Change at top of Clement Dickens

Clement Dickens & Son, a building firm in the Fylde Coast, has passed the baton to the 4th generation.

Ross Dickens, 33, from Carleton, has taken over from his father Martin, who has retired.

The building contractor, based at the Redmarsh Industrial Estate in Thornton, was originally founded by Ross' great grandfather Clement Dickens in 1947.

The firm has since grown to employ more than 50 staff and counts among its clients Blackpool Wyre & Fylde NHS Trust, Blackpool & The Fylde College, Lancashire County Property Group, James Hall & Co and Fylde & Wyre Borough Councils.

Ross, a quantity surveyor, cut his teeth with national contractor Wates Construction before moving back to the Fylde to work with the family business in 2003. Building on the firm's relationships with existing customers and targeting projects in both the public and private sectors, Ross has been key to the development of the company over the last seven years.

Ross was nominated and unanimously accepted by the board after his father announced his retirement earlier this year. He said: "This is an exciting time for the business and I am extremely enthusiastic about taking on this new personal challenge. I'm pleased to have around me a great team on whom I know I can depend to help Clement Dickens to continue to deliver high quality contracts, on time and within budget.

"Our management team has been strengthened further by the promotion of Mark Harris to contracts manager."

Martin Dickens, who will remain a board director and consultant, was hands on with the day-to-day operations of the company for 44 years, having started his career as an apprentice on the building site under the watchful eye of his father, Master Builder, Tom Dickens. He added: "Taking on the family firm from my father was a huge responsibility but one I cherished and have enjoyed enormously. Now I have passed on that mantle and am supremely confident that Ross will take it on and, together with the fantastic team we have working with us, will go on to achieve even more."