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 3G Mobile 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 over 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 – Director (Commercial & Finance)
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.”
Martin McColl-Director, Operations and Health & Safety
He is responsible for all aspects of Operations including Delivery, Health, Safety, Environment and Quality functions across the company. This includes the development and implementation of management systems in support of all activities and the provision of competent and professional advice to project delivery teams. He is also responsible for the in-house safety training of staff to industry recognised standards and the promotion of an embedded culture which results in the miminisation of risks to health and safety whilst ensuring quality management expectations are exceeded. background
A results driven, dynamic and innovative SHEQ professional with over ten years experience in the manufacturing and construction industries across all major market sectors. A qualified safety practitioner and member of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, gaining experience initially within project safety roles with values upwards of £200M and most latterly within the corporate setting of multi-site contracting organisations including the Grangemouth Petrochemical Complex and Morris & Spottiswood Ltd. An Institute for Learning approved adult teacher and Construction Skills Tutor with over five years experience in the development and delivery of industry recognised construction safety qualifications.
Martin has major project safety, quality and environmental lead, multi-site corporate safety lead, trainer, strategy developer, team coach, incident investigation and control and supply chain development expertise. He has extensive management system experience to industry recognised standards including OHSAS 18000, ISO 9001 & ISO 14000. Manufacturing and construction experience in a variety of environments including petroleum, specialty chemicals, agrochemicals, defence organisations, power generation, retail development and social housing. Experienced change agent in lean management technique analysis and deployment, trained by the Society of British Aerospace Companies Industry Forum with proven track record of continual improvement deployment.
"Operational Management is about people and how they manage. akp's ethos is Building Pride."