{"id":597263,"date":"2023-01-13T14:48:52","date_gmt":"2023-01-13T20:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/mace-ceo-eyes-battery-plant-growth-and-defends-mmcs-fire-safety\/"},"modified":"2023-01-13T14:48:52","modified_gmt":"2023-01-13T20:48:52","slug":"mace-ceo-eyes-battery-plant-growth-and-defends-mmcs-fire-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/13\/mace-ceo-eyes-battery-plant-growth-and-defends-mmcs-fire-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Mace CEO eyes battery-plant growth and defends MMC\u2019s fire safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Mace Construct CEO Gareth Lewis tells CN\u2019s Joshua Stein why he\u2019s more upbeat than he has been for years about the firm\u2019s growth areas, and hits back at recent claims about the fire safety of offsite construction<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Mace is planning to expand into the battery-plant sector as the firm looks to grow its contracting business further.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just one of the burgeoning areas where the company is eyeing growth, Mace Construct chief executive Gareth Lewis tells Construction News<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In an interview in the company\u2019s Moorgate offices in the City of London, the boss \u2013 who has worked for Mace since 1994 and led its construction business since 2019 \u2013 is certainly upbeat.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in multiple markets and that\u2019s great \u2013 as one dips, others grow\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A move into the world of battery plants \u2013 which is not without risk given the recent problems of Britishvolt\u2019s attempt to establish a major electric-car-battery gigafactory \u2013 would follow the contractor\u2019s foray into other new areas in recent months.<\/p>\n

These include the life-sciences sector, where Lewis describes the four jobs it landed in 2022 as \u201cunheard of\u201d in the first year of operating in a new sector. One of these projects was the first phase of a \u00a3100m expansion of research facilities at Oxford University\u2019s Begbroke Science Park in Kidlington<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steps to success<\/h3>\n

He says the company took \u201csmall steps\u201d to research the battery-manufacturing sector over the course of 2022. \u201cMoving into new markets does take a little bit of time,\u201d Lewis admits.<\/p>\n

But he insists Mace has an advantage through its experience in the data-centre and semiconductor factory sectors, and the firm spent a lot of time looking at pipelines.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year we won our first semiconductor plant in Ireland, so the idea is growing our technology basis and using those skills in slightly different markets now. And battery-manufacturing plants are very, very similar to semiconductor plants \u2013 and, dare I say it, so are data centres. It\u2019s a very similar kind of build sequencing technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although its accounts for the period are not yet finalised, Lewis says Mace Construct \u2013 the contracting arm of the business \u2013 turned over \u00a31.35bn in 2022. He predicts this will rise to \u00a31.7bn in 2023 as a result of its growth in the life-sciences arena as well as the office- and major-project sectors. Its latest published accounts show its revenue stood at \u00a31.48bn in the year to 31 December 2021.<\/p>\n

Lewis puts the 2022 dip down to some projects being delayed that are now expected to take place in 2023, while the war in Ukraine also had an impact. Mace chief executive Mark Reynolds<\/a> told CN<\/em> in September that a project worth \u00a3150m was cancelled due to material shortages exacerbated by the Russian invasion.<\/p>\n

Managing growth<\/h3>\n

Looking ahead, Lewis insists the company is preparing for a pattern of growth not seen for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say this is the first time in about 20 years that every single sector is growing at a manageable rate,\u201d he says, adding this is easier to deal with than a less consistent rate, which can make projects difficult to resource.<\/p>\n

Aviation, interiors and education are all growing, for example, and one of the firm\u2019s final project awards in 2022 was a \u00a3120m office fit-out job in the<\/a> City of London, which the firm said was the biggest interiors job it had landed in a decade.<\/p>\n

Lewis adds that diversification is \u201creally, really important\u201d to the firm as it continues its growth plans. \u201cWe’re in multiple markets and that\u2019s great \u2013 as one dips, others grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Lewis ruled out making acquisitions in 2023, preferring to grow the arm organically.<\/p>\n

A very modern man<\/h3>\n

Using modern methods of construction has also become a bigger part of its operations, with the firm looking to produce more structures offsite.<\/p>\n

The methods, he claims, should help improve fire safety, despite a recent five-page statement from the National Fire Chiefs Council<\/a> calling for more regulation of the methods and setting out a litany of concerns, including doubts over the competence of some installers.<\/p>\n

Lewis insists the techniques actually improve safety. \u201cIf you’re designing and fabricating and testing everything offsite, it should be safer. You\u2019re able to see the compliancy in the model before it arrives on site,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019ve got a chance to put it right in the factory.\u201d<\/p>\n

This, he adds, is much easier than putting things right on site. \u201c[Traditional methods] are not as safe, particularly if you\u2019re building a tower \u2013 you can\u2019t easily put things right 40 storeys up in the air,” he notes.\u00a0\u201cYou just have to work harder on the interfaces if the parts are made in different factories.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Joshua Stein<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mace Construct CEO Gareth Lewis tells CN\u2019s Joshua Stein why he\u2019s more upbeat than he has been for years about the firm\u2019s growth areas, and hits back at recent claims about the fire safety of offsite construction Mace is planning to expand into the battery-plant sector as the firm looks to grow its contracting business<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":597264,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117956,23317],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-597263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"category-growth"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}