{"id":11454,"date":"2021-07-14T11:31:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T10:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/?p=11454"},"modified":"2022-01-06T09:48:03","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T09:48:03","slug":"constructing-a-niche-how-an-mba-friendship-inspired-our-collaboration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/2021\/07\/constructing-a-niche-how-an-mba-friendship-inspired-our-collaboration\/","title":{"rendered":"Constructing a Niche: How an MBA Friendship Inspired our Collaboration"},"content":{"rendered":"

In January 2021 the<\/strong> Research and Innovation Services <\/strong><\/a>at the University of Kent launched the<\/strong> Recovery Innovation Fund,<\/strong><\/a> this fund aims to support businesses to innovate and grow by facilitating knowledge exchange via academic collaborations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Construction Management<\/strong> experts Myles Brett and Mark Evans met whilst studying for an MBA in 2017. After graduating in 2019 they set up their partnership, CCM Construction Management Limited, <\/strong>a business whose remit is to offer pre-construction \u2018sanity checks\u2019 to construction projects, ensuring the right contractual and management arrangements are in place<\/strong>. They have applied for The Recovery Innovation Fund this year to launch a data analytics tool to measure construction delivery risks.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI embarked on an MBA with networking in mind,\u201d explains Mark, a former investment banker who has worked in the property industry for the last 10 years. \u201cKent Business School has an atmosphere of entrepreneurship, and many MBA students are self-employed. My view was to meet people with different but overlapping skills and to work innovatively.\u201d Myles, a chartered construction manager specialised in the commercial aspect of project delivery, became friends with Mark on the course as the pair worked together on many projects and presentations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started the MBA with to gain the skills to move to a directorship level in existing companies,\u201d says Myles. \u201cEqually I realised I could take the experience and knowledge and put them into my own business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both parties found the MBA was catalytic in developing business acumen and something that changed their insight.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it was an intense experience it was enjoyable,\u201d says Myles. \u201cWith the MBA, I learned you have to change the way you work and learn to listen to other points of view. Having people from all over the world there, you have cultural differences too. The whole course was geared around opening your minds to global business practices and challenging us to think differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

With their shared interest and expertise in \u2018the built environment\u2019 the duo soon hit upon a business idea that filled a gap they knew existed within the building market.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyles kindly got me involved in some of his business projects, project managing work and the approach we were taking has become the basis for our longer-term business model,\u201d says Mark. \u201cThere is a lack of accessibility to professional construction management services, particularly for getting the right contractual arrangements in place and managing risks effectively for smaller to mid-size project owners. We launched CCM Construction Management Ltd to do just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The business partners have experienced success upon launch utilising their contacts and experience to attract clients from all over the Southeast, including handling contracts for high end residential, commercial and heritage projects from \u00a30.5m – \u00a35m.<\/p>\n

\u201cLarge scale businesses will have contracts in place, but in the domestic market, it can be hit and miss,\u201d explains Myles. \u201cPeople want to be informed but sometimes don\u2019t know where to start. We take them through the risks and look at the potential of putting arrangements into place to avoid these. This has included putting the contractual arrangements into place for a bespoke self-build project, planning and managing the work, advising on and avoiding key delivery risks.<\/p>\n

Innovative Heights<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While the pair are basking in the success of their collaborative thus far, it is with the help of the Recovery Innovation Fund that they wish to move up to innovative heights. The pair applied for the funding after working together with Dr Lina Simeonova<\/a>, Lecturer in Operations at KBS and TIME<\/a> member on a data analytics tool that measures the risks in construction projects and incorporate them into a model. The tool, which is almost completed, will provide a decision support system for project owners and quantitively define benefit for following a specific delivery path. They won funding in January 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tool will output an optimum delivery route and provide the basis for further conversation for an appropriate project confidence measure or risk approach to be developed,\u201d says Mark. \u201cThis is connected to concepts like the triple bottom line, where the time and money objectives of a project may also need to be balanced against metrics like Health and Safety or community deliverables.\u201d<\/p>\n

The construction management experts credit the MBA for helping them to develop this idea and giving them the confidence to push the boundaries in an industry they describe as \u2018behind the curve\u2019 in terms of innovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project came specifically from the Decision Making model within our MBA,\u201d explains Mark. \u201cWe also utilise operational approaches that we learned about on the MBA.\u201d\u00a0\u2028\u201cIn general, the MBA boosted our professionalism which impacts everything you do,\u201d adds Myles.<\/p>\n

Once the project is complete, Mark and Myles want to develop the tool to connect to sustainability in procurement, wider feasibility and valuation methods. With a prototype in place, it may also become possible to build and back test future project data to continually improve and work on future projects in collaboration with the University.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur MBA helped us to focus on what is the key thing we deliver of value,\u201d Myles continues. \u201cThat is the contractual arrangements, and this risk model will help deliver that in a\u00a0robust and innovative way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Click here for more<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>information on<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>our<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Recovery Innovation Fund.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Visit<\/strong> our MBA page <\/a><\/strong>for more on our<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>course.<\/strong><\/p>\n

See<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>Construction Contract Specialists \u2013 <\/strong>CCM Construction Management Ltd <\/strong>(ccmconstructionmanagement.com)<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>for more information on Mark and Myles\u2019 business.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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