Mace project director joins former colleagues at contractor set up two years ago

A Mace project director will start work next week as the operations director of a contractor set up by two former colleagues.

Liam Florey begins work on Monday as operations director at 15-strong W1 Construction which has been in business for two years.

Based at Oxford Circus, it was set up in February 2022 by ex-Mace men Sam Walsh and Barry Gavin. The pair, who spent eight years at Mace, worked on the Chelsea Barracks scheme as associate director and commercial director respectively.

W1 carries out work in the prime residential, commercial office and hospitality markets across London and the South-east.

Walsh said the firm was looking at a £100m turnover after 10 years, with it most recent income around £8m in the year to February 2024. This is expected to grow to between £15m and £20m in 2025.

Among the schemes it has worked on are hospitality boxes at the Emirates stadium for Premier League leaders Arsenal while it has also been involved with high-end resi schemes in Kensington as well as offices in Mayfair and Aldgate.

Florey has been at Mace for three years and was most recently project director on its 1 Mayfair scheme, the super-prime resi scheme being masterminded by billionaire John Caudwell best known as the founder of the retailer Phones4U.

Before joining Mace, he had spells at Bouygues and Carillion, where he worked on that firm’s scheme to build more than 800 apartments at the Battersea Power Station scheme.