黑洞社区

McGee managing director Seb Fossey is recalling the front-row seat he had as a student when O鈥橰ourke bought Laing鈥檚 construction arm 20 years ago this September.

Laing had talked about a 拢100m deal, possibly from an overseas buyer, when the business was put up for sale in November 2000. Instead, it was picked up for 拢1 by one of its subcontractors.

Two decades on, it remains a head-spinning moment but for Fossey, who had joined O鈥橰ourke in 2000 on a placement as part of the civil engineering degree he was doing at the University of Sheffield, its significance only became apparent with the passage of time. 鈥淚 was very new in the industry. I knew it was a big deal but I didn鈥檛 quite appreciate it at the time.鈥�

Now 39, he eventually joined the renamed Laing O鈥橰ourke properly in 2003 leaving 14 years later for McGee.

鈥淚t was a great business for innovation and exposure to major projects,鈥� Fossey adds of his years spent there. 鈥淚t was a difficult decision to leave because I鈥檇 been a long time at Laing O鈥橰ourke. But I made the conscious decision at the time that I wanted to look at new horizons.鈥�

Whereas the company he left 鈥� Fossey was a technical lead at O鈥橰ourke by the time he quit 鈥� had a turnover running into several billions of pounds and thousands of staff, the company he joined initially as an operations director was much smaller in scale.

It was established in Wembley in the late 1950s by Tom McGee who had come over from Ireland to make his fortune in the UK鈥檚 post-war building boom 鈥� the same one where John Laing made its reputation with schemes like the M1 and rebuilding the bomb-damaged Coventry Cathedral.

There is a real appetite for a return to offices and one of the few positives from covid is that there is a real focus around sustainability 

Now based in the former IPC building on London鈥檚 Southbank, McGee currently has around 400 employees and, typically, its income is around 拢100m although Fossey, who has been in charge since last January, says the ravages of the pandemic mean that turnover in its latest financial year, the 12 months to November 2020, will be down to around 拢85m from 拢109m the previous year where it made 拢8.3m in pre-tax profit.

But while McGee might not match the numbers of O鈥橰ourke, its history marks it out as a major player in its field. It won a breakthrough demolition deal at Heathrow Airport in the 1970s and in 1987 was asked to dismantle parts of Battersea power station.

Branching out

The firm has branched out since then and as well as its traditional demolition and groundworks, McGee carries out piling, basement and concrete cores.

鈥淭he history of the business is rooted in demolition and groundworks. But we鈥檙e now focussed as a specialist engineering contractor. The last two or three years, we鈥檝e really refocused on how we operate and what we do,鈥� Fossey says.

It has been putting this philosophy into practice at the Bankside Yards scheme, a stone鈥檚 throw away from its office at South Bank Tower, the renamed King鈥檚 Reach tower designed by Richard Seifert and built by Laing in the early 1970s, but which was given a makeover several years ago by Mace.

Bankside Yards is the new name for developer Native Land鈥檚 mixed-use redevelopment of the former Ludgate House, a building that was opened in 1989 by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher and whose previous tenants have included the Daily Express, Balfour Beatty and publisher UBM, the then owner of 黑洞社区.

McGee completed tearing down the nine-storey office block in early 2018 鈥� it has since razed to the ground the brutalist Sampson House on the other side of the railway line as part of the wider development 鈥� and has been carrying out enabling, basement and concrete core works. It is still on site, completing some basement work for main contractor Multiplex.

Piling work was completed by Cementation although McGee managed this part of the scheme and it has since bought piling rigs so it can do this sort of work itself. 鈥淟udgate House was the sort of self-delivery model project we want to do,鈥� Fossey says.

Under threat

That all came huge under threat when a year ago the pandemic blew up and for a while it seemed an entire industry was in danger of tottering over.

鈥淭he whole industry was in crisis,鈥� Fossey recalls. 鈥淣o one had experienced anything like it.鈥� The firm was forced to furlough 120 of its mainly site-based staff 鈥� everyone was off the initiative by the end of the year 鈥� as sites ground to a halt. 鈥淲hen the world was very uncertain, the furlough scheme was hugely valuable. It was a jobs retention scheme and it allowed us to retain jobs.鈥�

The firm鈥檚 heartland is London and the South-east and pretty much all its work is within the M25. For a business, then, whose core market includes London commercial, the hollowing out of the capital and millions of workers being forced to work from home 鈥� prompting debates about the future of the office 鈥� was bound to have an impact on its numbers. Fossey says covid will see income down by around 20% this year.

But he is seeing signs of things picking up. The commercial office market, he says, is coming back 鈥� McGee is one of two left bidding a demolition contract for London office developer Derwent at Baker Street 鈥� while hotel operators are taking the chance to give their estates a refresh in the enforced absence of guests. Meanwhile, residential blocks are showing signs of life too. 鈥淎ll three are coming back,鈥� he says, 鈥渁lthough nothing is certain until you put pen to paper.鈥�

He adds: 鈥淭here is a real appetite for a return to offices and one of the few positives from covid is that there is a real focus around sustainability and a desire to be in more sustainable buildings.鈥�

Fossey鈥檚 experience of working from home follows a path similar to most people鈥檚. An unfamiliar routine quickly became familiar with the help of Teams and Zoom but as the pandemic drags on into another year, the urge to swap his desk at his Kent home for South Bank Tower is growing.

鈥淭he office is open,鈥� he says, adding just a handful of people having been using it. 鈥淧eople are looking forward to going into offices and getting human interaction back.鈥� How people will manage their working routines in the future, only time will tell, he says. 鈥淚 believe people will change their views on what they want to do as time goes on.鈥�

Becoming employee-owned

In the midst of the pandemic, McGee also became an employee-owned business with the shares held in trust. While the McGee family hold a stake, they are not involved in the day-to-day running of the firm that bears their name.

At the time the deal was announced last May, chairman Brian McGee 鈥� son of Tom 鈥� said the change was intended 鈥渢o secure the future of the business鈥�. The move saw it join others in the industry including Erith, Mott MacDonald and Arup in running employee-owned trusts. 鈥淲e鈥檙e still in the foothills of employee ownership,鈥� Fossey says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been difficult to gauge the benefits because people have been working in relative isolation.鈥�

With around a dozen schemes on site, including a deal to turn the grade I-listed Admiralty Arch into a luxury hotel where McGee is carrying out basement work and building four linked tunnels below ground, Fossey says the firm has no plans to pull off the sort of deal his former employer managed two decades ago. 鈥淲e are a specialist,鈥� he adds, 鈥渁nd we like operating in a specialist place.鈥�