About akp
Our People
Ian McEwan – Managing Director
Joint founder of akp Scotland Ltd, Ian has shaped the growth of the business from the outset. His entrepreneurial flair and ability to see the whole picture and act, has allowed the business to dominate the middle market vacated by competitors who have dreamed of bigger things and lost some of their tendering passion.
A practical person, Ian tackles growth through constant innovation. For instance, through the uptake of GPRS IT solutions, he and his management team are directly communicating at all levels throughout each project from any location to site.
Ian is a motivator, he incentivises his staff from bonus structures, social and business events through to a shared commitment to charity – all this energises the management team and promotes hard work and a tenacity to reach business goals.
Ian’s drive to increase efficiency also promotes innovation at every level – electronic office, latest estimating software, database management and IT support personnel.
He has almost 20 years practical experience in construction management, planning, and estimating. Combine this with 7 years consultancy experience in construction management, design & build, planning, surveying and estimating and Ian has a real understanding of what matters.
Ian’s mantra for successful project delivery from day one to completion:
“Start by talking to the client and design team and keep talking throughout the project, it is not only needed but is essential.”
Chris McNeill – Commercial Director
Chris embraces the opportunities on a daily basis to influence the commercial success of the business. Responsible for bidding/quantity surveying, finance, office operations, IT and human resources, his role has expanded in line with problem solving and hands on approach.
He takes pride in fostering the growth of akp’s people and enjoys working in an environment which sometimes breaks with tradition. He promotes a can do philosophy and enjoys the mentoring process.
Chris has a BSc (Hons) in Quantity Surveying and joined akp in 2004. He has a proven track record of complex bidding processes, large scale negotiation, framework and partnering arrangements, and contributes his diverse contractual knowledge in business decisions.He also has a supporting role in financial controls and value engineering to the benefit of both akp and the client.
His commercial experience is gained from a professional career spent largely in high quality retail and commercial fit out and he was central to work very much at the beginning of modern partnership contract practices.
During a 4 year spell with a top 10 UK specialist shop fitting business, Chris played a key role in account management with national clients such as RBS, Asda, and Safeway. He had a leading role in the migration of the RBS/NatWest contractual relationship from traditional procurement to a design & construct single point of contact framework agreement. Chris led negotiations at the initial stages on several trial schemes for Tesco which resulted in a successful framework agreement which continues today.
Chris’ tenacious attention to detail can be expressed as follows:
“Good practice follows from a backbone of closely followed processes and procedures.”
John Mooney - Construction Director
John oversees all construction projects which has a large portfolio of blue chip customers. He is the vital link between clients, subcontractors and inhouse employees and ensures all refurbishments and new builds are finished on time and on budget. John is passionate that the same level of attention to detail must be applied to every contract regardless of whether it is a small one-off project, a multi-million pound project,or a Framework Project for the Scottish Prison Service or Frameworks Scotland NFS Principal Supply Chain Partners Agreement for NHS Scotland Projects.
He was invited by Ian McEwan to join akp as a director in 1995. Prior to that he ran his own joinery company. Since joining akp Scotland, the company has grown from a small team of just three staff to the large operation it is today. Under John's leadership, the construction side has gained a strong reputation for tackling challenging or difficult buildings and running fast track projects, whilst ensuring quality of workmanship and meeting customer deadlines.
Married with three children, John is a keen hillwalker and when time permits he can be found enjoying Scotland's countryside.
"Experience makes you anticipate the problems which then fail to materialise."
"Funnily enough my proudest moment with the company wasn't completing one of our large contracts but the renovation of New Kilpatrick Church in Bearsden. We used traditional lime plaster to return the cornicing to its original glory, preserving the Grade-A-listed church for the enjoyment of future generations."
James Andrew - Director
James Andrew, former chief executive of fit-out, social housing and maintenance services company Morris & Spottiswood, is a director with the company.
James, who has more than forty years experience in the industry, joined the company as it embarked on an ambitious growth strategy to grow turnover from £18 million to £40 million within five years.
A chartered surveyor by profession and former managing director of Henry Boot Scotland, James helped Morris & Spottiswood to more than double its turnover from £60 million to £125 million in the three years he was chief executive.
James says he intends to apply his strategic skills in areas such as financial governance, lean project management and business and people development to drive the firm forward.
Drawing on his extensive contacts within the industry, he will also be focusing on developing new business in the Glasgow area, where he serves on The Board of Management of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce as Deputy President.
"Glasgow is going to be experiencing ten years of significant growth .The Commonwealth Games factor is immense.This is going to be something of a golden era for the city. "
"When you consider that £6bn is being spent on regenerating the waterfront from Glasgow to Greenock, £100m on the first phase redevelopment of the St Enoch's Centre and the proposal by Buchanan Galleries to double in size, it gives you some idea of the scale of opportunities for companies within the building sector."