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Four modest filing cabinets line the wall of Madani Sow鈥檚 airy Waterloo office. The drawers are marked with the names of Bouygues UK鈥檚 40 projects and Portsmouth contractor Warings, its single big UK acquisition to date.

Shortly after taking over from Pascal Minault as the company鈥檚 chair on 1 June, Sow bought two more filing units. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e on order but I don鈥檛 know what I鈥檒l be putting in them yet,鈥� he says, alluding to the company鈥檚 ambitious growth plans.

If his Paris bosses have their way, he鈥檒l need the space for more acquisitions. Bouygues UK bought Warings for 拢30m last December and, despite the credit crunch, its 拢23bn-turnover global parent is hungry for more.

Sow says: 鈥淚鈥檝e been in the job for one month and they鈥檝e already asked me if I have any company to suggest. I told them not yet.鈥�

It may not stay that way for long. Minault, who stepped down after six years in the job, was known for his affable charm. Sow also has an easygoing manner, but those who know the 52 year old say he is also direct and decisive. One source says: 鈥淗e鈥檚 extremely efficient and grasps the point very quickly.鈥�

In Paris, Sow ran a 拢1.4bn operation responsible for private housing, private clients, offices and hotels. He won鈥檛 say as much, but it seems he has been brought over to pick up the pace in the UK. One source close to Bouygues suggests that he will be bringing a sharper focus to the company鈥檚 expansion drive. 鈥淣obody could have assumed things would go as well as they did under Pascal but Madani is here to accelerate that process,鈥� says the source.

In the 11 years since Bouygues arrived in the UK, it has grown into a 拢600m-turnover construction operation that has taken on some high-profile jobs, including 黑洞社区 Schools for the Future and the Home Office PFI. The short-term aim is to hit 拢1bn but Sow won鈥檛 be drawn on a timeline. 鈥淭hat depends on who we buy,鈥� he says.

Given the bulging wallet of its parent group, the company has been linked to a series of names, including Costain and Midlands contractor Thomas Vale. Sow won鈥檛 discuss names but it is understood that a deal with 拢160m-turnover Thomas Vale was shelved after what one source calls 鈥渁 series of stumbling blocks鈥�. 鈥淚t鈥檚 currently sitting in the difficult column,鈥� the source says.

If Bouygues UK can鈥檛 find the right target, it will not be for want of trying. As Sow explains: 鈥淭he screening process is very scientific. We even have a guy in our Singapore office who examines the accounts of UK companies. Don鈥檛 forget, we are a company led by engineers who can cut a hair into 100 parts.鈥�

Sow鈥檚 arrival in the UK on 6 May coincided with Bouygues casting the net wider in its search for targets; the downturn has deterred the company from signing on the dotted line in the seven months since it bought Warings. In addition to new sectors such as fit-out and industrial, Sow puts particular emphasis on social housing. He says the company is 鈥渢hrowing serious resources鈥� at the market.

Despite his previous responsibility in Paris for private housing, he smiles and shakes his head when asked if it is something Bouygues would be looking at in the UK.

He is flexible on the size and geographical area of any deal. 鈥淲e gave ourselves a turnover limit of 拢250m and a boundary of between the South Coast and Birmingham but if a good opportunity comes, of course we will take it to Paris.鈥�

He insists that a good cultural fit is the key to any deal, because any company he buys will have to adapt to the Bouygues way of working: 鈥淚t鈥檚 like shopping for a shirt; you need one that fits,鈥� he says.

鈥淭he main point in Bouygues is that there鈥檚 one leader for every project,鈥� Sow continues. 鈥淭hey have a lot more power on site than in UK companies. They are like a chair, responsible for hiring and firing, health and safety and their bonus is linked to the project鈥檚 profit margin.鈥�

A quick look at the books of Warings proves his talk of a cultural fit is not just rhetoric. It made a pre-tax loss of 拢161,000 in 2007 as a result of two problem jobs. Sow says such issues were secondary to the all-important meeting of minds. He says the deal was made easier because Warings was transparent and honest throughout. Not that there鈥檚 much room for sentimentality. 鈥淲e need profit margins across the company to be 5%. Yes, it is high but it鈥檚 our target.鈥� He says the Warings arm of the business will have to move out of the red and hit a margin of 3% by 2010.

This is the kind of pressure you need to cope with at Bouygues, he says. 鈥淭o stay in a company like this, you need strong shoulders. We just need success; nobody really cares about effort,鈥� he says.

And how has he found working in the UK so far? 鈥淟iberating鈥� would perhaps be the word. He says the UK construction industry is not as restrictive as the French in terms of design and technical innovation. 鈥淵ou have more freedom with the angle of curtain walling,鈥� he picks out as an example.

Other differences are more subtle and he has been given a crash course in reading between the lines at business meetings. 鈥淚n France people like to scream and shout but here people have a precise code for when they mean 鈥榥o鈥�. They will begin a sentence with 鈥榖ut what I would like 鈥︹��.鈥�

Sow, who is from the city of Conakry in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa, certainly doesn鈥檛 display any British uptightness when talking about being the only black boss of a leading UK construction company. 鈥淚n Paris I was the only black person at my level, which was actually a great help because people remembered who I was after they met me.鈥�

One decision that has been taken since Sow arrived is to move the company from its Waterloo head office when its lease runs out in two years鈥� time. It was a democratic process, though; a company survey found most people live south of the river Thames so it is now looking for a site due south of its central London location. Sow himself though looks momentarily tempted by the mention of the more northerly St Pancras. And as this potential office spot is right by a station that is a two-hour train ride from Paris and the world鈥檚 longest champagne bar, you can鈥檛 really blame him.