GBSS Civil Engineering is embarking on a fresh chapter following the formation of a new management structure at the High Bonnybridge-based firm.
New MD David Owens and business director Bart Kulej are targeting continued steady growth, with founders George and Fiona Burns assuming more strategic roles within the business.
Historically, GBSS has been run as a family business since being founded in 2009. It has grown to become a key player in Scotland’s civil engineering and groundworks industry, delivering a raft of projects large and small in sectors including education, health, infrastructure, leisure, retail, and residential.
David and Bart are relishing the opportunity to drive forward the next phase of the journey. Despite welcoming fresh ideas and new people coming on board, the values which have held the business in good stead for the past 15 years – including a strong emphasis on providing a personal service – will remain the same.
“We have a lot of repeat clients,” David explained. “We don’t have layers and layers of decision making. If you want something done, most clients will have Bart’s or my phone number.
“We’re visible; we’re here. If there are issues, we will speak face-to-face. It’s that old cliché about seeing the whites of people’s eyes.”
David and Bart admit they have no plans to ‘conquer the world tomorrow’. Instead, the aim is to consolidate what is already a thriving operation with a multi-million-pound turnover. GBSS is focused on delivering for existing clients, while attempting to bring some new ones to the table.
Typical projects the company has been involved in over the years have been public sector initiatives like schools and healthcare buildings. With the public purse drying up to some extent over the last couple of years, GBSS has made a conscious effort to diversify its client base.
“Historically the mix of our clients and the type of work we used to do was fairly small,” Bart added. “I think it’s fair to say that today we have trebled the number of core clients we work with and the nature of work we do is also a lot more varied.
“We still deliver the same service as before. We don’t necessarily focus on volume; we focus on more complex projects where we consider we can add real value. The technology put into these projects is quite unique. An example would be the vertical distillery at Port of Leith. We did all the groundworks and foundations. For such a small footprint, the foundations and complexity were something people don’t see.”
GBSS currently has a team of over 50 staff, including many long-serving employees. With skills shortages rife across the industry, staff retention and developing the future workforce has never been more important.
The business has started working with social enterprises and other organisations to introduce people from different backgrounds into the sector. One such partnership is with Tigers Group, a training organisation that is helping GBSS support apprentices.
The interview with Project Scotland took place at the site of the Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre in East Dunbartonshire, where GBSS has been carrying out civils work for Morgan Sindall. On this project, 17-year-old Amrit Singh, a shared Tigers Group/Morgan Sindall Construction setting out apprentice, has been receiving mentoring from Steven Haldane, a project setting out engineer at GBSS.
With three other apprentices across the business, GBSS has been engaging with Tigers for the past year and is passionate about creating opportunities for people interested in construction careers.
The company is also highly focused on continuously upskilling its existing workforce and tapping into talent from other walks of life such as ex-armed forces personnel, whose skillsets are potentially a great fit.
The Twechar job is GBSS’ second contract with Morgan Sindall, following the success of a footbridge installation project at Carnbroe, Coatbridge. The Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre is an East Dunbartonshire Council project to transform a derelict brownfield site into an adventure hub, offering activities including canoeing, kayaking, and cycling. Logistical challenges have included a canal-side location and the fact there is only one road in and out. Other recent projects in the GBSS portfolio include a civil engineering contract for a new Sainsbury’s superstore in Bishopton, and work at the new Maybury Primary School in Edinburgh, designed and built to Passivhaus standards. “Maybury is a big school with an integrated health centre,” Bart stated. “This was quite a challenging brownfield site. Everything had to be certified by competent people.
“For passersby, it looked like just another building site, but everything had to be verified and certified at every stage. How things are put together to a very specific design is what makes it sustainable.
“The project was a learning curve for us. When dealing with bulky, difficult to handle materials in open space, it can be a challenge. We came up with solutions that have become almost a benchmark for future projects for the council. We’re very proud of that.”
In a highly competitive civils marketplace, one of the factors which GBSS believes gives it the edge is a comprehensive pre-construction service, where early engagement can add significant value for clients.
“A lot of projects over the last 24 months have been unaffordable because of a variety of factors such as high inflation and high interest rates,” David added. “Bart is very technical. We’ll sit with contractors and help them refine their design and work to a more cost-effective, higher value product.”
GBSS has hopes of breaking into new markets and extending its footprint in existing ones over the coming years. For environmental reasons, there is a growing trend to repurpose and reuse existing buildings rather than build new, which the business has had to adjust to allow for.
Industrial unit projects are also becoming more significant for the firm, with landlords around the country investing in upgrades to sites in need of some TLC. Care homes, retail, and renewables are other sectors which have become more prevalent recently as GBSS looks to broaden its horizons.
The challenges faced by the business are the same as the ones being encountered by everyone else in the industry, including keeping up with the green agenda and new regulations.
According to Bart, if you can do something better than others and convert it to your advantage, every challenge is an opportunity.
“Sometimes when you do something for so many years in the same way, you get used to it and it’s hard to see there might be something different you can do,” he explained. “Applied pressure to us from different directions is making us be a bit more agile.”
