Sir Joe Dwyer, DL, 82, civil engineer, 44 years with Wimpey

[Michael Rhodes]

Sir Joseph Anthony Dwyer FREng FICE DL, who died 16 October 2021, aged 82, was a British civil engineer and businessman. He joined Wimpey in 1955 and spent 44 years with the firm, becoming chief executive officer and chairman. Dwyer was responsible for repositioning Wimpey as a housebuilder by swapping its contracting arm for Tarmac's housing division. Wimpey subsequently saw a 30-fold increase in pre-tax profits. Dwyer served as chairman of the British part of TransManche Link, which built the Channel Tunnel and, after his 1999 retirement from Wimpey, served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In the early 2000s he was chairman of the Liverpool Vision urban regeneration company and oversaw £2 billion of capital investment in regeneration projects including refurbishments of Lime Street station and King's Dock and construction of Liverpool Arena. Dwyer was appointed a Deputy lieutenant of Merseyside in 2008 and a non-executive director of Cross London Rail Links in the same year.