FOCUS INTERVIEW
PLANS WITH A PURPOSE
Ross Abbate, CEO for Mace Operate explains to Sara Bean why Mace’s facilities
management business is putting purpose at the heart of everything they do
While the FM sector has risen to the
challenges of the past year, like the
rest of the global economy, it now faces
dealing with a ermath of the lockdown.
Yet despite this, over the past year,
global consultancy and construction
business Mace has made some bold
decisions regarding its FM division.
Since its inception in 2002 the division
has seen steady international growth
and has over 1,000 employees globally,
operating in over 45 countries from four
regional hubs. It was confirmed in May
2020 that the original ‘Macro’ brand
was switching to ‘Mace(i)’, with the idea
being, that adopting the Mace corporate
identity would help build on the Group’s
existing strategic client base.
Mace has now announced an ambitious
2026 Business Strategy with three new
40 APRIL 2021
strategic priorities: to pursue a sustainable
world, to grow together and to deliver
distinctive value. Talking to Ross Abbate,
CEO for Mace Operate about the changes
we asked, was the COVID-19 crisis the
impetus for the brand change or part of a
longstanding integration plan?
“It was always part of our target operating
model”, explains Abbate. “We decided we
couldn’t wait forever so thought we’d get
it done anyway, because from a branding
perspective we could demonstrate we
were part of the Mace Group, a £1.8 billion
organisation which operates all over the
world. Now that the rebranding has been
a success, with our latest announcement
we’re aiming to demonstrate we’re putting
purpose at the heart of everything we do.”
Mace’s Operate division delivers services
to public and private sector clients, working
with key workplace clients to support
their corporate real estate strategies. It
provides FM management and consultancy
services on workplace experience, portfolio
e iciency and asset management to some
of the world’s most high profile corporate
real estate clients.
BUSINESS TARGETS
The new strategy sets out a clear vision of
forging a more sustainable and inclusive
business model. This includes some
ambitious new growth targets that will
see it work to drive a 20 per cent growth
in margin each year, a target to achieve £3
billion in annual revenue and the aim to
employ more than 8,000 people by 2026
across Mace’s four ‘engines for growth’:
Develop, Construct, Consult and Operate.