Mace has brought in the former chief executive of Heathrow Airport as a non-executive director.

John Holland-Kaye, who left Heathrow last October after nine years in charge, will take up his new post at the beginning of next month.

He will be joined by Sylvia Metayer, former chief growth officer at French food services and FM firm Sodexo, who also starts on 1 January.

John Holland-Kaye spent more than nine years as chief executive of Heathrow

Mace has been rejigging its group board over the past year which will see Jason Millet become chief executive on 1 January, taking over from Mark Reynolds who is stepping down to become executive chairman.

As part of this, Mace has been appointing its first group non-executives who will be headed by Alison Nimmo, a director of its advisory group and former chief executive of the Crown Estate, who will serve as senior independent director.

Other non-executives include Nina Bjornstad, a member of the board of Scandinavian airline SAS, Eric Hageman, the chief financial officer of Swedish telecoms firm Telia and John Coghlan, a non-executive at water firm Severn Trent.

Reynolds said: “The appointments of John and Sylvia represent the final step in the establishment of our new Group Board, meaning Mace has access to the independent challenge and expertise it needs to realise the scale of our ambitions.”

Mark Reynolds (left) moves to an executive chairman’s role next month while Jason Millett will become chief executive

Mace said it wants revenue from its consult business, expected to be around £700m this year, to be over the £1bn mark by 2030 with the division eyeing income of £1.2bn at that point.

Consult currently employs around 5,500 people across the globe on top of the 1,850 employed by construct with Millett previously saying the group’s overall employee number could reach 10,000 by 2030.

Construction will still be the firm’s biggest business by revenue at the start of the next decade with income of around £2.4bn.