In Conversation With…Tim Bishop, Commercial Director at McCarrick Construction

Tim Bishop, Commercial Director at McCarrick Construction

Tell us about McCarrick Construction and what your role is there.

Well, this is one of the few family-run construction contractors in the North East that can genuinely say they're still managed by the original family. Matthew is the third generation at the helm – his father Michael retired in 2014 although he still comes into the office now and then. Matthew has a strictly commercial background, as have I, and it's no coincidence that the company has pivoted from residential to commercial contracting since Matthew arrived. I joined in 2019, relocating from an eighteen-year position in the Highlands of Scotland. McCarrick Construction is based in North Durham which is positively metropolitan in comparison. 

It sometimes feels we are fighting on all fronts, as are most construction SMEs at the moment, with increasing burdens of inflation, instability, quality administration, staying abreast of technological or digital advances and the usual ups and downs of project and people management. That said, we are always busy, we treat our supply chain well and are highly respected regionally, which goes some considerable way to make my job easier as Commercial Director. I am involved from bid process to finished job and beyond, not simply to record costs after they occur but to maintain a live commercial environment that continuously measures committed cost, forecast final cost, earned value, and margin erosion throughout the project lifecycle, while providing an excellent and reliable service to our clients in keeping with the company's reputation and objectives.

What projects is the company currently undertaking?

We’re at snagging stage at a disabled children's respite home and a doctor’s surgery. We have just handed over a superb gas and electric training facility and a replacement viewing roof in the media centre at a sportsground. We are starting a school extension with a new classroom and various internal renovations and we're extensively refurbishing an RFCA training centre on a project that will go through to March 2027. Our order books are full to bursting for the summer with schools requiring new classrooms, SEND spaces, reconfigurations for Early Years settings, washroom renovations, window and door replacement programmes, cafeteria refurbishments and more. This has been hard won with pre-contract work focused on pricing, risk management and the ever-increasing supporting documentation required for our tender returns.

Which areas of the UK does your company operate within?

We're on the Durham, North Tyne and Sunderland County Council frameworks, as well as NEPO, which represents 12 county councils. We've been known to carry out works as far south as Redcar and as far north as Morpeth but, mostly, we're within around 30 miles of our head office and yard in Chester-le-Street. 

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities facing the construction sector?

Without a doubt, the skills gap is having an impact already – it used to be that in construction, if you can do it and do it reasonably well, you will get reasonably rewarded for it. That's been a less reliable maxim recently but with the predicted job losses from AI adoption and the current NEETs crisis we might see a reversal of that in coming years, although we'll struggle to train them because the generation with the skills and experience to train the new recruits is now retiring. Also, the skilled management jobs – recently, recruiting a QS to cover a retirement, has taken six months-plus, which is not ideal. 

Inflation is being felt everywhere – insulation went up 1.5 weeks after the Middle East crisis began, and other petroleum-based products have seen similar jumps in price. Products that require a lot of energy to produce will be next – concrete, gypsum... we are now in talks with our clients to discuss ways of mitigating these cost pressures.

What can be done to bridge the skills gap in the construction sector?

Well, in terms of 'how will we manage', we're already doing it. In the last decade we've begun to buy in specialist items that used to be made or built in-situ by joiners or bricklayers with time-served skills. It's too hard to find all those skills in one person now, so we're designing and costing buildings with ready-made products – staircases, chimney stacks etc. But how to entice young people to the sector? If the predictions are correct, we may have a ready supply of labour in coming years. In fact, we don't have a shortage of apprentices – we had 80 applications for our last intake of four apprentices. The problem is more about capacity and how to train them. Organisations like our client, JTL Training are looking at that already – we've just completed its gas and electrical training facility in Gateshead, which will provide simulations of real-world work for young apprentices – it's great to see.

You are a member of Northern Counties Builders Federation. How does being aligned to a sector body support McCarrick Construction?

Matthew McCarrick represents the company for the NCBF and it is essential to be able to meet and share experiences with other organisations within our region and industry. Our participation enables us to identify industry trends, flag up the impact of policy change or some of the broader economic and social issues that affect all our businesses. Without doing this we would be unable to collectively work on correcting or improving them. So, it's to the betterment of everyone in the industry, really. 

What’s your proudest business achievement? 

In terms of high-profile projects, while working in Scotland I managed a job at The Castle of Mey, the Queen Mother's holiday retreat – a challenging and rewarding project, as was the care home in Westray, one of the outer Orkney islands. We had to hire a boat for that one. A recent project I'm particularly pleased to have contributed to is the Young Adult's Accommodation block at St Oswalds Hospice in Gosforth. It was very satisfying to be part of a scheme which will significantly improve the experiences of the young people using it and their families.