Member Article

A festive chat with… Michael Page, joint managing director of Saracen Interiors

As part of our ‘festive favourites’ series, we are speaking to businesses across the South East and London looking back on the year’s successes and their plans for 2016… and what a year it’s been for Saracen Interiors. The fit-out specialists, and Bdaily regulars, have had a very lucrative year, having secured several high profile City contract including Creature of London and Aspect Property Group.

We spoke to Saracen’s joint managing director, Michael Page, about his high point for 2015 and what he’s most looking forward to next year.

2015 – Looking back

What were the highlights for your business in 2015?

“Some of our contracts, without a shadow of a doubt. We landed a few multi-million pound projects but the real ‘punch the air’ moment came when we were awarded the design and fit out of Vintners Place on the bank of the River Thames for Tata Communications. A great job and an incredibly significant one as we were awarded this on the strength of our designs.”

Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently this year?

“We took on some smaller residential projects to help some valued contacts out which is not something we would normally consider. As we were operating outside our core business we had to use key resource we hadn’t anticipated, pulling people from other critical jobs. This created some strain and had an impact on our margins and there were certainly lessons learnt from this experience.”

How has your industry changed in the last year?

“It’s definitely become more buoyant but it is still cost-focused and we are constantly considering our margins at each and every stage. London remains an intense market, although we continue to build a presence in the City despite the competition.”

2016 – Moving forward

What are your key focuses for next year?

“We want to continue to expand our client base and look at other sectors to create more opportunity. We very much operate as a team, playing to the strengths of the individuals among us and looking for ways to best utilise their skills. We currently have project managers and estimators who come from the high-end residential market and we’d like to explore that further, with their help, taking on design-led, big budget projects in this field.”

What are you most looking forward to in 2016?

“Exploring new markets and strengthening our presence in the North. We have opted for a ‘creep and go’ strategy when it comes to widening our geographical spread but we are now definitely at a point where we can push forward with confidence in certain areas, such as the North West, where we are attracting new clients as well as projects from existing ones who have used us in other locations. We are considering a few bases in areas in the North so we are best-placed to be considered as the opportunities, driven by initiatives such as the Northern Powerhouse, continue to escalate.”

What do you expect will be your biggest challenge in the coming year?

“Attracting the right qualified professionals whose salary expectations are commensurate with their levels of experience. The whole industry is still suffering the after-effects of the last recession when much of the skilled labour left the industry and moved on to other things. Because they haven’t been replaced in full, it’s pushed up demand and salaries for these workers.”

The softer stuff

If you could go back in time, which piece of advice would you give your younger self?

“Don’t be cautious – Take more chances. It’s true what they say: It’s the things that you don’t do that you regret not those that you do.”

How will you be celebrating the festive period?

“At home, with friends and family. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to Christmas and I like to be surrounded by loved ones in my own home.”

Missed our previous features? Check out our festive catch-up with Salman Iftekhar and Michael Gadsby, co-founders of Staffing Match and Martin Campbell, MD of fintech startup Ormsby Street. If you’d like to take part in our festive series, please get in touch direct - ellen.forster@bdaily.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .