GROWTH
Promoted – new Meldrum Group directors , back row , from left : Ben Szyman , Ross Doherty , Dave Meldrum , Ian Glazinski and Paul Skelton . Front , from left : Steve Smith , Jack Johnson and Ayden Booth .
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Meldrum Group appoints seven new directors and launches new delivery arm
With more than 20 years in the industry and a delivery capability allowing a fully integrated service for clients , Meldrum Group continues to go from strength to strength .
A rash of new appointments leave Meldrum well-placed for an exciting future .
The Teesside-based group ’ s turnover for 2022 was close to £ 50m and the launch of a new operating company , Meldrum Fire Engineering , added fire protection to an already substantial delivery capability .
Ayden Booth , group strategic development director , was appointed to the group board after working with the company for more than seven years , most recently as construction commercial manager .
He believes his and the other appointments are “ reflective of the business growing , and of increased accountability and planning for the future .”
He said : “ It shows strength in depth and trust in our existing team that all the staff members who ’ ve been promoted are existing members of staff .
“ Historically , we ’ re a contractor who builds projects which others have developed . We now want to move into the development space ourselves and not just be the builder for other people – and part of my role will be to grow that side of the business while also providing commercial support across the group .
“ Our ambition is to be the contractor
74 | Tees Business of choice across the North-East with a reputation for quality and integrity . These appointments mean we are putting talented individuals in very senior places to help us achieve that ambition .”
As well as Ayden ’ s new role , Steve Smith has been promoted to group preconstruction director after 10 years with the business , having joined as a trainee quantity surveyor in 2012 and working his way up to , most recently , group pre-construction manager . He is also appointed to Meldrum ’ s group board .
Ross Doherty , who joined in 2021 as head of Meldrum Building Services , has been promoted to operations director of Meldrum Building Services , Meldrum Group ’ s M & E delivery arm .
Meanwhile , Ben Szyman has been appointed as operations director for Meldrum Plant and Transport . The P & T arm has over £ 2.5m of plant and equipment which it hires out to Meldrum Group as well as to external companies . Jack Johnson , previously managing QS for Meldrum Construction , has been appointed as construction commercial director , while the civils commercial director role goes to Ian Glazinski – another internal promotion from his last role as civils commercial manager .
Finally , Paul Skelton has been promoted to operations director for a newly created operating company within the Meldrum Group brand – Meldrum Fire Engineering . MFEL will provide the design and installation of complex fire safety protection .
The group , which has also just released its 2022 accounts , is looking to the future with “ great confidence ”, say the new directors .
The group increased turnover from £ 26m in 2021 to £ 50m in 2022 . And while macro-economic pressures impacted gross margin , decreasing from 14 per cent to 11 per cent , the group managed to deliver a healthy net profit of £ 1.5m for the year .
Meldrum has been successful in securing a number of significant contracts , some of which stretch into their 2024 / 25 pipeline , ensuring the business is robust and sustainable . The company remains cash positive and has a strong credit rating , scoring 85 out of 100 in its D & B ( Dun & Bradstreet ) rating .
The report and rating confirm that , despite challenging headwinds faced by the construction industry and wider UK economy , Meldrum Construction Service Group is still regarded highly and should , the directors believe , provide some comfort to its current and potential clients and suppliers .
Despite the challenges , the board is confident that recent growth in turnover and profitability , combined with strong client relationships , means that Meldrum Group is well-placed to look to the future with great confidence , with many clients looking to place repeat business .