Because there’s no substitute for experience and ability.
A jazz band tribute was held with colleagues and friends to mark the retirement of one of the West Midlands’ leading construction sector personalities. Trouble is, the man who has earned himself a formidable reputation as a top industry trouble-shooter has found it rather difficult to bow out.
“After recently completing my latest large redevelopment, at the University of Aston, I felt that the time was ready to call it a day,” said 71-year-old Neil Pountney, “especially as it has taken eight years from initial conception to completion in the midst of a fully operational campus.”
“However, once word got around that it was possible I planned to retire, I started to receive requests from potential clients who wanted me to assist them with their projects.
“So I had to modify my retirement party – and hold it as a reception for professional colleagues and friends,” said Mr Pountney. “Instead of retiring completely, I will be continuing to work but only on a select number of projects with which I have an affinity and I will be making sure that in the future there’ll be more time spent with my family and grandchildren” – one of whom, 14-year-old Thomas plays with Jazz Matters, Solihull’s premier jazz ensemble, who provided a showcase performance at the reception, held at Birmingham Hippodrome’s Patrick Centre.
“After a career spanning more than half a century, it is a great feeling to know that traditional professionalism and experience is still valued and in demand,” he added.
Alan Charters, Executive Director of Capital Development at Aston University, said: “Neil Pountney has been a good friend to Aston University over a number of years and through a variety of complex projects, with his professional style and rumbustious nature he has driven these to completion, no more so than with Aston Student Village.”
He added: “Working closely with Neil, as I have over the last five years, I have been struck by his commitment to doing the right thing; to deliver on expectations; to have the row if necessary; however, to get over it…to get on with….and deliver high quality outcomes to time and budget. In the years ahead I know I will find myself asking ‘what would Pountney have done in this situation?’”
Mr Pountney founded Solihull-based construction and regeneration consultancy Emprima in 1998 after a 37-year career at Wakemans, which saw him progress from being a trainee surveyor to become managing director of the Edgbaston firm, spearheading its development as a major player with nation-wide interests.
His acute business acumen, which has taken him to the top of his profession at both local and national levels, has seen him occupy senior positions in influential organisations such as the West Midlands Chambers of Commerce, Solihull Chamber of Commerce, as well as being on advisory panels to Birmingham Airport and former regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.
A former national president of the quantity surveyors division of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Mr Pountney is regarded as one of the construction industry’s best-known and most skilled strategists and contract negotiators – qualities that have earned him a reputation as a fearsome trouble-shooter because of his problem-solving, straight-talking, no-nonsense approach on behalf of clients.
He has been a major driving force in many developments and is particularly skilled in bringing disparate parties together to achieve a common goal.
“Helping clients to develop their own strategic programmes and guide them through the various problems which can – and regrettably, do – arise during the course of a construction project has been a key role for me,” said Mr. Pountney.
“For instance, one of my first assignments was to get a construction contract back on track. It was an important inner-city redevelopment scheme but project costs were escalating and the completion date was in jeopardy. However, by understanding and addressing the problems that were arising, I was able to get the project back on track –and, importantly, back within budget.
“Further additional cost or delay would have meant the viability being completely driven out of the project,” added Mr. Pountney
Mr. Pountney’s expertise and experience in advising many leading businesses with regard to their construction needs has seen him involved with many of the prestigious redevelopment projects in Birmingham city centre, including the transformation of the former Lewis’s Department Store into the Temple Court office complex.
His work with Aston University came to a conclusion this autumn after the completion of a £215 million redevelopment project, which has involved the demolition of 1970s high-rise towers in the centre of the 40-acre campus and the construction of a new Student Village providing high quality accommodation for more than 3,000 students. The redevelopment programme was the largest regeneration scheme in the history of the university, turning Aston into one of the most sustainable university communities in Europe.
