Construction firm Willmott Dixon has opened an Oxford office. Business development manager Ian King, has been appointed to spearhead sales activity in the area, working out of the new Headington base.

Formerly director of estates and facilities management at Oxford Brookes University, where he spent 14 years and managed more than 400 staff, Mr King has worked in property, construction and estates management in both the public and private sectors.

Willmott Dixon has recently won more than £16m of construction projects in the county.

The firm will shortly start work on the new £8m Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre, as well as a new office block and extension to the newborn intensive care unit at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The contractor has also been appointed to build the new £6m St Edburg’s primary school in Bicester, which starts on site later this year.

Willmott Dixon employs more than 770 staff across the Midlands and has a turnover of more than £154m, £80m of which is spent with local businesses.

Martin Adie, operations director at Willmott Dixon Midlands, said: “Willmott Dixon is well established in the East and West Midlands and it is a logical extension for us to move in a southerly direction.

“Oxford is crying out for a national contractor with a local base and we aim to fill that niche in the market.”