Case Study - Senior Quantity Surveyor
Senior Quantity Surveyor for Big Mamma Group
The Challenge
As Big Mamma’s exclusive recruitment partner for all development and construction roles, we were engaged again to source a new role for the business. Due to further growth, the client wanted to reduce the workload of the Project Managers by creating a separate Quantity Surveying function. Unlike the regionally based Project Managers, the Quantity Surveyor role would sit with one person, and they would cover every region across Europe and the future growth into the US and Middle East. Therefore, this role would be based in Europe with constant travel across the Big Mamma geographies.
Having worked with BM for many years and placed a variety of roles across the UK and Germany in their Project Management and Facilities Management teams, it was clear Cobalt were suited to support them in this role. Our knowledge and network of the retail sector and in particular the food and beverage space means that we understand the types of companies to approach and the quality of individual they are looking for.
Our Solution
We were engaged on a Dedicated (Exclusive) recruitment basis, and immediately started work identifying a number of potential factors below that might influence the type of person Big Mamma wanted to recruit, and that affect would be interested in the role.
Where many retailers will employ Project Managers directly to roll out new stores and refurbishments, quantity surveying and cost management is usually outsourced, or a small part of the Project Managers remit. As retailers expand into many locations, it is important to work with local suppliers and contractors to ensure the best value when developing. This is inflated greatly when working across Europe as each geography has its own regulations, ways of working, and cost parameters. Therefore, the retail market (especially F&B) does not tend to have an abundance of dedicated Cost Managers.
We shared this knowledge with Big Mamma and backed it up with a market map of their competitors. Identifying this early on allowed us to move attention to identifying talent at large-scale retailers outside of F&B who have expanded across EMEA and the US, as well as fit-out contractors.
Using a mix of referrals through our extensive database accumulated since beginning in 2001, and a targeted approach through LinkedIn and headhunting, we were able to shortlist 7 potential candidates, of which 5 went through to final stages.
The Results
After a 3-round interview process, the successful candidate was selected for the position.
They were the ideal candidate for Big Mamma being an English and Spanish-speaking Quantity Surveyor working for JD Sports, responsible for the Capex across Europe and the US.
Being based in Barcelona but working for UK-based firms across their career, this candidate was a great fit for Big Mamma who were expanding in Spain, and as a base location to travel to their other regions.
Cobalt is the leading white-collar construction recruitment agency in the UK. From professional roles such as Building Surveyors, Quantity Surveyors and Project Managers, through to a variety of construction disciplines including Construction Managers, Site Managers and Project Planning specialists, our specialist recruiters have over 20 years of experience recruiting exclusively for these positions with 90% of the construction and real estate market in the UK, and are the preferred supplier for the majority of Tier 1 contractors.
