Confidence boost as West Midlands firm builds up top team

Malcolm Priest, the managing director of Greswolde Construction Ltd, the West Midlands based construction company specialising in the education, healthcare, housing, commercial and industrial sectors with an annual turnover of around £20- £25m, has strengthened the senior management team with two new directors.

Construction Engineer Perry Stewart and former PWC Chartered Accountant Shaun Walsh have invested in the business, with ownership now shared between them and Malcolm Priest. Perry Stewart has been appointed as the new Managing Director and Shaun Walsh as Finance Director. Malcolm is to transition his day to day role over the coming months.

Construction Director Chris Harrison continues in that role.

Malcolm Priest purchased Greswolde Construction Ltd in 1995 but felt the business should be less dependent on him and that the time was right to build a larger, stronger senior team to take the business to the next level.

Perry Stewart is an engineer with 40 years’ experience in construction, including thirteen years as CEO of Immediate Property solutions and six years as MD of The House group, based in Gibraltar. Prior to that Perry Stewart was project manager for Skanska’s construction and marine projects in Scandinavia, Denmark and Northern Germany in collaboration with Veidekke.

Shaun Walsh spent his early career at PWC and has been a Business Consultant and Portfolio Finance Director for a variety of small and medium sized companies across a number of different industries up to £50m+ turnover.

Perry and Shaun are building a group of mutually supportive construction related companies as the IBG Group. This is their third investment.

Malcolm Priest said:

“I want to see the business thrive. The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for the construction industry, however as we are waking up to face a new normal, I think it is the right time for me to hand over some of my responsibilities to a highly experienced team who can meet those challenges, not least the current shortages of materials and labour, so that Greswolde Construction has a strong and resilient future.”

Perry Stewart comments that he, Shaun Walsh and the IBG business growth team intend to build on the solid and well respected business that Malcolm Priest, Chris Harrison and the Greswolde staff have built over the last 25 years. Perry and Shaun intend to grow the business and take it to the next level and will be growing the number of members of staff at the company to facilitate that.

“We’ve bought into a fantastic company that has a great team, so the potential is immense,” he said.

“With such a great company and solid, talented colleagues, if we don’t double the turnover in three years I’ll eat my hat!”

William Senior of Watersheds, who led on the transaction for Greswolde, said:

“It’s pretty amazing that we completed this deal for Malcolm during the Pandemic after many lockdowns, but it’s been a pleasure to work with someone who wanted to ensure the business is as resilient as possible and has a strong and sustainable future.

“Our approach was to find the individuals with the right skills, drive, experience and personality to give Malcolm and Greswolde the best possible outcome.

“We knew Malcom required a blend of hard commercial skills and relevant industry experience, but equally needed people with similar values and aspirations, and who were passionate about the brand and the staff.

“When we found Perry Stewart and Shaun Walsh, we knew we had found two people who understood the true potential of the business, and who also had the industry-related experience to help achieve sustainable growth. Malcolm can now relax, secure in the knowledge that the business is in the most capable of hands.”

Picture Caption

Growing the business. Greswolde Construction’s Malcolm Priest (second left) is pictured with (from left) Director Chris Harrison, new Managing Director Perry Stewart and Finance Director Shaun Walsh. Picture by Andrew Carpenter Photography.