John McQueen

Since 2005 8build have seen considerable success. Now ranking in the Top 5 commercial fit out contractors in London, we have also grown the business outside of London and in a whole host of sectors including high end Residential, Museums, Hotels, Universities and Schools. We also undertake heavy structural refurbishments and new build projects with values reaching up to £20m.

Wates Interiors & Retail are the interior “fit-out” division of Wates Group Ltd, a privately owned construction company with a turnover of £1 billion annually. Working closely with the senior management and the production team, I manage the creation and development of a range of pre-construction and bid focused products including the generation of prequalification interview credentials which when successful, lead to client focused tenders aimed at specific projects. (Prequalification Documents = company experience and service orientated questionnaires targeted at identifying suitable service providers)

Highlights
Won in excess of £260M of work through created materials marketed over the past 5 years, (project values ranged from £1M to £30M). Clients: Amex, Barclays, Bank of England, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, M&S, Sony Music and Government Offices.
Created winning prequalification documents with a 100% success rate - every prequalification document completed progressed through to the tender stage.
Improved document turnover, standards, consistency, company branded identity and “bid proposal style" across all five Wates’ divisions.
Developed and organised “knowledge banks” enabling Wates to streamline work flow and utilise historical content in a more accessible and efficient manner.

I began within Wates’ head office as a freelance consultant, providing Wates Construction and Wates Living Space bid teams with a variety of graphic design support. I was asked to join as a permanent member of the team and created bespoke bid documents for multi million pound construction schemes throughout the United Kingdom.

Highlights
Improved project turnover, standards and design of work being produced.
Established library and production processes that reduced bid production archiving and proposal development timelines.
Provided technical support for the use of programs including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe InDesign, Acrobat, Photoshop and Illustrator.
Multitasked a consistent workload of between 3 to 6 projects (Wates Construction and Wates Living Space) as well as providing assistance and support to other Wates division and members of the team.

I launched Adanak, a graphic, internet and multimedia design service, after returning from travelling abroad. I began supporting a range of clients including; Ralph Lauren, BMW, Lloydmasters, Nomas Creative, Wates Group Construction, Leaf Lettings, Head for Heights, 2M.

Core Role & Responsibilities

• Project Management / Budget Management
• Company Branding & Logo Design
• Design Consultation
• Developed artwork and print layouts
• Print Publishing Management
• Internet Design and functionality
• Graphic modifications and editing work
• Hand illustrated prototype sketches
• Point-of- Sale display design

A new media design company with client's including; PGA Golf, Canon Europe, Chesterfield NHS Trust, United Nations, Plantronics, Bushells, The Lloyd Group, Centa for Business, Amateur Order of Merit, CanDoCo.

Highlights
• Designed new company logo and branding spanning all internal and external marketing and literature, thus providing the company with a more consistent and professional branding and identity, enhancing recognition and credibility.
• Analysed team workflow and identified overlap and inefficiencies, resulting in increased revenue, improvements in productivity, quality and accuracy in project tracking. (Within twelve months, the increased revenue resulted in company expansion from five employees to twenty).

Core Role & Responsibilities
• Managed projects sized 5-80K, from initial meeting brief through to website launch.
• Directed both the Design, and the Development teams (ten direct reports).
• Developed a variety of products to augment the current company portfolio; email branding, email promotions & advertising.
• Designed, developed and maintained a large variety of websites for some of the above mentioned companies.
• Provided technical assistance and training for both clients and staff members.

A graphics and new media design company with client's including; Reebok, Hitachi, IBM, Norton Anti Virus, DR Harris, Room Solutions, Peter Burrowes, Walker Hamill, Pitcher & Piano, Happy Times, Apex Recruitment, Concise Software, Calortex (Calor Gas & Texaco).

Highlights
• Developed a registration point for Hitachi to collect sales information through a direct advertising campaign.
• Created a selection of online banner advertising for Norton Anti-Virus.

Core Role & Responsibilities
• Designed, developed and maintained a variety of web sites for listed clients.
• Provided technical assistance and training for clients wishing to update their own web sites.