Mace appoints Colin Harvey as Director for northern property business

Mace has appointed former Jaguar Land Rover executive Colin Harvey to lead its property consultancy business in Scotland and the North of England. The firm was moving to replace Steve Gillingham, who departed to lead the public sector business of Rider Levett Bucknall earlier in the year.

With the North of the UK seeing its property sector buoyed by numerous landmark projects including HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse initiative, consulting firms have pushed into the region in growing numbers. One firm which has been enjoying the yields of a Northern presence for some time already is Mace.

The construction and engineering consultancy currently boasts a headcount close to 100 staff across offices in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Hull and Edinburgh. While the firm has enjoyed consistent growth in the region, however, Mace was left with a gap to plug following the departure of its property business’ Director, Steve Gillingham. He left for professional services firm Rider Levett Bucknall earlier in the year, where he is now a Partner heading up its public sector business.

In order to reposition itself for an intensified property market in the North, Mace has brought in Colin Harvey to head up its 100-strong property consultancy business in Northern England and Scotland. Harvey has been at Jaguar since 2015, leading its UK property delivery team, which specialises in providing programme management, project management and cost management across the JLR non-manufacturing property and infrastructure estate.

Colin Harvey spent the first 16 years of his career with John Laing Construction, then 11 years with Bovis and seven years with Capita. Since 2015 he had been with Jaguar Land Rover as head of property programmes delivery, with a £1 billion construction portfolio. Prior to this, Harvey was employed by Capita’s property and infrastructure wing, where he was most recently Divisional Operations Director in its Design & Management Division. Building further expertise in the region, before this Harvey was a Managing Director in the UK’s North for Bovis Lend Lease, a firm where he spent more than a decade.

Commenting on his new role as Director for Mace’s Northern property business, Colin Harvey said, “I’ve watched the growth and development of Mace with admiration since the business was first established by some of my former Bovis colleagues many years ago. I can relate to the can-do attitude and the client-centric culture that has been adopted by Mace and helped to develop an impressive portfolio of significant projects throughout the country and around the world.”

Mark Holmes, chief operating officer for consultancy at Mace, added, “Colin has had an impressive career and has built an exceptional reputation in the British construction industry.”