Profile: Philip Hollister

This month marks Philip Hollister’s 50th year at Sheffield developer JF Finnegan. He spoke to Lizzie Murphy about the milestone.
Philip HollisterPhilip Hollister
Philip Hollister

Philip Hollister once challenged his staff to count the number of Finnegan projects in Sheffield city centre.

“Nobody even came close,” the chairman says. “And some of them had been with the company a long time. I don’t like to guess, but there are somewhere between 50 and 100 current buildings.”

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Sheffield-based Finnegans is responsible for some of the city’s most significant regeneration work as well as projects further afield, including Elizabeth House in Leeds which is a head office for law firm Clarion.

Projects in Sheffield include Sheffield City College, Sheffield Parkway Business Park, Commercial Street offices, Wards Exchange, Butcher Works and the award-winning Charles Street Q-Park, which was nicknamed the ‘cheesegrater’ by locals due to its jagged cubed exterior.

The car park has been described as the architectural equivalent of Marmite – residents either love it or hate it – but it was recently named the third coolest car park in the world.

Hollister, 67, admits he wasn’t convinced by the design at first but it’s now one of his favourite buildings.

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“I didn’t originally like it,” he says. “But it has grown on me and if someone asked me to pick out an iconic building I’d have to say that or Sheffield College.”

In addition to projects with cutting-edge design, Hollister likes working in historical buildings. “There are surprises,” he says. “In Butcher Works we discovered rooms we didn’t know were there and cutlery we didn’t know was in the basement because it had been filled in.

“The downside is that sometimes you find surprises you don’t want to see, such as problems with the roof.”

When I ask what is the most difficult project he’s been involved in, Hollister pauses. “Now that’s a tricky one,” he says. “They all differ in where the difficulties lie. Some of the listed buildings we’ve worked on have come with their difficulties.”

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He adds: “Sheffield City College was extremely difficult in logistical terms. We had 5,000 students in there while we were doing it.

“A lot of the work we do in Sheffield is challenging because of the old steelworks in the ground. But we’ve got pretty used to that now.” One of Finnegans’ biggest headaches at the moment is the proposed HS2 rail route, which runs through two of its sites – Woodhouse Link and development land at Sheffield Business Park.

“We’d like it moved slightly,” he sighs. “It runs right through the middle of a building we’ve just built, which Home Decor occupies, at Woodhouse Link.

“You get compensation, but at the moment the proposal sterilises the rest of the site. We’ve had one discussion with the company and we’ve got another one due at the end of September.”

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It comes after Finnegans, along with its competitors, has battled through what Hollister describes as the worst recession he’s ever experienced.

“This is the first time we’ve ever had a financial recession and the first time it’s been worldwide,” says Hollister. “Because of that, the prediction of when it might end is difficult.”

He adds: “I can never see us getting back to the heady days but if it can stabilise that’ll do for me.”

Finnegans was more fortunate than some of its competitors when the recession came, Hollister says, because it was “cash rich” and it had a good relationship with its bank.

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Even so, it had to slim its operations. The company was forced to stop developing speculatively and was hit with large bills for the empty properties it had already built.

“On one development we had 13 units, all under offer, but only one of them went through in the end,” he says. “I felt as sorry for the tenants as I did for us.”

Turnover plummeted from a height of £80m to £26m at its lowest point and there were some job losses, but the company, which currently employs about 86 staff, has since managed to pick the figure back up to about £40m.

“Things have stabilised, definitely,” says Hollister. “I noticed it about 12 months ago in South Yorkshire because of the manufacturers. A lot of our empty properties filled up.”

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The company is adapting to a new role as a landlord. “We were always a trader in the past. We got buildings occupied and then we sold them and now we draw rent because the investment market hasn’t left London yet,” he says.

Meanwhile, Finnegans has just built a new sleeper factory in Doncaster, which will produce hundreds of thousands of concrete sleepers needed for Network Rail’s programme of track improvement works.

Other projects include an elliptical-shaped headquarters in Penistone for James Durrans and Sons, a new teaching block at Chesterfield College and the Sheffield Wednesday community sports centre.

Earlier this year it completed a letting deal with Royal Mail for a large distribution centre at the Magna 34 business park in Rotherham for its expanding Parcelforce business.

Hollister describes Finnegans as “a big family”.

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“Right from the lady who mashes the tea to me, we’re all in it together,” he says.

But last year, he decided to take a step back from the day-to-day running of the business and promoted Gary Smith to managing director.

“I think it’s been an easy transition for everyone else but for me it’s been difficult because I don’t get to know everything that happens now,” he says.

Hollister still remembers his first day at the company, which is based on the same site at Eccleshall Road, in 1963. “I was 17 and I was frightened to death,” he says.

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He worked his way up from trainee quantity surveyor. “The amount I learned about the construction industry working on my first job at a Catholic school is more than I’ve ever learned since,” he says.

He adds: “Technology has made the industry far different. People don’t want quality now, they want, quick cheap and replaceable.

“That’s what life’s like now, it’s just different. Some of the advances in technology are fantastic but there are downsides.”

Sheffield-born Hollister still lives in the city with his wife, Rosemary. They have two grown-up children and a two-year-old granddaughter. He describes himself as a “sports fanatic” and still plays tennis and racquetball every week.

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However, despite taking a step back from the company, the Sheffield Wednesday fan has no plans to retire, although he insists he doesn’t want to outstay his welcome.

“I think you can work too long and it restricts other people but at the moment I still enjoy my work,” he says.

“I love looking at some of the buildings we’ve built and thinking I’ve been part of making that happen.”

Philip Hollister Factfile

Title: Chairman of JF Finnegan

Date of birth: May 20, 1946

Education: Jordanthorpe Secondary Modern School in Sheffield; Sheffield Technical College

First job: Trainee quantity surveyor at Finnegans

Favourite holiday destination: Cyprus

Favourite film: Any James Bond film

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Favourite song: Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen

Last book read: The Sins of the Father, by Jeffrey Archer

Car driven: Jaguar XJ

Most proud of: My family and the company I work for

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