Our Leadership Team
Dennis Curran
Chairman
Dennis is Barhale’s Chairman and Founder overseeing the overall direction of the company.
Dennis began his career as a tunneller and used his experience in the Construction Industry to form a successful company that takes pride in the caring and respect shown to its people and the wider community; where safety, integrity and quality are of the utmost importance.
Over 35 years later, Dennis’ vision and leadership is as integral as ever, to the way in which Barhale successfully operate.
Julian Ripley
Chief Financial Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer
Julian joined Barhale in 2011. He is responsible for the financial and commercial activities of the business together with IT and IS. Through these support functions, he is able to coordinate and deliver high quality, accurate and informative financial information, enabling Barhale to make timely and informed management decisions. He also engenders an efficient and cost conscious culture throughout the organisation, to preserve Barhale’s competitive advantage and deliver cost efficiency for Barhale Clients.
Following Matthew Behan's departure in June 2020, Julian took over as interim Chief Executive Officer.
Andy Flowerday
Executive Director
Andy has overall responsibility for work winning and strategic development at Barhale in addition to Health, Safety, Environment, Quality and Engineering within Barhale. Alongside his Barhale Board positions, Andy is a long-standing board member of the Anglian Water’s @one and IOS Alliances and plays a key role in liaising with external customers and stakeholders.
Andy has been instrumental in the successful growth of the company over the past 35 years. He has devised and delivered strategic business plans which have seen Barhale develop from a small, specialist tunnelling contractor, to a diverse, multi-disciplinary civil engineering contractor with nationwide coverage.
Sean Curran
Executive Director
Sean reports to the main board on commercial, finance and procurement and is keen to maintain the cost conscious professional service that these Departments provide to Barhale’s operating regions. Prior to joining the board, he sat within the commercial team centrally and worked across all regions of the business, ensuring commercial compliance and robustness.
Previously, Sean spent 10 years with Taylor Woodrow Civil Engineering working on large London civil engineering projects, in addition to his early career at Barhale.
James Haddon
Eastern Regional Director
James is responsible for business operations in our Eastern Region. He ensures our teams in the East deliver against their targets; especially within our two major frameworks with Anglian Water. This involves ensuring our people are fully integrated into the Anglian Water working alliances, guaranteeing collaboration of all partners and the successful delivery of the works. James re-joined Barhale in 2015, having previously worked in several roles within the company from 1988 – 2006. James sits on Barhale’s Main Board, in addition to representing Barhale on the Partner Management Groups for both Integrated Main Works Capital (IMWC) and Integrated Operational Services (IOS).
James has over 30 years’ experience within the civil engineering industry, having worked for both contractors and engineering consultants. His experience has taken him overseas working on globally renowned infrastructure projects for AECOM and UKTI.
Phil Cull
Southern Region and Tunnelling Director
Phil has overall responsibility for our Southern Region in addition to our tunnelling activities around the business. He joined Barhale in 2013, bringing with him over 30 years’ experience in delivering large infrastructure projects – specialising in tunnelling techniques. Phil sits on our main board as well as our senior management team, providing leadership on securing and delivering works within London and the South East across all four of Barhale’s sectors. As Tunnelling Director, Phil has overall responsibility for tunnelling operations throughout the company from cradle to grave, including winning works, delivering work programmes and developing technical solutions.
Prior to joining Barhale, Phil worked for McNicholas as their Civils Operation Director delivering civil engineering projects around the UK.
Anthony Sheppard
Company Secretary
Anthony Sheppard has been associated with Barhale since it was founded and serves as the Company Secretary. He has considerable experience across the construction industry and also has Non-Executive roles in several other organisations.
As a qualified solicitor, he advises on legal issues and chairs the Risk and Audit Committee.
Samantha Barratt
Business Development & Communications Director
Samantha is responsible for setting and delivering the business development strategy within Barhale, working in conjunction with the high level business objectives. In this role, she drives the marketing and communications (internal/external) strategy to raise the company’s profile and reach our target market and supply chain. Working closely with all our regions and leadership team, Samantha provides a seamless and consistent approach to bringing opportunities into the business. Additionally, she is responsible for managing all Barhale Group branding, media coverage and any press interfaces.
Samantha has worked in the civil engineering and construction industry since she graduated from university, having worked for both contractors and design firms. She has experience in working across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa having successfully managed major bids for global projects, in addition to the client relationships and company profile.
Karl Woodward
Procurement Director
Karl is responsible for the development and drive of the long term procurement strategy for Barhale. He ensures the successful operational and commercial delivery of the procurement team at a strategic level and supports the development, implementation and continuous improvement of all functions. Karl works closely with our client representatives, to develop improvements and ensure Barhale is at the forefront of best practice, innovation and compliant behaviours.
Karl has over 25 years’ experience in procurement, having worked throughout the full lifecycle of projects from pre-contract through to contract delivery and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS). He ensures Barhale obtains the most commercially robust solution, in conjunction with strong client and supply chain liaison.