Director Profiles

John Love had a very successful excavation company when he met Peter Williams
the previous owner of Parkstone Group.

Peter gave John the opportunity of joining Parkstone and bringing with him his
entire plant and workforce.

This gave John the opportunity to work on major projects for blue chip clients such
as Land Rover, Wilmot Dixon and Tilbury Douglas to name just a few. 

The prestigious redevelopment of the Bull Ring gave John the opportunity to
manage the two anchor store substructure packages of Selfridges and Debenhams.

With the gaining of these contracts the Parkstone Group's need for a Contracts Director became crucial. During this time John was responsible for a redevelopment project of Broadmead in Bristol for Sir Robert McAlpines albeit a predominantly an earthworks project yet still was completed in accordance with the clients programme and valued in excess of £7m.

In February of this year, John Love and his associate Finance Director Margaret Cattell, successfully completed a management buyout.

Looking forward Parkstone Group’s goal is to demonstrate that the company is well positioned to partner some major schemes. Using its past experience, versatility and the new management structure Parkstone is able to engage in most projects with mutually beneficial results.

‘Our approach moving forward will not be contractual moreover entitlement’

John is married and lives in South Birmingham with his wife and four children.

Working for major blue chip construction companies she has had a variety of senior financial positions spanning the last 21 years.

In the mid 80's she worked for Crest Nicholson Limited Homes Division shortly after their merger with Bristol based Pearce Construction.

After having her son she moved from Crest Nicholson Limited to Alfred McAlpine Homes Limited similarly after their merger with local property developer Canberra Homes Limited.

After a short break from the industry she returned in 1994 to Bovis Homes prior to their flotation and then onto Scottish based Morrison Building before moving to Parkstone in 2000 to head their financial team after the successful management buyout in July 2000 headed by Peter Williams.

Finally in February 2007 Margaret and her fellow director John Love acquired the shares of Parkstone Group Limited after their successful MBO.

Andrew is 37 years old, married, and although born and bred in the West Midlands, currently lives close to Sherwood Forest In Nottinghamshire.

His career in the construction industry began in 1988 when he joined AMEC as a trainee QS and since then, progressed through the ranks of both Wates and Skanska to the roles of surveying manager and commercial manager respectively, before joining Parkstone in early 2006.

Andrew achieved his MRICS status in 1996 and is also an assessor of the RICS APC assessment of professional competence scheme, a believer in the values of professional membership he is on course to become a fellow of the Institute during 2008.

During a career path which has included gaining a wide range of experience and expertise with companies such as Wates Construction Ltd, where he was appointed to the post of Surveying Manager in 2001 after cutting his teeth on numerous projects worth up to £30 m and most recently, Skanska Integrated Projects Ltd on a £300m PFI hospital.

Andrew states, “The scope of my expertise and experience includes a good mix of new build and refurbishment projects using the traditional forms of JCT, to the more recent and in my personal view, more preferable forms of PFI/PPP, Framework / Partnering, NEC and MPTC (max price target cost). The latter offers a more open and fair approach to the management of risk and opportunity, which, when combined with target cost incentivisation, provides a winning solution for all stakeholders. I firmly believe that more open and  collaborative working  is the only way forward, and the role of specialist sub-contractors is fundamental to making this work”.

Andrew joined The Parkstone group in March 2006 and as Commercial Director is committed to maintaining his passion for the Industry, its people and his friendships within it. One of his aims is to work with clients to really understand the advantages of  the Parkstone total service approach including our bringing to the table of Value Creation expertise in addition to that buzzword Value Engineering, that latter in his view  “should naturally occur as part of  good procurement process anyway, but  Value Creation is another animal altogether and this is where, as a specialist contractor, we can really make a difference”.

In his spare time, Andrew serves his local community as a Parish Councillor and enjoys socialising with his family and friends. Organic gardening is on his list of hobbies, as is Rugby Union Football, but unfortunately, as he puts it, “More of a spectator than a player these days!”.