HUGH Fenwick, the 58-year-old civil engineer who began the hugely successful York-based Corus Rail Consultancy, announced today that he is to retire as its managing director at the end of the year.

He is stepping down amid talks by steel giant Corus of a possible link-up of his consultancy and Rotherham-based Corus Rail Technology, whose laboratories analyse metallurgy, rail contact and fatigue.

Mr Fenwick, something of a legend in his own industry, transformed York's old British Rail Inter-City design offices into a £17 million turnover consultancy employing 350 people. At his new four-storey headquarters in Toft Green, York, he agreed that the analysis going on to determine whether other parts of Corus would be attached to his venture was "to a certain extent" responsible for his decision.

He said: "You have to understand, I brought this company into being. It has been my family for ten or 15 years. It is my baby"

But, he added, it made sense for Corus to link its knowledge-based activities and with these possible changes taking place it was now time he stepped down to make way for fresh blood.

Taking over the reins, but so far without the MD title, will be Kevin Sibson, operations director.

Mr Fenwick said he thought it was "highly unlikely" that he would wean himself off the rail industry with which he had been involved for nearly 40 years, and hard to break away from his consultancy which in 1995 was bought by British Steel - later to become Corus.

"My plan is to take a three months sabbatical to evaluate what I want to do with the rest of my life, although I have a number of projects which are not rail-related." One of these is to complete his walk around the British coastline with his wife, Pam, having already strolled the 2,000 miles from Dundee to Plymouth.

Corus Rail Consultancy has conducted a series of major works for Railtrack. More recently it designed the new track layout at Leeds City Station, was principal designer for five kilometres of new railway for the Tyne & Wear Metro system at Sunderland; engineered a new 70-metre span bridge which carries the East Coast Main Line over the River Trent at Newark; and designed extra track between Dublin and Kildare for Irish Railways.

Updated: 10:39 Tuesday, November 12, 2002