Lend Lease's EMEA CEO, Simon Hipperson, has left the business to pursue other personal and business interests after just a year in his role.

Hipperson was appointed to his role in August last year, and started on 1 October 2012 to replace former EMEA chief executive Dan Labbad, who left the EMEA business to return to Sydney as the Australian construction group's chief operating officer (COO).

Hipperson will be replaced by Labbad, current Group chief operating officer, who will continue in his role, but will also take charge of a business division that he know pretty well. According to sources, Lend Lease confirmed that this decision was not interim, but definitive.

After this appointment, Hipperson immediately launched a strategic review of the business, which was followed by a string of senior departures from the firm.

Hipperson came to Lend Lease from private equity firm KKR, where he was Managing Director, and he had set up an infrastructure investment business. Prior to that he was chief executive of Skanska Infrastructure Development, which invested in infrastructure projects.