DAVID Redhead, who has been managing director at Suffolk-based BSP International Foundations since 1996, has stepped down from day-to-day management after more than 40 years with the firm.

But, after a three week break, he will be returning to the company, based at Claydon, near Ipswich, in a part-time role as non-executive chairman.

Mr Redhead, 66, joined BSP in 197 after completing an apprenticeship in the design drawning office at CompAir Reavell in Ipswich.

Having joined in the role of technical sales engineer, he then became area sales manager for the Middle East and sales director in 1983, before becoming managing director 17 years ago.

BSP, part of the Tex Holdings group, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of hydraulic piling hammers and ground improvement equipment.

Mr Redhead said the company had changed markedly in the past four decades, with the current workforce of 40 comparing with a total of around 450 when he joined.

However, he said the current total represented a recovery from a low point of 21 a few years ago in the depths of the recession and a pattern of growth had now been re-established in turnover and profitability.

The product mix has also changed during his time with the company, air hammers and diesel hammers having given way to today’s entirely hydraulic range.

BSP is currently nearing completion of a major research and development project involving the design and construction of a massive 40-tonne hydraulic piling hammer, the largest it has every built.

In addition to becoming chairman of BSP, Mr Redhead, a past-president of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, has also been appointed as a non-executive director of the Tex group board.

He will also continue in a number of industry roles, including that of international trade ambassador for the Construction Equipment Association, of which he is also a former president and former joint chairman of its international business group.

Mr Redhead will also continue to sit on the main council of Ipswich Chamber of Commerce, an affiliate of Suffolk Chamber, and remains chairman of the Suffolk International Trade Group.

He also had a long association with the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) of which he is a past president of the East Anglian branch, and still sits on the EEF regional council. He is also a lifetime member, and currently honorary secretary, of the Ipswich Engineering Society, and a governor of Easton & Otley College.

The new managing director at BSP is to be Richard Melton, formerly sales and marketing director, who has been with the firm for seven years.