Walker Sime

Founders’ Mentality: Celebrating 25 Years of Being A “People People” Business at Walker Sime

There have been two constants in the 25-year history of Walker Sime. One is a commitment to its inimitable ‘Walker Sime-ness’, creating a construction consultancy that is a “people people” business from its roots. The other, is the frequency that random chance and serendipity have played in its pivotal moments. As the company celebrates its silver anniversary, co-founder Jon Sime and MD Duncan Firth reflect on the journey so far and the next 25.

Merger. Acquisition. A handshake in a smoke-filled room. Think about the origins of most established construction consultancies and it’s those clichés that will probably spring to mind. It certainly won’t be a Manchester City beach towel. Yet, in a roundabout sort of way, that was the catalyst for Walker Sime, the Manchester-based construction consultancy that celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.

Jon Sime, founding partner and still Client Relations Director, takes up the story: “I met [co-founder] Dez Walker on Bondi Beach through a friend of a friend. I spotted his Man City beach towel, we got chatting and it was love at first sight.” Even so, it was ten years before the friends set up in business together. “Dez had a call from one of his previous directors about setting up a new business and he called me. I didn’t even have to think about it.”

Letting youth loose

“Dez and I had grown frustrated in our existing roles,” Jon explains. “We both believed that if you were good enough you were old enough, but industry convention in big organisations said you had to serve your time and wait in line. We felt that was stifling young people's talent and we wanted to really turn that on its head and create an environment where talented young people could excel irrespective of their age.

“That’s become something of a hallmark for Walker Sime. We’ve always sought to give young people a lot more responsibility, and a closer understanding of how the business works, than they might get in more traditional organisations. While our reputation was developing our biggest focus was winning work, but as we became more established my greatest satisfaction became finding and developing new talent. The most satisfying thing is to see a young quantity surveyor (QS) or project management (PM) graduate being given an opportunity and developing their career with us.”

”Business development is about working with people you like and trust”

Growing Walker Sime was a matter of building relationships. “It was very much an ‘eat-what-you-kill’ mentality back then,” says Jon. “Every SME lives or dies on its client relationships and the quality of its work. It’s so important to deliver that positive experience every time because that’s where the next project will come from. I think the fact that Bruntwood was our very first client and we are still working with them to this day speaks volumes.

“It remains the case that you want to work with people you like and trust. And clients are more likely to work with you if they like and trust you. Right from the outset, our success was built on those deeply embedded client relationships. You can trace the origins of our ‘people people’ approach back to that formative period.”

25 years after its inception, Walker Sime has been instrumental in some of the North’s most important and prestigious developments: the £5bn development of Liverpool Waters, Liverpool 2 Container Terminal, Manchester New Victoria, regeneration in Birkenhead, Bolton and Rochdale, and individual projects as eclectic as Manchester’s Civic Quarter Heat Network, the Institute for Safe Autonomy at the University of York, and EUREKA! Children’s Museum in Birkenhead.

Growing up

Success propelled Walker Sime to further heights. As the business grew, so its founders saw the need to change. “In the early days we ran things almost like a cottage industry but we grew up,” says Jon. “Sometimes it’s important to recognise what you don’t know and get the appropriate advice – that’s why we appointed two non-exec directors from outside the industry to help us with growth, governance and succession planning. We implemented good management information with proper governance to guide our decisions. We put in place the sound platform on which the business could build long after Dez and I had exited.

Part of that platform was building a team to take Walker Sime forward, including in 2015 the appointment of Duncan Firth, who first joined the business to establish Walker Sime’s project management service line before taking the reins as Managing Director in 2019.

Founders’ mentality

Serendipity part 2: finding an MD who embodies everything that Walker Sime’s founder’s stand for. Even his LinkedIn profile has a personable, breezy Walker Sime-ness (“Sleeves rolled up and glass half full”). Duncan has doubled down on Jon and Dez’s people-centric mentality. “The founding directors have left a legacy,” he says. “I feel a responsibility to take that forward. However we change, we don't forget where we've come from and what we're about.”

It’s important not to mistake this for naivety or nostalgia. Duncan cites Bain & Company’s ‘Founder’s Mentality’ principle. “Bain & Co ran a 10-year study that found that those businesses that retain the founder’s mentality as they grow succeed. Those that don’t often fail, and that’s why you see so many founders having to go back into the businesses they built to rescue them.

“We're now at a size where the differentiator between us and our competitors is our people, our values and how we go about our business. Who we are is our USP. That’s the legacy of Jon and Dez, and that’s why everything we do and will continue to do will always be around people first.”