Q&A with...Niall McCamphill
Wednesday, 4 August 2021
It's our team that makes Dowds what it is – something that hasn't changed since our incorporation over forty years ago. We take any opportunity to talk about our team, and we recently sat down with our Client Development Manager, Niall McCamphill.
Niall helps to develop our opportunity pipeline and client relationships across the UK and ROI. Along with the leadership teams of each division, he develops and manages a system which ties in with the individual strategies of each department.
Tell us a bit about yourself and how you found yourself in this role.
My background is diverse from running my own company that specialised in fire protection, project managing for a large London based fit out company and senior involvement with a number of specialist sub-contractors. The role I play has its focus on people and relationships and the trust that generates business opportunity. It is about awareness of our offer and the fostering of good relationships with existing and new clients at all levels of the business. We have a service offer that is unique, industry leading and it is sometimes as simple as making clients aware of that. The role is new to the company and is a natural progression for a growing business that prioritises quality in delivery of complex projects.
You are in the midst of all the action. What is the current state of the construction market across the UK & ROI?
We have a plan for strategic growth which, although revised due to the pandemic, has not faltered and is on target. The construction market is ultra-competitive in NI and a lot of the planned public sector opportunity do not fit our target project profile in terms of size and complexity. We are heavily invested in BIM and design management which returns efficiently on large projects. We find that this model travels well and there is plenty of opportunity across ROI and the UK with the increased capital spend on healthcare, life sciences, technology and energy sectors. The full scale of the opportunity in these sectors has not been fully recognised yet, there is some post furlough pain for companies to deal with and the future challenge will be about having capacity to deliver to meet demand – all positive opportunities for Dowds.
What do Dowds do differently for their clients?
We provide a level of service at all stages that is recognised as being excellent. We treat each stage, from estimating to administration, as a process that has performance targets and measurable outcomes all in the pursuit of providing clients with high levels of confidence in our ability and value for their investment whilst trusting us with their project. To reinforce or challenge our perception of what we think we do well we have recently developed our Customer Experience programme which is going live this Summer and we hope that this will provide clients with an opportunity to engage in a structured way around efficiencies and improvement.
What do you personally find that’s unique about the Dowds team?
Dowds has been and still is in a lot of ways a family grown business. The company has continued to build and develop their strong people culture to empower, value and reward their employees. Dowd's commitment to well-being and the inclusive working environment is akin to a company twice its size, this is through the involvement from all staff and the drive from board level. The openness and engagement from everyone sets the Dowds team apart!