Taylor Woodrow finance chief quits over HQ move

Adrian Auer, finance director of Taylor Woodrow, is expected to resign from the housebuilding group amid a major reorganisation of the business.

The company plans to move its headquarters to Solihull in the West Midlands, from its present site in Staines, Middlesex. Mr Auer, the company's finance director for the past two years, is understood to be unhappy at having to uproot his family.

He is thought to have clashed with the group's chief executive Iain Napier – who joined the company in February – and the chairman, Robert Hawley, over plans to improve the company's performance. The group is the UK's fourth biggest housebuilder.

It is due to report its interim results tomorrow and will reveal plans to combine its commercial property and residential building divisions into one unit. This unit will be divided geographically between the north and the south of the country.

A spokesman for the company would not comment on speculation over changes in the management, but said as of yesterday Mr Auer had not resigned. "Some individuals may have difficulties, for personal reasons, in working in different parts of the world," he said. "But the board – in terms of the company's strategy – is at one."

The company employs 3,500 people in the UK. The fate of how many staff will face relocation is still under consideration, but Mr Napier will unveil more information tomorrow. The move is designed to reduce costs by as much as £35m a year.