![\"Gondola](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\/9d254fce-9822-4aa9-9704-ab8796f88b80.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFrom the London Eye and the 2012 Olympics, to The Shard and Battersea Power Station, Mace has been involved in some of Britain\u2019s best-known building projects since it was formed 35 years ago \u2014 and has remained proudly independent. <\/p>\n
All that changed last month, when Mace sold a 75 per cent stake in its consulting arm to an \u201calternatives fund\u201d run by the Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs. Sources familiar with the situation said that the sale valued the business at nearly $1 billion. <\/p>\n
Mace Group chairman Mark Reynolds is tight-lipped when it comes to talking about valuation, but he is far more unequivocal about the nature of his new shareholder. \u201cIt\u2019s not a hedge fund, it\u2019s private equity,\u201d he remarked, grumpily. <\/p>\n
The distinction is important to Reynolds, 62, who joined Mace as a project manager in 1996, and took over the helm in 2013.<\/p>\n
\u201cI now have a strategic partner who\u2019s got far deeper pockets, who can help us grow and expand,\u201d he insisted. \u201cThe reason why we\u2019ve done this is we wanted to become the leading global delivery partner.\u201d <\/p>\n
After a pause, he repeated the words \u201cthe leading global delivery partner,\u201d before shaking his head and smiling at himself. \u201cYes, it\u2019s a bit of a clich\u00e9 phrase.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mace was formed in 1990 by a group of five former directors of the housebuilder Bovis. These days, Reynolds is one of four primary shareholders in Mace Group. The company\u2019s big break came when it was selected to oversee the building of British Airways\u2019 Waterside headquarters outside Heathrow airport. <\/p>\n
While Mace moved on to other high-profile projects in the UK, it also began to venture abroad, building the Venetian hotel in Macau and Ain Dubai, the world\u2019s largest and tallest observation wheel. More recent projects at home include the Tate Modern Extension in 2016 and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium two years later. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not Venice \u2014 it\u2019s the Venetian hotel and casino in Macau<\/p>\n
JUI-CHI CHAN\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p>\n
The Goldman deal means that subsidiary Mace Consult \u2014 the group\u2019s largest and most profitable division \u2014 will be carved out. Reynolds and his incumbents will retain a 25 per cent interest. \u201cI don\u2019t like the word carve-out,\u201d he said. \u201cBut that\u2019s basically what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mace Consult employs about 5,500 people. It delivered \u00a378 million of profit on \u00a3687 million of revenue last year. Mace Construct, which will remain wholly owned by the group, employs roughly 2,000 people and made a \u00a316 million profit on revenue of \u00a32.1 billion.<\/p>\n
The group has established a prominent position in the Middle East and has enjoyed success in Asia, particularly in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Malaysia. <\/p>\n
It has not been all plain sailing, however. Earlier this year the Serious Fraud Office announced an investigation into Blu-3 and former associates of Mace\u2019s constriction arm. Blu-3 and others are suspected of paying over \u00a33 million of bribes to Mace Construct associates in relation to the building of a data centre in the Netherlands for Microsoft.<\/p>\n
The US, meanwhile, has proved comparatively elusive. With the firepower from Goldman, Reynolds reckons that Mace Consult is primed for a near-fourfold increase in size. \u201cHow many people do we think we need to have in the next five years? I would say 15,000-20,000 across the globe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reynolds does not seem short of ambition. Such growth is likely to come from a flurry of bolt-on deals in the US and elsewhere. As UK construction activity shrank to a five-year low last week, US president Donald Trump has put plans to \u201cbuild baby, build\u201d at the heart of rejuvenating the American economy.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Emma Duncan: \u2018Build, baby, build\u2019 should be the new slogan for liberals<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n But is he not worried about private equity\u2019s reputation for demanding short-term returns and loading up businesses with debt? \u201cI was to begin with,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when we actually worked through the process \u2026 with Goldmans, no, I wasn\u2019t. They\u2019re not going to overburden us with debt. We\u2019ve actually been quite cautious around that.\u201d<\/p>\n Away from the day job, Reynolds has a reputation for being a businessman who has the ear of the government. Reynolds led Labour\u2019s infrastructure review<\/a> before last year\u2019s election and co-chairs the Construction Skills Mission Board for Rachel Reeves<\/a>. Reynolds\u2019 appointment in March was cited as evidence that \u201cwe are gripping the lack of skilled construction workers\u201d, the chancellor said.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, he makes no secret of the fact that Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s administration has endured a difficult first year in government. <\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re listening. They\u2019re trying. They just need some help,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cIndustry and government need to work together more closely. The government has got to stop transmitting, and industry has got to stop transmitting, and you\u2019ve got to find solutions to these problems.\u201d<\/p>\n So why is he focusing his growth ambitions overseas rather than helping those in Westminster that he has sympathy for?<\/p>\n