We take our work seriously… ourselves less so.
And yet, our team holds market-leading experience in shaping industry policy, leading multi-national corporations, major project delivery and pioneering R&D programmes.
United by a passion for delivering better outcomes, we bring energy and clarity to help our clients do better things, in better ways.
What’s with this Lemon?
With a penchant for tweed and jackets with leather arm patches, Jamie began his career as a quantity surveyor, before climbing the ladder to lead major projects for a Tier 1 contractor.
Eventually expanding his book collection beyond copies of SMM7, Jamie has interest in a broad range of subjects linked to delivering better outcomes for society and the environment.
His strategic insights on MMC and behavioural science have made their way into numerous government, industry and academic publications, including the Construction Playbook, Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030, the Platform Rulebook and the RIBA DfMA Overlay.
Construction is in John’s blood. Learning from his father who was a planner and project manager, John began his career by working on some iconic projects in both the public and private sector.
As a procurement expert and integrator of new ways of working, John has pioneered the integration of platform principles, DfMA processes and supply chain within over £5bn projects in the last 15 years, for some of the largest building programmes in the UK. Despite his considerable expertise, John keeps it simple, communicating complicated ideas with ease and helping to equip the industry with new knowledge and skills.
Outside of Akerlof, John enjoys his executive role with technology start-up ScanTech Digital, spending time with his family, taking trips down the football, playing a bit of golf with friends and the odd pint.
For Ellie, it’s all about the people. If she can lift someone’s day or shape a project to deliver better outcomes then every bit of effort is worth it. Our team, clients and partners all make her eager to wake up and start another day, and it’s her mission to link up with as many brilliant, inspiring and active trailblazers in our sector, preferably over good coffee.
A change-maker herself, Ellie has been the driving force behind the Value Toolkit, an industry-wide collaboration to awaken businesses towards the virtues of value-based decision making. She combines social value and sustainability expertise with a deep understanding of complex stakeholder engagement, managing an extensive network of strategic relationships across a diverse portfolio of industry and government bodies.
All this keeps Ellie pretty busy, however when she gets a free minute, you’ll find her upside down practising vinyasa yoga, adventuring with friends and family or with her head in a book studying for her master’s.
Elizabeth is one of those people who makes life brighter. Exceptionally creative, a natural wordsmith with a keen eye for detail, she has a unique ability to distil complex ideas into compelling content. We all want her working on our projects.
If you need someone that will go the extra mile, it is Elizabeth. A trusted project manager to many of our clients, she is adept at juggling tasks while keeping a level head and producing outputs to be proud of. There isn’t much she can’t turn her hand to, from creative graphics to bid management.
When Elizabeth isn’t charging up a hill after her german shepherd George, you’ll find her quietly crafting something beautiful or working away in her garden.
After completing a degree in Public Policy and Management, Penny began an exciting career in bar management which led her to live all over the country, travel throughout Europe, meet her now husband and learn a great deal about people and cultures.
Whilst working for a main contractor in the north of England, she saw that clients were asking more and more about social value and seized the opportunity to make a difference.
Penny is now a social value specialist with over 14 years’ experience, having developed far-reaching corporate social value strategies for Tier 1 contractors and consultancies. Intent on achieving real change, she inspires and leads others to understand how even small changes in behaviour can shape our world for the better.
Katie draws on her broad experience working as a designer, client and main contractor to shape and implement business strategies that deliver lasting change.
Perpetually fascinated by architecture (and probably one of the reasons she always trips over her feet), Katie brings a confident and positive outlook to make the built environment a more diverse and inclusive sector that enriches people’s lives.
She loves a challenge, and when she’s not running the London Marathon, cycling or hiking up hills, Katie is picking up awards for collaboration and leveraging her expertise in design standardisation, MMC, DfMA and offsite technologies to achieve better outcomes for our clients.
Despite falling into construction cost management by chance rather than choice, after 18 years in the industry, Rob hasn’t looked back.
A fervent adopter of pre-manufactured solutions, Rob is enthusiastic to modernise delivery through the use of technology, which has led him to harness the power of AI to create automated cost estimates, cost plans and even bills of materials in manufacturing.
From a young age, Rob has been involved in a variety of sports, including travelling the country to compete in national table tennis competitions, against people who now play for team GB in the Olympics! Nowadays, Rob is a keen road cyclist and amateur chef; though unsuccessful in his efforts to lure his two children away from their spaghetti hoops.
Ultimately, Rob is a great listener, who, against a backdrop of market volatility, helps our clients to navigate real change (just don’t ask him to put up your shelves).
His seminal paper, Market for Lemons, demonstrated the devastating consequences of making decisions under the conditions of quality uncertainty and unequal information between buyers and sellers, increasing the chance of buyers ending up with a ‘lemon’.
This 50-year-old concept continues to retain parallels within the construction industry.
