In its five years of operation London-based ROKA Construction has thrived to become a young up and coming fit-out firm in London. We recently caught up with Sam Cooper, Managing Director, to see how the success has been achieved.
“After leaving university I worked at one of the leading fit-out firms in the City, Overbury PLC, for two years before taking the leap and setting up ROKA when I was aged 23,” explains Mr Cooper. “I loved it at Overbury but I had always wanted to do my own thing. There was definitely a gap in the market for the smaller projects and I saw this as an opportunity to capitalise on.
“The first two years were challenging; there are so many areas of running a business to take into account that we just didn’t know existed. Initially we took anything we could get hold of, which tended to be the smaller projects that were less appealing and eventually these jobs turned into £50,000 projects then into £100,00 projects. Last year we carried out a £500,000 refurbishment of a school with the view to securing our first £1m project this year.
“We are now focused on the commercial and educational sectors on pretty much a 50-50 basis. We tend to be very busy with school and college projects during the summer months and focus on office fit-outs during the rest of the year, so it works well.”
The key to this progress are the people that Mr Cooper has surrounded himself with, all of which have played a vital role in the company’s progression. “You are only as good as your team. The core team have been with us since the very beginning, so we’ve all developed along the journey together. We have built a business from the bottom up with the view to grow as a team. This year we are expanding the team and looking to relocate offices in Central London.
“We have a very start-up company feel at ROKA. I like to think of the company as having a ‘work hard, play hard’ ethos. The world is constantly changing and I strongly believe companies should adapt to suit the new way of working. Whether it’s flexible working hours, or making your workplace more of a second home, I believe if you create a positive workspace, the rewards will follow. Employees should enjoy coming into work and if this means allowing a better work life balance, but achieving the same results more efficiently, then I’m all for it. We are very proactive on staff development and believe that investing in your team will positively improve the business and individuals.
“With technology slowly becoming more of a necessity, we have been trialing new software to help manage our projects and resources better. Procore is a cloud-based software that helps us manage programmes, resources and manage projects better. This is just one way we have looked to adapt to the modern ways of construction. We find that we can capture all of our information in one place, which subsequently results in better management and delivery. The hardest part of the industry is delivering. We say last 5% of a project is the last 20% and therefore adapting to new modern ways of improving this, will be key to our progression as a business.”
Underlining the growth that ROKA is seeing, last year it moved to new headquarters: a converted factory in Vauxhall, which has helped give the company the framework on which to move to the next level. While the majority of its work is within London, it has increasingly ventured out to the Home Counties as its reputation continues to rise.
In terms of projects of note, it has recently completed a £400,000 refurbishment development at the St Andrews the Apostle Greek Orthodox School in Barnet. The works consisted of refurbishing four sets of toilets, the refurbishment of science labs and roof repairs.
From a commercial perspective, meanwhile, ROKA has recently finished a CAT B office fit-out at the Metal Box in London Bridge. “This was a really enjoyable project to be involved in, especially as the client involved is one of the market leaders and a company I look up to in all aspects,” says Mr Cooper. “It was a 10-week turnaround and we are delighted with the finished product.”
With each successfully completed project, ROKA’s standing in the market has risen further, enabling the company to make the most of the healthy marketplace.
“It is very much full steam ahead. During the Pandemic we were extremely busy within the educational sector, as our clients were keen to make the most of the opportunity, and fortunately this hasn’t really stopped. We noticed a shift in commercial properties wanting to down-size as they adapted to the new way of working.
With the marketplace proving to thrive, ROKA is now striving to keep the momentum going, as Mr Cooper outlines: “We want to expand further by continuing to increase turnover. I don’t necessarily believe in turnover being a key catalyst for progression, but it does open up avenues for expansion. We’re on track for £3m this year and our five-year goal is to have annual turnover of £10m. This will be achieved by continuing to target education and office fit-out work within London and the Home Counties.
It’s clear that ROKA’s approach has shaken up the marketplace in a positive manner and it looks set to keep reaping the benefits for many years to come.