June brings with it lots of excitement – the sun is here and holidays are on the horizon.

However for us at Quantum Solutions, June means something even more important – our Managing Director Richard has officially worked as a Quantity Surveyor for 25 years this month!

We’re taking time to celebrate this amazing achievement and looking back at his journey from starting out in the industry to starting his own consultancy company. It’s been great looking back at all that’s developed over the years, and consider the exciting achievement still to come!

1. How did you get started in quantity surveying?

At school, I was good with numbers and a bit of a negotiator, some skills that are quite well suited in Quantity Surveying.

I have three older brothers and two of them also qualified in Quantity Surveying however worked in different areas of construction. Seeing what they did in their job role interested me and I always liked the idea of being on-site and assisting the team to construct and complete exciting construction projects.

2. Describe your journey from being a quantity surveyor to starting your own practice. What motivated you to take this step, and what challenges did you face along the way?

Throughout the early stages of my career I was very fortunate to become involved with some very high profile and exciting projects such as Kier Builds Hairmyres Hospital project in East Kilbride (£67m), the first PFI Hospital built in Scotland, and Dandara’s Glasgow Harbour Development (£40m).

As a young graduate in 1998, I was put on a fast-track Kier graduate training programme which led onto a senior management programme. Combining this structured training with working on high profile projects allowed me to gain fantastic experience and gained four promotions over a 7 year period.

Between 2007 – 2009, I was given the opportunity to become part of a team to set up a new residential developer & contracting business called Imagine Projects. I fulfilled the role of Commercial Manager and in the first year we had to set up all new commercial, procurement and finance systems capable of administering 4 projects which were completed in the first year with a combined value of approximately £10m.

This was a challenge however in 2008, a more serious and worldwide problem took grip when the country went into a major recession. It was clear that Imagine Projects was finding it impossible to start any new residential developments and prior to the business closing, I decided to set up Quantum Solutions, a Quantity Surveying & Project Management consultancy company.

I have never been afraid or avoided any challenge throughout my life.  At the age of 10 I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and had to always adapt and work hard to manage and overcome the affects of my condition. Between 1996 – 2003, I also underwent various major operations and my consultant surgeon at the time said “Your teens and twenties had some rough times but you were always resolutely positive even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.”

This ethos is who I am.  I don’t use problems that I encounter as an excuse not to succeed, I only look at solutions and what needs to be done to resolve any issue that may come up. The word “Solutions” contained in our business name therefore tells you something about me and the values of Quantum Solutions!

Since setting Quantum Solutions up in 2009, some 14 years ago, we have overcome a number of obstacles, learned a thing or two and feel very proud of our achievements.

We are only as good as the team around us, and Quantum has an amazing team!  We have a culture of professionalism, trust, motivation and innovation and we certainly live and breathe these values on a daily basis.

The impacts of the Covid pandemic in 2020 certainly were difficult to overcome however we adapted quickly and innovated new ways of developing and growing our business throughout this difficult period. We doubled our turnover last year and are on track to increase our turnover by an additional 50% over the next 12 months.  This a fantastic team achievement.

We are proud of what we have achieved so far and very excited about the next chapter in Quantum’s strategic growth.

3. With your extensive experience in the industry, what are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the field over the past 25 years? 

There have been a number of changes in the construction industry over the last 25 years.

Procurement and tendering approaches are certainly areas that we have seen a lot of change. Historically, traditional bills of quantities were used a lot on projects where contracts were set up on a re-measurable basis.

In our experience, this isn’t always a great way to protect the clients interest relating to managing the project efficiently and effectively.

For many years now more collaborative and innovative approaches are used such as construction management, two-stage tendering, direct negotiation and indeed NEC etc.  These newer approaches encourage the full team to work more collaboratively to allow the design to be balanced with the cost and for the contract to be commercially managed in a more structured manner.

It is also very positive to see a number of more modern and software driven approaches being implemented in construction which we harness on many of the projects we are involved with. When we co-ordinated our Building Banter networking events between 2010 – 2012, we focused on a number of these areas to amplify them to the wider audience.

Some of these existing developments are as follows:

  • Modern methods of construction including fully modular and highly pre-fabricated systems.
  • BIM (Building Information Modelling).
  • Data Management systems such as Viewpoint.
  • Virtual reality walk through / fly through videos.
  • Drone surveys.
  • And of course, Teams!

4. What’s a significant project you’ve worked on, and what part did you play in it? Which challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

We’ve worked on many significant projects which we have been proud to be involved with, however one which stands out for us is the Isle of Arran Distilleries project at Lagg, Arran.

When we are appointed on this £14m development in 2015, I was working for Quantum on my own and we had just invested and taken on new offices in Kilmarnock which we work out of to this day. This project was successfully constructed in three phases and completed over three years between February 2017 – June 2019.

We were appointed as the Quantity Surveyor and Project Manager for the development and had to quickly put forward a supporting design team and specialist consultants to deliver the project. This was a significant project for us as it allowed us to start building our core team around it and we had to really focus and resolve some key complex issues to keep moving the project forward with momentum.

We faced various challenges as a team but by working collaboratively and innovatively, we overcame any problem that presented itself.

An example of some of these challenges are as follows:

  • Project was situated on a remote location on the South of Arran.
  • All deliveries and trade contractors has to use the ferry on-going and stay in temporary accommodation / digs throughout the works.
  • There were no services on-site therefore a borehole was installed for the water source and an ecological sensitive sewerage treatment system installed.
  • The building was very modern with a variety of different materials being utilised such as a sedum blanket on the roof and different façade systems.
  • The distillery fit-out contract with Forsyths from Speyside was an MF/1 Mechanical Engineering contract. This was new to us and so we had to investigate and learn how to use it.

5. What’s your favourite part about what you do?

I really love working with my team and achieving great things! There is nothing better than working together to resolve a challenge and achieving the right result for our clients.

We really do like a challenge as this pushes us to think outside the box and work innovatively – you learn a lot when you are sometimes put outside your comfort zone.

In construction, there is always a great reward in being involved with a project from the very beginning, working hard to deliver it, looking at it when constructed and then seeing how the building operates to benefit the people that use it. When the Hairmyres Hospital project was completed in 2001, it felt great knowing that so many people would benefit from the newly constructed building.

6. As a professional in the field, what advice would you give to aspiring quantity surveyors? What qualities or skills do you think are essential for success in this profession – are there any lessons you have learned throughout your career that you would like to share?

Always be motivated, be professional, work hard and try your best at everything you do. Enjoy your work and social life of the job, build as many good contacts as you can and learn from everyone around you.

7. What are your plans and visions for the future of Quantum Solutions?

This will involve a number of developments, some of which are as follows:

  • Continue to enhance and elevate our office environment, creating great spaces for the team to learn, operate and have some fun. One of our projects for this year is to create a new flexible working room, modern meeting room and a team games room including a pool table and retro amusement machine!
  • Grow and strengthen our relationships with our valued clients.
  • Continue developing our input in some key sectors such as Distillery, Residential, Commercial and Modular Construction.
  • Harness and promote the use of more innovative and collaborative forms of procurement and tendering.
  • Be the best we can be and always provide our clients with the highest level of service possible!