Rob Owen
Media
Planning and Preconstruction Services Director
Rob Owen has been a director of Mace since 2005 having joined the company in January 1997 to head up the planning function in the Manchester regional office. A key part of this role was to work with Manchester City Council as the strategic planning manager for the reconstruction of Manchester city centre following the IRA bomb in June 1996. By early 2000 the city centre had been re-opened to wide acclaim and Rob was asked to go to London to head up the planning function for the company in the UK and abroad.
Rob trained as a technical draughtsman and undertook a five year indentured apprenticeship with Babcock Power (formerly part of the British Steel Corporation). This involved working on projects such as Sizewell, Heysham & Torness power stations as well as the Esso Fawley oil refinery and Kirriemuir gas compressor plant station before leaving the UK in 1986 to spend a couple of years in Saudi Arabia as a maintenance supervisor on a newly built PVC/VCM production plant.
On returning to the UK Rob return to work for his previous client at the Esso Fawley oil refinery for a year before joining Bovis Construction where he spent eight years working on projects in London such as Broadgate and Cannon Bridge and various projects around the UK for Railtrack before taking a position as senior planner in the head office. During this period Rob started an MSc in Construction IT which he continued after joining Mace. Rob has worked on some of the company's most prestigous projects including the RBS headquarters in Edinburgh, the Shard of Glass, the 2012 Olympic Games and the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. He has also provided independent expert advice to Crossrail (Tottenham Court Road), the Natural History Museum and various blue chip developers.
Rob's engineering background enables him to challenge convention and look at better ways of working at the very earliest stages of projects where value can be added in early not engineered out later. High level risk and constraint management is also addressed at the earliest stage to identify critical and key risks/constraints to eliminate, reduce, transfer or manage them.
Rob is a clear, logical thinker who is able to picture and describe issues, logistics, methodologies, sequences and timing of projects from conceptual information. His skills are utilised on a lot of major regeneration and redevelopment projects. Rob's hands-on approach means he is still involved in several long term projects with close client relationships and extensive public involvement.
Born in Derby, Rob now spends his time between his main home in Churchill, Worcestershire, where his family lives and his second home in Islington.
Timeline
2005-Jan Appointed as director for planning and preconstruction services
2003-Jan Appointed as operations director for the planning function within Mace
2001-Jan Relocated to the Mace head office in London to head up planning function
1997-Jan Joined Mace as regional planning manager in Manchester
1996-00 Msc Construction IT - Salford University
1995-Jan Appointed senior planner for Bovis Construction
1989-Sep Joined Bovis Construction
1988-Sep Joined Wimpey Engineering as senior planner for Fawley Oil Refinery expansion project
1986 Maintenance supervisor on IBN Hayyan PVC/VCm Plant, Saudi Arabia
1985 Mechanical supervisor for Babcock on Esso Fawley oil refinery hardarm project
1980-85 Indentured technical apprenticeship for Babcock Power (formerly British Steel Corp.)
