Highly experienced Industry leader Steve Williams joins as Head of Infrastructure, signalling Ridge’s accelerating ambitions across transport, water, aviation and defence.
Steve joins with an exceptional track record across some of the UK’s most complex and high-profile infrastructure programmes – spanning water resilience, aviation expansion, defence and major transportation networks. His mandate will be to unite Ridge’s growing infrastructure capability, build on the specialist expertise the Adept Management team brought to the firm last year, and position Ridge as the independent advisory partner of choice for major infrastructure clients.
A strategic moment for infrastructure
Infrastructure is experiencing a period of intense pressure and opportunity. Major programmes across water, aviation, energy and defence are grappling with affordability challenges, complex planning and consent processes, skills shortages, and an increasing need to demonstrate value and readiness before a single spade breaks ground.
Steve is well-versed in these dynamics. He brings particular expertise in programme assurance and maturity assessment – helping organisations understand their true readiness before approaching key milestones for government, funders or the market, and establishing the right governance, procurement and delivery operating models from the outset.
In the water sector, he has led the Programme Management Office (PMO) for drought resilience programmes for Thames Water and Anglian Water, supporting the development of business cases for long-term reservoir investment. Steve has also advised on and led complex capital delivery programmes for the majority of water companies in the UK. In aviation, he has delivered infrastructure improvements at Heathrow and Luton, working through the complexity of expansion planning and capital programme delivery. In defence, he has supported Babcock’s Devonport Dockyard programmes and MOD DE&S, navigating the intersection of strategic infrastructure investment and national capability requirements.
What Ridge brings to the market
Steve sees a clear and differentiated opportunity for Ridge in the infrastructure market. Rather than competing with the largest consultancies on volume, Ridge is positioned to operate as a genuinely independent, client-side partner – agile enough to flex around different programme models, rigorous enough to command the confidence of Tier 1 supply chains and major public sector clients alike.
Key areas of focus will include:
- Programme and project maturity assessments and assurance, helping clients establish credibility and readiness ahead of planning applications, business cases and market engagement
- Supply chain strategy andperformance, supporting clients to make better-informed decisions about where to invest, how to procure, and how to improve performance through collaboration and knowledge share
- Data and digital integration, leveraging Ridge’s existing project controls and information management capabilities to drive better informed decision-making in infrastructure delivery
- Senior coaching and change management, recognising that major programmes often need behavioural and organisational change – not just technical expertise – to succeed
I am excited to be joining as Ridge’s Head of Infrastructure to lead its further growth within the sector. Ridge’s independent and respected voice, its multi-disciplinary team, and its positive approach align perfectly with my commitment to supporting clients to deliver major infrastructure projects.
Successful delivery of infrastructure has never been more important – and the decisions clients take now will matter long into the future. I look forward to the work the Ridge infrastructure team will do to support them in both the immediate and long term.
Steve Williams, Head of Infrastructure, Ridge
About the appointment
Prior to joining Ridge, Steve served as Director of Programme and Project Management at Turner & Townsend, where he led programme delivery, business performance and key client management across the water, defence and infrastructure sectors. He has also held senior leadership roles at Thames Water and Santec.
His appointment builds on Ridge’s acquisition of specialist consultancy Adept Management, which brought deep infrastructure expertise into the firm, and reflects the growing scale and ambition of Ridge’s infrastructure practice as it targets a leadership position in the UK market.
As we continue to strengthen our infrastructure capability at Ridge, Steve is the perfect appointment to lead the team through our next stage of growth. His experience of supporting clients to deliver major infrastructure projects, his strength in leadership and his aspirations exactly match Ridge’s vision and ambition. We’re delighted to welcome him to the team.
Jolyon Price, Executive Group and Partner, Project Management
