Gleeds gives Redgrave new Olympic challenge

QS Gleeds has signed up five-time Olympic gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave to help win work leading up to the London 2012 Olympics.

Redgrave will act as a company ambassador and work several days a year for the firm.

Richard Steer, senior partner, said the UK would be gripped by “sports mania” over the next decade because of the Olympics in Beijing and the London Games of 2012.

He said: “Redgrave is one of the foremost sportsmen of our generation. He will act as our London 2012 ambassador and we are delighted to have him on board. He knows his way around the Olympic delivery organisations and will help us to move in the right direction.”

Steer added that Redgrave would work within the Gleeds training academy and help mentor graduate recruits.

He said: “The idea is that Redgrave will be used to help in our recruitment process. He will give motivational speeches and be used to help in our recruitment process. Forexample, he will probably give speeches within our graduate milk-round circuit.”

Steer added that he hoped that new graduates would be attracted to Gleeds by Redgrave’s presence and that existing staff would also be “motivated and inspired”.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that Gleeds will meet global consultant Rider Hunt Levett & Bailey next week to talk about a possible global alliance.

Last month, Building revealed how British QS Gardiner & Theobald’s global alliance with Rider Hunt had ended in a turf war in Asia over profit sharing.

It is understood that Rider Hunt is in talks with another UK-based consultant besides Gleeds.

A senior industry QS said, however, that it would be unlikely that any UK firms would be able to form an alliance.

He said: “G&T couldn’t make it work – the problem is that the terms of the global alliance are too loose. Gleeds will want to take over the consultants and not share their profits with them. Gleeds already has an extensive international network.”