Contractor interviews
Mott Macdonald's Keith Howells: 'It's a bit like star wars'
How should the UK’s largest independent consultant respond to the ‘evil Empire’ of consolidated corporations taking over the market? Mott MacDonald chairman Keith Howells tells Building about the company’s plans to strike back. Tom Campbell photography
LOCOG's James Bulley: The fall guy
As LOCOG’s head of venues and infrastructure, James Bulley has just six months to install 200,000 temporary seats, put up 76 miles of fencing, finish the hockey stadium, weed the rowing lake … and take the rap if anything goes wrong. So why is he so calm? Building finds out. Portrait David Woolfall
Charles McBeath on Ramboll growth: Why stop now?
For Charles McBeath, head of Ramboll UK, the secret to growth is acquisition and last year he doubled the size of his company by acquiring engineering firm Gifford, boosting turnover from £35m to £58m. But that, he tells Building, was just for starters
Andrew McNaughton: A Brit abroad
As chief operating officer of the biggest UK-based European contractor with a £15bn order book and profit north of £300m, Balfour Beatty’s Andrew McNaughton has more reason than most to be bullish. But, as he tells Building, there’s work out there for smaller firms too - if they know where to look …
Stanton Williams: The Attraction of Opposites
Architect Stanton Williams is a company that likes to be different - so when its profit plunged by 90% at the start of the financial crisis it didn’t do what so many other architects are doing and look abroad for work. It decided to stick with what it knows best: the UK. Building reports
Michael Dyke, Lend Lease: 'It's business as usual'
When Lend Lease dropped the Bovis name, it said goodbye to one of UK contracting’s oldest and best-known brands. Building talks to Michael Dyke, the construction arm’s new boss, about where the division will go next. Portrait David Levene
PCKO interview: The new country
Thirty years ago PCKO Architects broke into what was a tough UK market. Now they’re hitting China. So what’s their secret? Andrew Ogorzalek and Peter Chlapowski talk to Emily Wright about luck … and vodka
Donald Lawson: Bigger and better
Faithful + Gould boss Donald Lawson knows a thing or two about consolidation thanks to Atkins’ takeover 15 years ago. He tells Building how it got the firm to where it is today
Stone unturned: Crest Nicholson interview
Two years ago Crest Nicholson almost came a cropper under a deluge of debt. Chief executive Stephen Stone tells Building how its buy-out, and some sheer nerve, has enabled it to stay around
Turner & Townsend interview: Vince Clancy and Steve McGuckin
As more UK consultancies are snapped up by international giants, Building hears from global boss Vince Clancy and UK MD Steve McGuckin about why Turner & Townsend isn’t budging on its independence
The Tom Bloxham interview
For 20 years, renowned regeneration company Urban Splash grew and grew. Then in 2008 the bottom fell out of the market and soon after the firm found itself on the ‘brink of collapse’. Its founder tells Emily Wright how it changed everything - and nothing
Sean Tompkins: Setting it straight
?The RICS has faced a lot of criticism lately, with its global expansion drive and proposal to drop its top level qualification under fire. Iain Withers finds out how chief executive Sean Tompkins plans to reconcile ambitious plans abroad with winning back support at home
Tom Haughey: Man of steel
The structural steel sector has been knocked for six by the recession. No one knows this better than Severfield-Rowen boss Tom Haughey - not that he’s going to let that stop him expanding the business. The sheer nerve is admirable
John Moore: Looking for Moore
What do you do when your main revenue stream is reduced? If you’re John Moore and the head of Balfour Beatty Engineering Services, you turn to your other divisions - and boost them with acquisitions
Hold very tight, please: Mike Carroll interview
How do you put a consultancy firm in prime position for growth in the next few years? Mike Carroll, chief executive of Arcadis, tells Emily Wright why flexibility and change are essential to future success
Being Benny Kelly: Benny Kelly
In a career spanning 40 years, former Sir Robert McAlpine London boss Benny Kelly has seen it all, and done most of it, including the Emirates and Olympic stadiums and the Millennium Dome. The one thing he’s never done is give an interview - until now, that is. He tells all to Building
Cormac MacCrann: Above and beyond
With new transport links to the area and the Olympics up the road, Canary Wharf Group is fast expanding its Docklands home. But Cormac MacCrann, who heads the firm’s contractor business, isn’t just sticking to east London.
David Lawther: The long haul
The young-at-heart chairman of ISG says the spectre of retirement is a long way off yet - first he needs to grow the firm, starting with increasing overseas revenue to 50% of the business. Emily Wright probes David Lawther on his plan for the future
The free schools programme: Fancy free
Rachel Wolf, at 26, is in charge of delivering the government’s free schools programme. In the week the first of these schools open, she tells Sarah Richardson about how construction firms can get involved, and the importance (or not) of good design
Larry Silverstein: Dreams & nightmares
On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks Building talks to Larry Silverstein, owner of the World Trade Center complex, about how the responsibility of rebuilding the site keeps him awake at night, his controversial insurance claim - and what saved his life on that fateful day
