Oakmont poaches McLaren directors

Medium-sized contractor Oakmont Construction has poached two board directors from McLaren and one director from PwC as it targets further expansion.

Patrick Mays and David McDonnell join the Essex-based contractor from McLaren Construction, while Simon Hardwick has joined the firm from PwC Legal’s real estate practice. Mays has been appointed as Oakmont’s business development director, a role he held at McLaren for eight years. McDonnell was pre-construction director at McLaren for 10 years and will reprise the role at Oakmont, while Hardwick - a non-executive member of the management board at the RICS - will become the firm’s non-executive chairman.

In accounts filed at Companies House for the 2015 calendar year, the contractor posted turnover of £16.4m, up from £9.1m the previous year.

Speaking to Building, Mays said the firm will not target “uncontrolled growth” but “build on its established business” and target repeat work with blue chip clients like Aviva and Aberdeen Asset Management. He added that the firm has identified a “gap in the market” and will go for jobs bigger firms overlook.

Mays said: “We have a mantra of right job, right client, right price. A lot of major contractors are going for £15m plus jobs. We feel there is a gap in the market for the £1m to £10m jobs, we see there’s a real opportunity in that market for us.”

Oakmont does new build and fit out work in the commercial, leisure, industrial and out of town retail sectors. Mays said the firm is targeting work in education having recently won its first small-scale job in the sector, but ruled out residential work.