Staff Interview
Name
Bob Boal
Job title
Director Amey/MOD
Department/Division
Operations - Amey
Date of joining CLC February 2014
Based Catterick
Bob Boal, Divisional Director, has headed up CLC’s Division 32 - working with Amey and the MOD - for 12 years, since he joined CLC. With 40 years in the building industry, primarily in response, voids, and refurbishment across MOD estates, Bob says: “I joined CLC’s Leeds Division as a break from the MOD. But somehow the MOD seems to have a magnet - it keeps dragging me back.” He works primarily from the Catterick branch – but he and his team cover the width and breadth of the UK.
We asked him to tell us more about this recently-renewed prestigious Defence contract with Amey:
Can you start us off with some basics Bob, for those of us not fully in the picture yet? Who is Amey, and what is CLC’s relationship with them?
Amey is the main contractor, the principal contractor, to the defence infrastructure, whether you are building you’re building
an aircraft carrier, a nuclear submarine or you’re working on MOD properties. Amey is also a Tier 1 supplier to the government.
So, our relationship with Amey on the MOD works is: they are the principal contractor and
we are part one of their Tier 1 supply chain. We are at the very top of the tree, almost bordering on a partnering arrangement.
And what do we do for them? We work on 12,500 married quarters in over 20 English counties and
two Welsh counties. providing maintenance and refurbishment to the Ministry of Defence Services Family Accommodation (SFA) homes.
What kind of properties do we work on? Properties vary, they range from a one or twobedroom flat, through to a small house or a 9-bedroom mansion. They are all domestic dwellings, homes to Services families.
Who gets the mansion? The Colonel? A General or Equivalent on the Air Force/ Navy.
What’s the scope of works? It’s extensive. It includes building works, painting, flooring and all carpets, grounds works, roofing, doors and windows and EWI installations and gas testing and electrical compliance.
I believe Voids works are a big part of this – and perhaps lots of Axis and even CLC people don’t realise what a big part. Can you tell us more? Yes, we also make 2,500 void properties ready for new service families each year – sometimes at the rate of 107 per week.
Why so many Voids? Because the British Army will generally move people on every five years. These can be big unit moves. They always take place during school holidays for obvious reasons.
Next year, there’s one move of 175 families. We’ll probably have a week to prepare and move families in, and those families are generally on a plane or a truck to their quarters. And you can’t suddenly turn a plane round if they’re coming from Cyprus or Germany!
And we’ve just renewed this very important contract? Yes, CLC’s 11-year contract with Amey has just been renewed to March 2029. I can’t reveal the value for obvious reasons, but I think it’s true to say it’s the second-largest contract in CLC’s portfolio in monetary value.
I think one of the interesting things is, if you go back 12 years, we used to probably invoice them something about £1,200 a month and we’re now talking multi millions per month.
Were you confident the contract would be renewed. Or were you biting your fingernails a bit? The contract will always be renewed whilst I’m sat here. As long as you deliver, you will get the contract renewed. So yes, I knew it was going to get renewed. It was getting the signature because of the approval process in Amey – they are private equity owned like we are – so the approval process, the signing off process at that value was quite detailed.
What’s it like working for Amey? This contract doesn’t take any prisoners. You’ve got to perform, like any other contract. But if you don’t perform, it will go to the Houses of Parliament. It’s that it’s treated in that level.
What’s the secret of our/ your success? A good team delivering an excellent service, uninterrupted for 12 years. I just happen to head up the team with a bit of knowledge. I don’t do the work.
Too modest! Can I ask you this personal question, then? What are you most proud of? This is a good question. I’m really
proud of developing a young team to take over in the future. I think 50% of my commercial and 50% of my senior managers are female. And I’m extremely proud of that because I don’t think they’ve been given the opportunity in this industry as much as they would have done in other industries. And they certainly have the talent.
So, at the moment, 50% of my commercial team are attending college and they are all young females with families, and they’ve managed to go through their first two years of college and they’re going to university.
And I am very proud of fact we employ 26% of ex serving personnel or their spouses in my division. I don’t think it’s well known, even in CLC, that CLC signed the Armed Forces Covenant and I honour the principles of it, and so do my team. So, we’ll help develop exservice personnel and help the spouses too.
Team members mentioned in dispatches?!
John Fenton - Divisional Manager East Anglia/South Central
Amy Kellary - Response Manager - North & Yorkshire
Kimberley Davidson - Void Manager - North & Yorkshire
Zoe Atkins - Response Manager
Gary Reeve - Billable Works Manager - Central
Paul Manning - Contracts Manager (Central)
Lee Kavanagh - Contracts Manager (North)
Commercial Teams led by Andrew and Adam.
What are your future goals for your Division? To broaden our delivery across multiple suppliers without losing the focus on Amey, which is obviously our number one client. We do very little work for Vivo Defence, Vinci or Babcock. Part of my role is to develop relationships in other areas of the MOD. I’ve got the full support of the Group board to do this.
Your thoughts on the merger of Axis and CLC. The merger opens tremendous opportunities for people who want to develop. As the young team in in my division develop, I think there’ll be lots of opportunities across the group from. It’s a real positive.
Personal things that matter to you? Anyone who knows me knows I am an English Rugby Union supporter - I travel all over the world and rarely miss an England home or away game in the Six Nations. And my second hobby is following Golden Eagles and White-tailed eagles in Scotland.