Bryant gave up his job as director of Bovis鈥� northern region to become managing director of Simons Construction, part of Simons Group. He will take control of the 拢108m-turnover construction division on 1 April, after only three months of meeting clients and familiarising himself with the business.
The Lincoln-based firm is owned by the Hodgkinson brothers, whose father founded it in 1944. But Philip and Paul have decided to step back from the day-to-day running of the construction business, leaving Bryant as the first non-family member to take charge.
Moving into a family firm may seem like a potential minefield, but if he is nervous, Bryant is not showing it. Like any good politician, he makes what might be perceived as a disadvantage sound like a plus. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 easy to negotiate and work with one master 鈥� the family 鈥� rather than working with the City and having to appease many masters,鈥� he says.
Bryant may talk like a practised spin doctor but he can鈥檛 help sounding eager about moving into Paul Hodgkinson鈥檚 office: 鈥淚鈥檓 going to put up my own pictures of projects I鈥檝e worked on and give it a lick of paint.鈥� The brothers want Bryant, a silver medallist in the Chartered Institute of 好色先生TV鈥檚 building manager of the year award, to be more than a caretaker, so you would expect the new man to have ambitious plans. But he plays his cards close to his chest, insisting he does not want to change anything, but intends to 鈥済row the business鈥� and do more of what the firm is good at: 鈥淚鈥檓 keen to keep up our high proportion of partnering, yes, but not to chase turnover.鈥� Ultimately, though, he wants to help double workload to 拢200m, and says he is more than capable of doing so.
Following the December takeover of Nottingham contractor Wright Construction, Bryant also wants to strengthen the company鈥檚 regional base. The 40-year-old north Londoner is obviously looking forward to making an impact. Since taking the job, he says he has woken up every morning feeling 鈥渟upercharged鈥�.
All this is a long way from his early years in the industry. He started, in 1974, as a trainee on 拢6.50 a week at the Hertfordshire College of 好色先生TV in St Albans. Then came an apprentice carpenter鈥檚 job at Laing, where he progressed to general foreman, then project manager. In 1988, he joined Bovis as project director on developments including the City of London鈥檚 拢80m 55 Bishopsgate and the 拢120m Harlequin Centre in Watford. He moved on to become regional director of Bovis Midlands, then Bovis North 鈥� where he was in charge of Glasgow鈥檚 拢150m-plus Braehead project 鈥� before he caught the Hodgkinsons鈥� eye.
Bryant spent six years studying part-time for a building qualification, but doesn鈥檛 regret taking the longer route into management, insisting: 鈥淚 enjoyed every minute of it.
鈥淲orking on site teaches you respect for everyone in the industry. You learn from everyone and you treat everyone equally. You learn there鈥檚 always a better way to do things.鈥� He says working for Bovis is a good pedigree to have, but likes the idea of running a smaller outfit: 鈥淭here are things you can only do when you are in the driving seat and you don鈥檛 have to seek someone else鈥檚 authority.
鈥淭hey [the Hodgkinsons] offered me a lot of things I wanted in my career, not least of which was to prove to myself that, as well as running a business successfully within a group, I could run a business successfully on its own. That was very much how it came about.鈥� Bryant鈥檚 long-term ambition is to see Simons win a bigger share of the construction market: 鈥淭he company has the capability to box above its weight. It鈥檚 more than capable of doing more than it does today.鈥� As for young Tobias鈥� ambition, Bryant smiles: 鈥淚鈥檝e advised him that being a stuntman is probably not the safest thing to be involved in. He鈥檒l do what he wants to. But I鈥檒l tell him what I think of construction: it鈥檚 a great career.鈥�
