Tell us about your time at Terra Tek (which is now Igne’s construction materials and laboratory testing arm) 

I was a school leaver when I joined what was Terra Tek as a junior technician.  It’s funny to be back working with Davie (David McGiff, Head of Geotechnical Laboratories); as he was the one to train me up originally. 

I worked for him for roughly six years and developed and advanced my skills and experience.  I started off as junior technician and worked my way up to site supervisor. 

At this point, I left to work for a competitor on the Olympic Park in London and ended up running the site team there for four years.

Where then? 

I had always had an ambition to work overseas and initially I headed to Australia - en route to Africa.  I embraced these foreign adventures to develop my skills while making a discernible difference to local infrastructure.

What did you get up to in Australia? 

I travelled the country widely, and in terms of work, I was mainly in sewage in Victoria…

Oh, good grief.  Let’s move on to – Africa – what happened there? 

I worked on two challenging but very different infrastructure projects in West Africa.

In Sierra Leone, my work supported an iron ore mining project.  We constructed and staffed on site laboratories enabling the construction of a railway from the mine to the port. 

Then in Senegal, I was supporting an extensive dredging operation.  The client was an Australian company dredging the mineral rich sands for zircon for export.  My role facilitated the construction of the rail and road network required to move the minerals.

The two nations have incredible variance in terms of weather, geology, and the natural environment.  Sierra Leone is tropical and lush, and you have two months where it practically rains constantly.  This means you’re working in high temperatures with extreme humidity. 

We were working with laterite, a rusty red soil rich in iron oxide, this was a new material for me, and the main geology was challenging to reproportion to make it work for our construction ambitions.

The contrast when I moved to work in Senegal was huge.  There we were working in searing temperatures in an arid, dry landscape, constructing with and on sand.  We had to develop water boreholes to wet the sand to gain proper compaction. 

There were so many environmental and geological considerations that you wouldn’t get in the UK.  I learned so much. 

What was next for you after Africa? 

Working on the new Forth Crossing in Scotland through the harsh winter in temperatures that dropped to minus 12oc!  We were working around the clock pouring concrete in all conditions and it took me months to reacclimatise.

Fast forward to now, you’ve advanced through your career, progressing naturally with experience and excellence.  Why are you moving away from being hands on? 

I have spent the vast majority of my career in operations, but the part I enjoyed the most was liaising direct with clients either on-site, face to face or virtually.  For the best part of 20 years I’ve been looking after clients, undertaking the testing on their sites, understanding the kind of challenges they face in many types of environments.  So, moving into business development is a natural transition. 

I go and speak to these guys and can talk their language.  I understand what their considerations are, and I can look at what they need to implement in terms of an earthworks specification, or a temporary laboratory set up, or how their materials testing is going to work practically on their site.  And then I can provide them with significant added value based on my long-standing experience as a hands-on technician.

To support my transition into this side of the business I went back to university and completed a business and enterprise degree.  The enterprise part was heavily focused on entrepreneurship - setting up a new business and growing it.  There was a lot of focus on working effectively with clients.  To expand a business, you need to know how to speak to your client base.  How can you resolve problems for them and come up with solutions they will actually benefit from? 

This is where I fit.

Let’s address the elephant in the room shall we.  Peter Godfrey… 

Ah, well, Pete was in business development at Socotec as was I.  We focused on different regions, worked closely, shared clients and got on very well.

When I heard he’d left I just knew it was for an interesting move and so I’ve kept an eye on him and what he’s been building at Igne.

When the opportunity came to join him and reconnect with David McGiff, my mentor in the early days, for me from a sales and business development perspective I was immediately sold.  I have absolute confidence in the operational delivery at Igne because of the people around Pete and Davie.

To be successful in my role, I must have the best people delivering operationally – just look at the team!  You’ve got Darren [Darren Berrill AKA the King of Concrete] and Ryan [Ryan Hobson, Field Services Manager] for example.  They are really good operational guys who have a comprehensive handle on how to do things right first time every time for the client. 

It simply makes my job easier to know these guys are a part of the team.  The services will sell themselves by reputation.

Apart from letting the services sell themselves, what are your ambitions for your role at Igne?

Fundamentally I will assist ops in providing our client base with a reliable robust service so they know when it comes to materials testing, Igne is the company they want to use.

We plan to grow exponentially and keep adding to the multitude of services we offer.  But we’re all acutely aware we must ensure the service level for our clients never diminishes as a result. 

Therefore, we will all be working tirelessly to ensure we maintain that exceptional level of service as we grow the business.

I can’t wait to get out and about, meet all our existing clients and find out what they need now from us, and what’s coming up for them.  And of course, there is a lot of work to do in meeting new clients who haven’t heard of us yet or who aren’t sure of what we do and where we are.

I’ll be focusing on understanding client needs and building new relationships.

Who are you when you’re not at Igne?

I’m a happily married man to my wife Louise, and we share with 2 sons – there’s Brody who is 9 and Kyan who is about to turn 5.  As my wife is a theatre nurse who works long shifts, you can imagine how busy I am with the boys! 

 

We do everything together – but if I get 5 minutes downtime, I like watching and attending sporting events in particular football, boxing and horse racing.  As a family we often enjoy a weekend away in nature, hiking and hill walking...sometimes.

I used to be a bit of a thrill seeker having dived the depths of the ocean in various locations and jumped out of a few planes, my risk appetite has lessened a bit with fatherhood and maturity but I do like to partake in a bit of cold water exposure and was recently in the Atlantic sea on boxing day off the West coast of Scotland, not for the faint hearted.

Slightly mad!  Final word then, goes to Pete who has brought Ross on over to Igne to join his inimitably fabulous team

"Ross is the perfect person to spearhead the Igne laboratory sales initiative. His extensive technical expertise across various disciplines will greatly benefit our clients demanding project needs. Moreover, his positive approach to simplifying construction materials testing for clients ensures a smooth experience throughout the entire process. He’s also a team player who knows the importance of the ‘sales’ & ‘ops’ collaborative approach to making a laboratory successful."

Want to join the team too?  We're recruiting!