黑洞社区

On hearing that garvis snook hadn鈥檛 set foot on a site for nine months, 黑洞社区 decided do the interview at his firm鈥檚 residential development in Barling Court in Stockwell, south London. After five minutes watching him wandering around in photogenic cufflinks, silk tie and high-visibility vest, it鈥檚 clear we made a good call. It just takes a glimpse of a mini-excavator to bring an unfocused look to his eyes. It seems he spent much of his youth behind the wheels of such machines 鈥� but alas, the past is another country. 鈥淢e coming on this site today,鈥� he sighs, adjusting his oversized hard hat, 鈥渢here鈥檚 not a lot I can add. I鈥檓 not up to speed any more. I鈥檒l learn more from these guys,鈥� he says, pointing at the site manager and his team, 鈥渢han they will from me.鈥�

Snook has long since abandoned physical labour for financial engineering. For the past four years he has overseen the transformation of the UK鈥檚 smallest listed contractor, EBC, into one of the sector鈥檚 fastest growing empires, ROK. Over four summers, the group鈥檚 market value has grown from 拢7m to more than 拢100m. Snook now intends to turn the company into the nation鈥檚 premier local builder, increasing its number of branches from 21 today to about 100 in three to five years鈥� time. This means that it will have a turnover in excess of 拢1bn 鈥� possibly even more than 拢2bn 鈥� and will be one of the UK鈥檚 major contractors.

Size isn鈥檛 everything
Yet all this talk of size upsets Snook.

The use of the word 鈥渢urnover鈥� is a particular no-no: 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to destroy the testosterone that drives this industry. We鈥檙e very male-dominated. It鈥檚 the old 鈥榤y one is bigger than yours鈥� routine.鈥�

Rok is not sexy, that鈥檚 for sure. It eschews the notion of big, prestigious projects.

As Snook freely 鈥� proudly 鈥� admits, the company will not be building an erotic gherkin any time soon. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not into the sort of projects that would be featured in 黑洞社区 magazine.鈥� This is not quite true 鈥� the site of the four-storey apartment block he is walking around was featured last month owing to its unusual prefabrication design. But his point is that Rok wants to be the brand of choice to build a local factory or maintain a civic building.

This philosophy is not for everyone.

Many people join the industry because they want to built big landmark projects, and Snook has lost staff members as a result. Towards the end of last year Snook 鈥� who pursues an extraordinarily aggressive acquisition strategy 鈥� snapped up the northern offices of failed contractor Ballast for 拢2m. With the purchase came Ballast director Nigel Brook. The local builder model was not for him and he has since left for Amec: 鈥淚t鈥檚 true that I wanted to work on bigger projects,鈥� says Brook. 鈥淏igger projects suit Amec very well. It鈥檚 horses for courses.鈥�

But given the industry鈥檚 skills shortages, the question is too serious to shrug off. Snook himself points out that, 10 years ago, the average age of a construction worker was 40; now is it 50. Many firms seek to win glamour projects to attract the best of the shrinking pool of talented graduates. For example Peter Vince, the managing director of consultant AYH, told 黑洞社区 in January that the group wanted to win more projects like the Arsenal stadium for this very purpose.

While people such as Vince try to attract their staff by flashing a bit of thigh, Snook offers security and a sense of equality as the keys to a long-lasting relationship. From next month, every Rok employee from Snook downwards will be employed on the same terms, be it holiday pay or sickness provision.

Snook鈥檚 past
Snook may describe the pay deal as 鈥渁 hard-nosed business decision鈥� to incentivise people to stay at Rok, but there seems to be a little more to it when he refers to his past. 鈥淎s an industry we have treated people very poorly. My dad worked for a scaffolder in the winter of 鈥�63 when it snowed for months. The snow was 18 inches thick and my dad was laid off. There was no money coming into the house.鈥�

We鈥檙e not into the sort of projects that would be featured in 黑洞社区

 

His dad rebuilt, though, eventually running his own demolition firm in Somerset. At this stage it did not seem that Snook would follow in his footsteps, choosing instead to read a degree in education and history at York University. After a couple of terms, however, boredom set in and he decided academia was not for him. His next move was to work for his dad for a few months to raise the cash to travel around Europe. He never went 鈥� every little boy鈥檚 dream of demolition had him hooked.

After a stint running his own financially unsuccessful steel frame business in London, Snook moved back to the West Country in 1984 as a small works manager at Taunton-based contractor Stansell. By the end of the 1980s he had progressed to construction director, and his days mixing with the drivers of mini-excavators were already behind him. Snook tells of one predecessor, who had done the job in

the early 1980s, and wasn鈥檛 impressed. 鈥淪nooky, when I was in the job I used to visit every site every week, so I knew exactly what was going on everywhere,鈥� he told the 39-year-old whippersnapper. Cheeky young Snook retorted: 鈥淚n your day there were only half a dozen sites, all within a 10-minute drive of the office. With what we鈥檝e got going on now, it would take me three days.鈥�

By this stage of his career, Snook had become more intrigued by management techniques and the corporate world. He tried to lead a management buyout of Stansell鈥檚 building arm in 1996, but was beaten to the punch by Morgan Sindall.

Snook鈥檚 future looked bleak. Morgan Sindall boss John Morgan was wary of him and sent him for psychometric testing. Unfortunately, neither Morgan nor Snook will discuss the results, although the two went through them 鈥渧ery carefully鈥�. The upshot was that he was kept on. Morgan says: 鈥淗e was great fun to work with. He had true leadership qualities.鈥� What鈥檚 more, Snook and Morgan have similar business models, and they share the same philosophy of empowering staff 鈥� both huff at a rival chief executive鈥檚 insistence of signing off every invoice for capital expenditure of 拢25 and above.

But Snook grew restless at Morgan Sindall. He craved a top job at a major plc: 鈥淚 wanted a great deal of control. A private company is often owned by a family; it is often stuck in the past. You can鈥檛 control a private firm unless you own it.鈥�

An offer to head the southern operations of Mowlem arose and, thinking that he needed greater experience at a public company before he became top dog, Snook decided to take it up. At the last minute he changed his mind: not only had the scale of the job been reduced but he had received a rival offer as boss of the UK鈥檚 smallest listed contractor: Exeter-based EBC 鈥� which would later become Rok (see below left).

The next step
Snook admits that he cannot stay in his current role forever, but he will not move to the less powerful role of chairman when Bob Carlton-Porter retires next year. His ambition remains to oversee the three-to-five year growth strategy. This campaign is likely to be waged by continued acquisition 鈥� Snook鈥檚 major buys so far have included the 拢15m purchase of Rockeagle in 2001 and the South-east-based contractor Llewellyn the following year, which doubled the size of the business.

This strategy has been very much Snook鈥檚 and despite his concern with empowering employees, he is ruthless with his senior staff.

Last year he replaced long-serving finance director Michael Bailey with Ashley Martin from media communications group Tempus. He says: 鈥淪adly it was one of those tough decisions. We wanted someone with the knowledge of working at big firms.鈥� And he halved EBC鈥檚 backroom staff to 100 when he started at the firm.

The people Garvis roots for in his empowerment philosophy are the workers on site, earning the company鈥檚 corn. That said, root for them he may do, but one of them he is not. Asked whether he had enjoyed his experience on site today, he is less than wholehearted in his response:
鈥淚n my day, a site was somewhat different to this experience. I probably knew what I was doing more in those days.鈥�