Andrew Wolstenholme


Andrew William Wolstenholme is an English civil engineer, who was from 2011 to 2018 the chief executive of Crossrail. He became a Vice President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in November 2016, with a view to becoming the 155th President in 2019, but he stood down in April 2018 citing his new work commitments.

Early life

Andrew Wolstenholme was born in London, the son of an architect mother. He went to Sussex House School and then Malvern College. He graduated from the University of Southampton in 1981 with a first class degree in civil engineering.

Career

Army

After university, Wolstenholme served with the British Army for three years as a commissioned officer with the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars.

Arup

Wolstenholme joined Arup Group in 1987 as a bridge designer.

BAA

Wolstenholme joined BAA in 1997 as construction director of the Heathrow Express Rail Link. He became programme director of the £4.3bn Heathrow Terminal 5 in 2002. Construction of T5, designed and engineered by Arup, began in July 2002.
While at BAA, Wolstenholme chaired a Constructing Excellence group which produced a report, Never Waste a Good Crisis, published in November 2009.

Crossrail

Wolstenholme became chief executive of Crossrail, Europe's largest civil engineering project, in August 2011, succeeding Rob Holden. He stepped down from this role in March 2018, to be replaced by Crossrail programme director Simon Wright in a combined role.
Wolstenholme received a salary of £476,772 while working in this capacity, a performance related pay award of £160,000 and severance pay of £97,734.

BAE Systems

In May 2018, Wolstenholme joined BAE Systems as group managing director, maritime and land UK. In May 2019 it was announced that Wolstensholme would be stepping down from BAE Systems for personal reasons.

Personal life

Wolstenholme was appointed an OBE in the 2009 Birthday Honours and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2013.