Mace (construction company)

The company was founded by a group of construction and architecture professionals, led by Ian Macpherson, who left Bovis in 1990 hoping to bring in new and more collaborative ways of working in the traditionally combative construction industry.^[2][3] One such stance it took early on was to contractually obligate its subcontractors to avoid the practice of falsely claiming staff were self-employed.^[4]

During 1997, Mace achieved a major breakthrough when it bested Bovis to be appointed as the project and construction manager on British Airways' Waterside headquarters at Heathrow.^[2][5] Other early construction projects undertaken by the company include the delivery of the London Eye on the South Bank and The Venetian in Macau.^[6][7] The firm also involved itself in Private Finance Initiative (PFI) arrangements,^[8][9] and various opportunities presented by the privatisation of British Rail.^[10]

In 1998, in response to growing demand for its services, Mace reorganised itself;^[11] this move had reportedly yielded favourable results within two years.^[12] In 2008, the company rebranded as Mace Group to reflect its expanded service offers, which by that point spanned consultancy services and construction across the entire property life cycle.^[2] Around this time, Mace was reportedly in talked with an unidentified party interested in acquiring the firm, but no such deal emerged, allegedly due to the 2007–2008 financial crisis.^[13]

On several occasions, Mace has been involved in delivering record-breaking structures. In early 2009, it was appointed to deliver the fixed price The Shard tower, the tallest building in London.^[14] During late 2021, Mace completed work on a landmark observation ferris wheel in Dubai, which was nearly twice as tall as the London Eye.^[15]

In September 2022, Mace recorded record profits.^[16] One month later, the firm, as part of a joint venture with Willmott Dixon, was selected to build a £126m urgent care centre for University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust; it was the partnership's first win under the NHS ProCure23 framework.^[17] That same year, Mace was selected by National Highways to consult on the Stonehenge road tunnel,^[18] to act a programme delivery partner on the £6.4 billion Metrolinx transit system for the Government of Ontario,^[19] along with (as part of a consortium) being appointed as a delivery partner of upgrades to facilities used by US forces stationed in Britain.^[20]

In 2023, the company was restructured; its offices and major projects divisions were merged into a single entity named private sector while its facilities management division was sold off via a management buyout.^[21][22] That same year, it was announced that Mace intended to expand from 7,500 employees to 10,000 over the following three years, which was to largely be achieved through recruitment.^[23] The company also cofounded the National Home Decarbonisation Group (NHDG) with the goal of undertaking the high-quality retrofit at scale of Britain’s housing stock.^[24]

In January 2023, Mace was selected to build the second phase of a scheme to expand Manchester Airport.^[25] During July 2023, the company was awarded a £160 million contract to build the next phase of the Oxford Science Park related to life sciences.^[26] In October 2023, a Mace-led consortium was selected by the British government’s non-departmental Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to undertake the clean-up and remediation of 17 of the earliest nuclear powerplants in the UK.^[27] Mark Reynolds, chief executive of Mace, also repeatedly criticised the British government for its mixed messages over elements of the High Speed 2 project.^[28][29]

During February 2024, Mace, as part of a team with Arcadis, was awarded a programme management role on a $16 billion (£12.64 billion) project to build a new railway tunnel in New York.^[30] Also that year, the Natural History Museum contracted Mace to build a new facility to house one third of the museum’s collection,^[31] while the company was also selected to perform assessments work towards replacing three PFI contracts for water services across the Ministry of Defence's estate.^[32]

The company has undertaken work on multiple projects overseas; its international consultancy arm has been a rapidly growing area of the business in the 2020s.^[33] During 1998, the firm had partnered with the Middle East-based property developer Majid Al Futtaim Group to pursue further opportunities in the region,^[34] as well as establishing separate joint ventures with the American firm O'Brien Kreitzberg and the French consultancy Scic Developpment for similar purposes.^[35][36] In May 2024, Mace, under a joint venture with Systra, was selected to create an integrated transport system at a major Indian railway station.^[37]

Mace's activities involve the following:^[38]

• Programme and project management
• Cost consultancy
• Construction delivery
• Facilities management
• Additional services (including health and safety management, sustainability consultancy, contracts and dispute management, social inclusion programmes, investment and Building Information Modelling (BIM), supply chain training and site logistics)

Major projects involving Mace have included:

• The London Eye completed in 2000^[39]
• The Venetian in Macau completed in 2007^[40]
• The Emirates Air Line completed in 2012^[41]
• The Shard at London Bridge completed in 2012^[42]
• The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium completed in 2019^[43]
• The NHS Nightingale Hospital London completed in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic^[44]