Taylor Wimpey names Kevin Beeston new chairman

Kevin Beeston, a former chairman of services company Serco and ex-director of Ipswich Town football club, was today named as chairman of housebuilder Taylor Wimpey.

Beeston replaces Norman Askew, who has been chairman since 2003 at Britain's second-largest housebuilder by market value. One of Beeston's tasks will be to manage Taylor Wimpey's £660 million debt pile.

During the depths of the depression in the construction industry from 2007 to 2009, Taylor Wimpey's debt mountain soared to £1.9 billion and its shares plunged more than 90%.

But the housebuilder, which also has operations in North America, Spain and Gibraltar, has seen "strong levels of demand" in the UK housing sector since the start of the year.