Profile: David Jones

IT’S supposed to be the job of central bank policy makers to take the punch bowl away before the economic party becomes messy.

At a grassroots level, we also need entrepreneurs who aren’t seduced by the prospect of easy money.

During the heady days of the mid-noughties, Quarmby Construction’s David Jones felt rather glum. The boom time really didn’t suit his conservative tastes.

While others gambled investors’ cash, and their reputations, on schemes that were built on borrowed money, he didn’t want to chase eye-watering growth targets.

Turnover, as any sage business mind will tell you, is all about vanity. Profits are for sanity.

“I didn’t enjoy it at all,’’ he said, as we met in the shadow of his latest project, the Majestic in Leeds city centre. “Work was too easy to get and too hard to do, because the resources weren’t there to do it. It wasn’t fun because it was hard to control the quality.”

Plenty of business empires built around property have imploded over the last five years, but Ilkley-based Quarmby Construction has come into its own during the recession.

It’s survived plenty of upheavals over its 40-year history, and played a major role in re-developing the Leeds waterfront in the process.

At a time when many of its competitors are cutting back or vanishing, Quarmby has a hand in six Leeds-based projects and others are on the cards.

“This recession is as bad as the recessions of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s put together, because it’s gone on so long,’’ said Mr Jones, who has been the company’s MD since 1991. “It’s tough out there, but what puts you in good stead is your reputation. Even in the boom times, we never went for dramatic expansion.

“It was more about controlling the finished product. We’re not a turnover driven business. We try and get involved in what we see as important schemes for the city and the country.

“The quality of what we do is very important to us. It’s easier to control that in a recession than it was when every man and his dog was having a go.”

Today, Quarmby has a steady turnover of £25m and 45 staff. There are no plans for rapid, rash, expansion.

During the boom years, Mr Jones believes that quality was sacrificed in many schemes. Many would agree with him. If you look at the skyline in Leeds or any other city, how many of the new buildings will still be standing a century from now?

“There were some fantastic things done during that period, so you can’t condemn everything,’’ he added. “But in a recession, everything is more considered. You have to look at the detail.”

The Majestic scheme in City Square, Leeds is probably the company’s most high profile current development.

The former nightclub has been empty since 2006, and its decline has enraged those who are proud of Leeds’ civic heritage. Leeds developer Rushbond, which bought the building in 2010, plans to turn it into a basement music venue with bars and a restaurant above. Quarmby has set to work, redeveloping the Grade II listed building which dates from 1920.

During Mr Jones’s childhood it was used as a cinema, which means it evokes fond memories for many locals.

“The Majestic is of particular interest because I can remember going there as a young chap in short pants with my mum and dad to see The Sound of Music,’’ he recalled.

“Later on, I went to it when it was the Majestyk night club. This development will change the landscape of that corner of town.”

Born in Leeds, Mr Jones has worked in the construction industry since he left Allerton Grange Comprehensive school in the early 1970s.

The company he now leads was established in 1972 by entrepreneur Roger Quarmby. At the time it was known as Langbar, after a tiny moorland hamlet near the company’s head office in Ilkley.

It later took the name of its founder, but retains its Ilkley HQ.

In the 1980s, Leeds was still regarded by many as a declining northern city, with a shabby waterfront. Between 1989 and 1992, Quarmby helped locals to see their city in a different light. It was behind the Embankment, the first waterfront development in Leeds, and the revival of Granary Wharf.

“The Embankment had quite an effect because it was the first time Leeds had stretched itself down to the river,’’ Mr Jones recalled. “Leeds was a different place 20 years ago. There’s more life in the city now, especially outside the working day.”

During his two decades at the helm, Quarmby has worked in places as diverse as Leeds Bradford International Airport and St Pancras in London. In 2004, Quarmby restored the clock tower and main hall at Leeds Town Hall, and it also created an underground gallery at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

The area around Holbeck Urban Village and Water Lane in Leeds is often referred to as ‘Quarmby corner’, which shows the scale of the company’s involvement in the district.

“We’ve got a wide range of work on at the moment,’’ said Mr Jones. “We’ve always prided ourselves on being a general contractor in the old sense of the word, so we like a variety of work. I’m probably looking at £36m of work at the moment.

“Not all of these will start this year, some will slip into next year, because decisions are slow in being made at the moment. I’ve just been given the nod this morning on a new car showroom in the Yorkshire area.”

Apart from restraints imposed by the recession, the construction industry has also come under scrutiny from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT)

In September 2009, the OFT issued penalties to 103 companies – including 20 with head offices in Yorkshire – totalling £129.5m after its investigation into illegal bid-rigging in England. The OFT said most of the offences involved so-called cover pricing, where one or more bidders arranges for competitors to put down high bids to give a misleading impression to clients about the level of competition.

At the time, the UK Contractors Group called the decision to penalise the firms “unfair” and said bid-rigging was a thing of the past.

Quarmby was one of the Yorkshire firms fined by the OFT. The company immediately issued a statement saying it had never been its policy to engage in cover pricing. Following a successful appeal, Quarmby’s fine was reduced by 75 per cent to £200,000 and the company is also appealing against the associated costs.

Today, Mr Jones is focused on preserving a little patch of Tuscany on the Leeds waterfront.

Before its demise earlier this year, regional development agency Yorkshire Forward appointed Quarmby to restore and redevelop the listed Tower Works in Holbeck.

Apart from stabilising one of the site’s three chimneys. Quarmby is also restoring and converting two listed buildings, which will become office accommodation and community space.

The works’ distinctive towers, modelled on the Giotto tower in Florence and the Lamberti tower in Verona, served as chimneys for the former steel pin factory which dated from 1864. The third plain tower is thought to represent a Tuscan house.

Mr Jones believes that future generations will be best-placed to judge the value of his work, as they admire the dreaming spires of Holbeck.

“To me, it’s been a great industry,’’ he said. “It’s tough because you’re out working in all conditions, but it’s always been rewarding.”

David Jones – The CV

Name: David Jones

Title: Managing Director, Quarmby Construction

Date of birth: September 1, 1954

Education: Allerton Grange Comprehensive, Leeds

First Job: Paper boy

Favourite song: Past: Jeff Beck Morning Dew / Present: Lana Del Rey Blue Jeans

Car driven: Porsche 911 Turbo

Favourite film: The Italian Job, 1969

Favourite Holiday Destination: A snow covered mountain with a pair of skis

Last book read: Tom Bower No Angel – Secret Life of Bernie Ecclestone

Interests: Skiing, golfing, motor sport and travel

What I am most proud of: Our latest project, the Majestic in Leeds.