NG Bailey top man hires outsourcing chief from old firm

Sean Wickens is the first major hire of new chief executive David Hurcomb, who joined the Ilkley-based business six months ago.

Mr Hurcomb, a former board director at Carillion, has tasked his new recruit with business development across the £500m-turnover group.

Mr Wickens, who will report directly to the chief executive, said: “NG Bailey is a leader in its field with a fantastic reputation.

“I am delighted to have joined the business and look forward to introducing NG Bailey into some new and exciting markets where there are clear opportunities for growth.”

He was previously business development director at Carillion’s planned maintenance division.

One of his priorities at NG Bailey will be to develop a public sector outsourcing business.

“Local government are looking to respond to work out how they deliver their services more effectively and more cost-effectively,” Mr Hurcomb said.

“Certain councils will go out to the market and look to outsource their buildings maintenance.

“A lot have big buildings and very large estates and they will currently employ a lot of in-house resource.

“They will come to the market and seek to get efficiencies by saying ‘that’s currently costing us £5m a year – could we do it for £4m with a private contractor?’

“All the big players have been out there talking about it, the Sercos, Carillions and Capitas of this world. They are all licking their lips, ready for this.”

Mr Hurcomb estimated that the total market for public sector outsourcing is worth £60bn, of which up to £5bn is accessible to NG Bailey.

“We think we could get towards £100m of that, given time,” he added. “It will be a slow burn because local authorities will take their time to get to the market.

“Some won’t want to go, because that’s the nature of some of the politics and local government but we are very excited about that.”

Mr Wickens will also be responsible for maintaining NG Bailey’s position in markets in which it currently operates.

He started his career as an electrical engineering apprentice and has since has held senior commercial roles for companies including PME, Emcor UK, Davis Langdon and most recently, Carillion.

He joins NG Bailey at a challenging time. The family-owned business – one of Yorkshire’s largest – saw turnover fall by almost a quarter in 2009-10 from £600m to £464m.

Mr Hurcomb, speaking last month, warned that the construction industry was going through its own double-dip recession.

He has outlined plans to diversify the business into areas such as nuclear, ICT and rail to reduce the group’s reliance on the building market.