Karen Heigham
Public Sector Director, Wates Construction
Karen Heigham is a Public Sector Director for Wates Construction.
Karen Heigham is a purpose driven leader, Chartered Quantity Surveyor and award winning commercial professional with over two decades of experience in UK construction.
As Public Sector Director for Wates Construction, Karen leads the business’ public sector strategy, managing strategic relationships with customers, framework partners and key public sector stakeholders to ensure strong governance, compliance and long term value creation. She is responsible for securing, managing and improving performance across Wates Construction’s national public sector frameworks, as well as overseeing the successful delivery of its public sector pipeline.
This includes future focused planning around government policy, framework cycles and our sector strategy, ensuring Wates remains well positioned to respond to emerging priorities and opportunities. Karen is passionate about ensuring high quality, value focused outcomes and working collaboratively with regional business units to embed consistency, continuous improvement and high performance across all projects.
Since joining Wates in 2007 as a Site Surveyor, Karen has progressed through a series of senior commercial leadership roles spanning education, justice, healthcare, residential, blue light, commercial office, science and research sectors. Prior to her current position, she served as Regional Commercial Director, responsible for driving strategic business improvement, strengthening risk management and enhancing commercial capability across the division.
A founding leader of the Women at Wates network and a passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, Karen is widely recognised for her commitment to developing future leaders, particularly women in construction. In 2022, she received the WICE Award for Best Female Mentor and now supports the programme as a judge, championing emerging talent across the industry.
Grounded in authenticity, clarity and collaboration, Karen leads with visibility and integrity – setting high standards, empowering teams, and creating environments where people can thrive and deliver their best.
