Akela Ground Engineering appointed piling specialist Will Payne as the company’s new general manager earlier this year, with the aim of helping the business expand and grow its reputation. Here he answers Project Scotland’s questions about his plans to help drive the firm forward and capitalise on opportunities in the sector.
Q) What’s your background? How did you break into the ground engineering sector?
A) I started working in ground engineering by chance. I was completing my GNVQ in business and finance at college and had a job with a local ground engineering firm to get me through my studies. They were subcontracting to Roger Bullivant and I heard they had a full-time job available in their accounts department. I applied and got the job.
Roger Bullivant at that time wasn’t the size of company it is today and through my role, I got to spend time with Roger directly. Although I decided that a financial career wasn’t for me, I had developed a good working relationship with Roger and he listened to what I had to say. I was offered an apprenticeship, working with the ground engineering teams, whilst doing one day a week at Derby University to get my HNC in civil engineering.
So I was in the right place at the right time, with someone who was willing to give me a chance, which I am really grateful for.
Since then I’ve worked for Aarsleff and Van Elle, both of which are big piling firms, before returning to Roger Bullivant back in 2006. I’ve worked on projects all across the UK and even abroad, with my last position incorporating a role in Gibraltar for Roger Bullivant Ltd.
Q) What attracted you to the role at Akela and what can you tell us about your plans for helping to drive the business forward?
A) It’s always a really big decision to move to a new organisation but I had a few conversations with Mark Markey, MD of Akela Group, and Paul Winters who is director of operations and quickly realised this was a strong family orientated firm which is well known in Scotland for working with big reputable businesses and delivering quality results. So I suppose it was the company ethos that aligned with my own values.
I was also attracted to the idea of helping Akela to grow, especially in the north of England and the Midlands which are markets I know well and can really help build the brand in these areas. With Akela Group, there are also the other construction and surfacing arms complementing the ground engineering, and we have found that our clients find the ‘one-stop-shop’ approach useful. We are currently providing a similar service to Ashberry Homes at a site in Renfrew and I think this is a unique offering for clients.
Q) What do you see as some of the biggest challenges and opportunities within the ground engineering market at present?
A) Obviously, the economic challenges facing the home building sector are well known at the moment with mortgages and interest rates slowing down sales. This is having a knock on effect for all supply chain businesses in this sector, including ground engineering.
Lack of skilled labour is also continuing to cause issues. Piling is a very unique trade and getting the right people with the right skills is challenging. There is definitely a lack of skills as a result of the impact of Brexit. Similarly, there are opportunities abroad in places like the Middle East which attract skilled labour from the UK.
However, there are plenty of opportunities here too for the industry. Akela is working on exciting new innovative solutions for ground engineering. These will reduce costs and lead times for our customers. Hopefully I will be able to say more about this soon, but it is something I am personally very excited about.
We are also building a lot of new relationships at the moment as we expand further into England and beyond the central belt of Scotland. We’ve recently invested in some new piling rigs so there is a lot going on despite the economic headwinds.
Q) How much focus is there on sustainability? What is Akela doing to help meet environmental targets?
A) At its very core, ground engineering allows us to use land that would otherwise be unsuitable for building on. Our industry really helps make the most efficient use of land as we can build bigger and taller structures rather than a sprawl of buildings.
One thing that impressed me about Akela before I joined was their level of investment in the best equipment. JCB is our main supplier and their products are becoming more efficient all the time. Who knows, perhaps in the future we will have a full electric or hydrogen fleet of piling rigs.
Akela places a strong focus on sustainability. For example, we use recycled tubular steel as piles, previously used in the oil and gas industry on some sites. We also minimise soil waste using an excavator-mounted soil mixing bin to improve the surface condition, recycle existing soil and reduce the need to transport soil around the country.
There will always be more to do, but Akela certainly strives to do its best to innovate and reduce the impact of ground engineering on the environment where we can.
Q) What projects are you involved in at the moment?
A) We are primarily focused on residential projects at the moment and have a lot of work in the central belt right now. This includes the site I mentioned in Renfrew with Ashberry, working at Gartcosh carrying out piling works for Bellway, and for CALA Homes at their development in Winchburgh.
In line with our expansion plans, we are also working on some sites in England. We are working in the East Midlands at the moment, and recently started with Persimmon in Norfolk which has the potential to become a significant contract for us.
Q) Where do you see the most scope for expansion as far as Akela is concerned?
A) The next 6-12 months are going to be exciting for us with new equipment and we will be bringing a new innovative product to market soon, as I’ve previously mentioned. This will bring a lot of new opportunities for us.
As part of our expansion we are also looking for additional premises in England and in Ireland too. This will lead to us expanding our teams both on and off site and being able to deliver for our customers in even more locations.
For me, it’s about getting the Akela brand out there and to expand our market sectors. I want everybody in the industry in the north of England and the Midlands to know the company and the high quality work that we do, just like they do in Scotland already.
