of our boxes. To allow him the time and space to make the change from a national to an independent we originally brought him on as managing director designate and now we think it is the right time to make him managing director. Mr Hebdon has been the driver behind this change, recognising that for the business to continue our expansion we need to free up his time to focus on major projects and strategy.”