All Interviews articles – Page 16
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FeaturesPaul Sheffield: ‘You can hear somebody saying, “Well, it was all right when I left …”’
Paul Sheffield could barely have chosen a worse time to become chief executive of a UK construction firm, but two years after taking over at Kier, his growth strategy appears to be paying off. By Allister Hayman
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FeaturesInterview: Mitie boss Ruby McGregor-Smith
How construction’s only female chief executive learned to stop worrying and build a £2bn company in the midst of a global economic crisis
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FeaturesInterview: Barratt's chief executive Mark Clare
Barratt’s chief executive Mark Clare may not have seen the recession coming - he is, after all, the man who splashed out £2.2bn acquiring Wilson Bowden just months before it hit - but he certainly has a clear vision of where the company is heading now. He talks to Building ...
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FeaturesArcadis' Neil McArthur: This is just the start
When Arcadis bought EC Harris last year, it became the 10th largest design consultant in the UK and gained leverage in Asia and the Middle East. Now it’s brought in Neil McArthur to spend a further £100m on acquisitions and turn it into an even bigger global player. Building asked ...
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FeaturesE.ON's Michael Woodhead: Power trip
E.ON UK’s sustainable energy division is quickly becoming a very influential player in the country’s power market. Ahead of its starring role at Ecobuild next month, managing director Michael Woodhead tells Building why that’s particularly good news for construction
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FeaturesDigging Doha: Msheireb's Issa M Al Mohannadi
Qatari client Msheireb Properties wants its £3.5bn Downtown Doha scheme to be the prototype for future cities around the world. Building talks to its chief executive about why this masterplan is so radical and why he wants UK expertise to help make it happen
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FeaturesMott 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
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FeaturesIngrid Skinner: First we take West Hampstead
Ingrid Skinner has big plans to turn Taylor Wimpey’s fledgling London division into a £100m-turnover business - and all without leaving Zone 2. She talks to Building. Photography by Anthony Lycett
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FeaturesLOCOG'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. ...
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FeaturesCharles 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
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FeaturesAndrew 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 ...
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FeaturesStanton 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: ...
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FeaturesMichael 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
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FeaturesPCKO 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
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FeaturesDonald 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
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FeaturesStone 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
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FeaturesTurner & 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
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FeaturesThe 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
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FeaturesSean 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
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FeaturesTom 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