Profile - Tan Khan: There's a lot of work to do, says man who sees new opportunities

THE challenges for Sheffield will ring true for many cities in northern England. A slump in the 1980s, followed by piecemeal growth in the 1990s and a cultural and economic flourishing in the first decade of this century.

Now the upward curve of regeneration, which has taken in a strengthening of the business community, smarter schools and hospitals and larger universities, might come to a juddering halt because of the hole in the public finances. Anyone with a passing interest in what makes a city thrive might be forgiven for feeling overwhelmed by gloom.

That's not the case for Tan Khan, however. This relaxed man, the Pakistan-born boss of Capita Symonds in Yorkshire who is in love with his adopted city, says there are still opportunities for Sheffield despite the chill surrounding public spending.

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He sees some of the outlying areas of the city as ripe for development and wants to see more homes built at a reasonable price.

"We have seen redevelopment in the main city. There is potential in the peripheral areas – the south-west and the east. It used to be heavy steel industry and they are the areas that need to be regenerated. That will mean industry and new jobs and affordable housing."

Mr Khan, whose family moved to the city in 1962, recognises that the scale of heavy manufacturing witnessed in his childhood cannot be recaptured. He says South Yorkshire has to have more of an industrial mix, citing green business, cultural industries and media such as the digital campus – and wants to be involved in that process, as he has been for so long with Capita Symonds.

"I am from Sheffield so what happens here is important to me. We have seen the business grow from a small fragmented nature to a major multi-disciplinary player. We have a strong base in Sheffield. We have played an active part in the regeneration of Sheffield. I know so many key people because I have been here so long. That has helped quite a bit."

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Mr Khan, 52, has been working in and learning about engineering and building in Sheffield for nearly 30 years.

He studied civil and structural engineering at the city's Hallam university and had spells working in Blackburn and Manchester before returning to Sheffield. He became a chartered civil engineer in 1986 and a chartered structural engineer three years later, before joining Capita Symonds in 1996.

Now, having been regional director for nearly three years, he is responsible for operations in the north of England, particularly in Sheffield and Birmingham.

He has carried out projects in health, education and residential property and has worked on the Government-supported Procure 21 – a procurement method for publicly funded NHS capital schemes – which has seen new hospitals built in St Helens, Merseyside, and Wakefield in partnership with Interserve, the maintenance and construction group.

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Since then, Mr Khan admits Capita has had to focus on the long-term and "cut its cloth" to the economic climate. Surely the days of big-ticket health and education developments have been consigned to history? Not so, he believes. "They have been a major source of our income for years. While there may be some public spending cuts in Government we feel we should remain quite active in that area. It should form a significant part of our new-business.

"We feel a lot more confident than we did even six months ago. We feel we are getting more and more positive feedback and new business inquiries", he says, and points to Land Securities' recent claim that it is re-investing in the office and residential markets.

Such confident talk isn't just bravado on the part of Mr Khan, who also cites housing associations and the future need to make new non-domestic properties zero carbon, as sources of future work.

Last week, Capita Symonds put its money where its mouth is and snapped up healthcare consultancy Inventures. The Bath-based firm, which has offices in Leeds, London and Birmingham and more than 100 consultants, provides project management, property and estate management and healthcare planning to the NHS and other public sector bodies.

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Inventures, which will keep its name, has carried out reviews of high-profile projects including the London 2012 Olympics, Crossrail and the new Wembley stadium. It also provides advice to 125 NHS organisations, including Barnsley NHS Trust.

Mr Kahn said: "The deal is clearly a recognition of the opportunities available in a slump. Britain has emerged, narrowly, from recession but no-one knows how the nation's finances will look in a year's time."

It is when moving away from Capita Symonds, and talking about the economy as a whole, that Mr Khan sounds a bit more pessimistic. "We are burdened with lots of heavy financial debt and it will be difficult to recover that position very quickly. We are seeing inroads to reducing that debt. We need to build and maintain growth in the economy and cut the burden."

When asked if he was worried, Mr Khan says: "It is a global economy so decisions made far away have an immediate impact on UK business",

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which reflects the effect which deals done on stock exchanges in Manhattan or Mumbai have.

For Mr Khan, however, there is still enough going on in Sheffield, and the prospect of more to come, for him to concentrate on what goes on there.

He says he is proud of what he has achieved – having previously been shortlisted in the Lloyds TSB Jewel Awards, which celebrate the success of Asian people in Britain – but insists "there is a lot of work to do".

TAN KHAN

Title: regional director, Capita Symonds

Date of birth: June 11, 1957

First job: Summer job cleaning kilns at British Steel in Scunthorpe

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Education: BSc Civil and Structural Engineering, Sheffield Hallam University

Favourite holiday destination: Kuala Lumpur

Car driven: Mercedes

Favourite film: Avatar

Last book read: To Kill A Mocking Bird

Most proud of: My children