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From a teenager wondering what a QS does in running a multi-billion pound company, the company’s head of structure talks to Dave Rogers about the ups and downs of the company and presents him with a task through Kevin Taylor.
Paul Heather sees the funny thing when it’s pointed out to him.
Fortunately settled in Skanska, where he ran his structures business in London, with Heron Tower and The Gherkin among the notches of his CV, he was on holiday in Spain when he received a call from an unknown number.
“Now you’ll never run out of success,” he said, so he thought it would be best to respond, just in case. He’s a headhunter.
The user on the other end of the line was polling him about a job. “I said, ‘Just tell me who it is, or it’s going to be a quick conversation,'” Heather recalls.
The scout paused, adding that he couldn’t and that even if he could, Heather would have to sign a nondisclosure agreement. “I’m not signing a non-disclosure agreement, just tell me who it is or it’s game over. “
Heather admits that she would have thought about moving to just one company: Sir Robert McAlpine. “It’s the call of the industry. ” The scout hummed and mumbled before giving in. “McAlpine told me, my first reaction was ‘oh no’. It’s a huge dilemma.
A few years later, in March 2022, he was on holiday (in the Maldives for a friend’s 50th birthday) and got a call from McLaren co-owner Kevin Taylor. Heather had already left McAlpine and the two had been talking from time to time over the past few months about a conceivable role at McLaren.
“We met several times and had intelligent conversations. Then it got a little quieter,” says Heather. “I thought it was a little weird, and then he texted me to say maybe he’d call me later that week.
“He asked me where I was and I told him in the Maldives. He called me on Thursday, presented me with the assignment, and said, “When will you be back?”I told him on Sunday. He said, “Perfect, see you on Monday. “
“I said, ‘What Monday?’ He said he was referring to this Monday and I said, “But I probably wouldn’t land until Sunday. “And he said, “Yes, but it’s Sunday. See you on Monday. “
“I came in on Monday and he said, ‘I’m sorry to be in a bit of a hurry, but I had a board meeting and I wanted to sign some stuff and I’m really going on vacation for three weeks. ‘
“It will be wonderful for you, you don’t want me. You’ll be able to meet people, see projects and regions. “
The ethic of the story turns out to be this: if you feel like changing jobs, stop taking vacations. “yes, sure,” laughs Heather.
He joined McLaren as Group Managing Director for its business. The 51-year-old took over as the organization’s CEO last fall.
The company is expected to reach record turnover for the first time this year, when it unveils its next accounts that will cover the year through July. “This year we’ll be past the £1 billion mark, for what it’s worth. “” says Heather.
He is not worried that McLaren, which has just 1,000 employees, can now boast of being a leading businessman. What do others mean by point 1 now?If they see us as a go-to contractor with the right staff and others who can do it safely and sustainably, then we’ve got you covered.
McLaren, which has lately been weathering paints to expand the ExCeL Centre in London’s Docklands and the former Top Shop flagship store on London’s Oxford Street into an Ikea store, saw its profits rise from £586 million in 2018 to £964 million last year. Growing the business from £500/600 million to £1 billion is a small change. “
It takes a lot more time, effort, and thought to get savings in the right position before a consumer is in a position to press your project button.
Heather says she’s never experienced things as busy as they are today. “A lot of people run around doing a lot of things, but getting them to the park is the hardest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
“It takes a lot more time, effort and thought to get savings in the right position before a consumer is in a position to press the button on your project. In fact, it takes much longer.
1990-1996 QS Intern, Amec.
1996-1999 QS for Ruddy and QS.
1999-2017 Joined Kvaerner prior to the structural arm of the company acquired through Skanska. In 2010, he became Skanska’s managing director for the London and South East structure.
London Chief Executive 2017-2021, Sir Robert McAlpine.
2022-present Managing Director and then Managing Director of McLaren Construction.
He believes allocation costs have decreased, but he’s concerned that the industry’s reputation for a race to the bottom hasn’t disappeared. “We can be our own worst enemy,” he adds. It’s a tough time to make money. “
Do you think traditionally low structural margins can be improved one day?Their answer is not that of the optimists. I don’t think in my career I’ve noticed that it’s over 3%. That’s the industry we’re in. If you get between 1% and 2%, that’s the most sensitive quartile. »
The way he thinks margins can go up to five or 6% is for everyone to say the minimum access point is this number and stick to it, “and no one deviates from that. “
He admits it’s unlikely, but adds, “If you’re doing a smart job, compare it from the start and make sure you didn’t do anything stupid at the end, and then make money. We pride ourselves on being builders. Money is made and wasted on projects.
Heather says administrations that undermine harm everyone. The company’s figures for 2021 were affected by the bankruptcy of structural concrete contractor O’Keefe on a mixed-use assignment in Brighton.
“Losing someone a place of structure is catastrophic,” he says. There is no benefit to our business in filing for insolvency. If there’s a sense that someone is going to become insolvent, how can we act as an industry to make sure that doesn’t happen?
As well as dealing with structural issues that have been going on for years, the industry is also dealing with legislative adjustments introduced by the government in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire just seven years ago. ” We have to take this seriously, certainly do it,” he says of the Ship Safety Act.
He thinks this will put water at the bottom of the bucket between corporations that are in a position to get on the same page and those that are slow to react. “This will allow for some competition between those who take the factor seriously and those who don’t take it as seriously as they should. “
It’s a responsibility for the company to put other people through the education we want to receive. We invest heavily in learning, education and development.
McLaren trains them to meet the requirements of the law. “It’s a responsibility for the company to put other people through the education that we have to do. We invest a lot in learning, education and development. “
Heather says the law will create other roles and attract newcomers. “It will attract the PlayStation generation to the industry, which is very important. There is a war on skill and we see more and more workers coming into a company and asking: what is my future, what is my training, is this an inclusive environment?There’s also a verbal exchange about lifestyle, and they also need the price.
Heather’s adventure in architecture has been different and probably touches her generation. A board member asked him what he wanted to do when he turned 16. He replied that he had no idea, so they asked him what he liked.
“Soccer,” was the teenager’s reply. She said, ‘No, but what do you like?’I told her I liked math and my father was a builder and she put it in her formula and went out with the surveyor. “
He had no idea how much he still liked the sound and so he started at Amec, when the business was still known as Fairclough Homes, in 1990. He ended up spending six years there.
“They had a wonderful educational program. I was able to pass all disciplines: QSing, planning, management, design, engineering. They were devout.
Heather left because the paintings ran out and he needed more money anyway and was given an assignment at Ruddy’s. “I tripled my salary overnight, which is incredible,” he recalls.
He worked as an assigned QS at City Road in London, tailoring standalone QS for the client.
But he wanted to buy space and get a mortgage, and with the first of three children on the way, he needed a salaried position. In 1999, he joined Kvaerner, a Norwegian engineering and structures company, which sold its structures business to the Swedish company Skanska the following year. He remained there for 17 years.
“Skanska was really good. Skanska was my first employer, although I trained at Amec,” he says. “I joined QS as number two on a commission and left as managing director in London. We had to work hard to win a job. We didn’t have the so-called McAlpine or Laing, however, when you won something, it was a wonderful team effort.
Heather hired McAlpine through Boyd McFee, then the company’s construction director, who joined McAlpine in 1976 and was appointed head of the London area. “We went from £450 million to £950 million in London,” he says. We were gaining a lot of work. “
He arrived just as the company’s Bloomberg task was coming to an end, and all of a sudden, “we had another 260 people at Bloomberg with nowhere to go. “
Most were eventually reassigned to phase 3 of the Battersea power station assignment, something Heather knew well from her years at Skanska when the corporation was running in phase two before that task was passed on to Mace. Other tasks during his time there included running in the Elizabeth Tower and Moorfields City’s 21 work office above Moorgate tube station.
But if McAlpine were the only company he would leave Skanska for, things wouldn’t have gone well. “It all went a little wrong,” he admits.
He left in August 2021 after what could simply be described as a breakdown of control and, when he was 50 years old, admitted to wondering if this was now the end of his career.
“‘Wow, what’s left?’ Me at that point in my life and me thinking, “What am I doing?”
He got a call from Keltbray’s owner, Brendan Kerr, an old friend, who asked him what he was doing. “Sulking,” I replied. He said, “Don’t do that, come and make some little pieces for me. “He helped write Keltbray’s business plan. ” It’s wonderful for me to be back in the classroom environment. “
Another scout called him and asked if he knew Kevin Taylor at McLaren. I had heard of him but didn’t know him. Regardless, they met after a few false starts.
“He asked me what had happened [at McAlpine] and told me that some attempts to recruit senior executives hadn’t worked for other reasons. We had some clever conversations. Kevin is a user who rolls up his sleeves and will make you make decisions. He’s worried about the company, but [I have] this opportunity to be that one voice for him.
Heather says her favourite project so far has been the Palestra building, the Will Alsop-designed workplace construction opposite Southwark tube station that Skanska completed in 2006 and which houses Transport for London. “It’s a vital opportunity to put Skanska on the map. This served as a springboard for me to move into the position of sales manager.
And the biggest replacement was the advent of computers. ” When I started, there were no computers on site, they were for the typing group. ” He picks up his phone and shakes it. “I’ve had amazing bosses, but I might just escape. Now we’re on call all the time.
Given their fierce rivalry, knowing that their boss, Kevin Taylor, is a West Ham fan will have to be tricky for Paul Heather, who supports Spurs. He says West Ham doesn’t bother him, adding of this year’s Premier League name race: “I would be more frustrated if Chelsea won against Arsenal. I need the London clubs to win. If they [Arsenal] do it [this year], then great.
Heather grew up in Twickenham, which is not Spurs’ home turf. “I was 10 years old. When you’re on your football team, you’re either doing what your dad [a Brentford fan] tells you or what your most productive friend is doing over time. I went with my most productive friend.
Tottenham’s squad at the time included the likes of Glenn Hoddle, captain Steve Perryman, Garth Crooks and Argentines Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa. A wonderful team, whatever their colours. Heather agrees, but sighs, “We haven’t won anything in decades. “
McLaren moved from the city last autumn to a new facility in Canary Wharf; I mentioned Wharf and most of the stories are about corporations going in the opposite direction. “I thought it would be a little bit more because replacing bothers people, but the truth is, everyone settled in and being on a level playing field made a huge difference. “
The same goes for the Elizabeth line, which it uses to get to the City and the West End. She came to London from Walton-on-Thames, where she lived with her three daughters aged 21, 23 and 25. “It’s a very busy house,” he admits.
Heather says the Churchill Place office seats about 220 people, and about 170 of them most of the time. Fridays are historically quieter, but more and more people are returning to the office after covid, it doesn’t seem like it’s just because of bonding, social interactions, and sharing ideas.
“I heard someone say the other day on the subway that they started coming more to paint because it was cheaper. “
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