Fledgling consultant chalks up major London jobs

Fledgling consultancy Real PM has hit £2.8m turnover in its eighth year of business and bagged work on some of the capital’s highest profile jobs, including the £8bn redevelopment of Battersea Power Station.

Set up in 2008 by former Mace and John Laing employees Jeremy Ruff and Geraint Roberts, the programme planning and management firm has grown to 18-strong and expects to hit 22 staff within 12 months.

Real PM’s founders told Building the firm hit £2.8m revenue in the financial year to last month, up from £2.4m the previous year.

Roberts said most of the firm’s staff came from contracting backgrounds, giving it a different perspective when it came to programme management.

“We like that everyone at the company knows how to build things, down to the nuts and bolts, which we think differentiates us from the majority of other PMs,” Roberts said.

Ruff said that while he expects the firm to grow further in this financial year to next March - to around £3m turnover - the founders believe it is important for them to “stay personally involved with the projects and the clients”.

Ruff said the firm will grow to a maximum of 30 employees.

The London-based firm works across the UK, primarily in the retail, commercial and residential sectors, but it has also dipped its toes into health and education.

Current projects are mainly focused in the capital and include providing programme interface management and audit services at Battersea Power Station and strategic programme audit services for both Lendlease’s Elephant and Castle and International Quarter developments.

The firm is working on investor Meyer Bergman’s Stoney Street project next to Borough Market on the South Bank as employer’s agent and assistant programme manager.

The firm is also providing programme and logistics support to Knight Dragon’s mammoth redevelopment of the Greenwich Peninsula.