Construction and Property Leadership Appointments

Once we have a signed brief, our construction and property practice is typically in market within days. We maintain active relationships across the built environment, which means we are not starting from cold.

Our typical timeline:

• Shortlist delivered within four to five weeks of brief sign-off
• Notice periods factored into planning from the outset
• Candidates approached directly, no time lost to advertising or inbound filtering

Our construction and property practice places across the full built environment lifecycle. The roles we most frequently fill include:

• Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors
• Operations Directors and Commercial Directors
• Finance Directors and CFOs
• Project Directors and Heads of Delivery
• Business Development Directors
• Board-level and Non-Executive Director appointments

We work across main contractors, housebuilders, developers, infrastructure businesses, civils contractors, fit-out specialists and built environment consultancies.

We work with a broad range of organisations across the built environment, including:

• Regional and national main contractors
• Large-scale residential and commercial developers
• Infrastructure and civils contractors
• Specialist fit-out and refurbishment contractors
• Built environment consultancies and project management firms
• Privately owned businesses, PE-backed groups and publicly listed companies

We understand the different leadership profiles each of these environments demands and brief accordingly.

Confidentiality is standard in every search we run. In construction and property, this matters particularly because leadership changes can affect:

• Supply chain and subcontractor relationships
• Client and project confidence on live schemes
• Internal team stability during delivery-critical periods

We approach all candidates directly and discreetly, without advertising the role or naming your organisation until you are ready. You retain full control over timing and communication throughout.

Every candidate is interviewed by a Novo consultant before being presented to you. Our assessment covers:

• Project delivery track record and scale of schemes managed
• P&L accountability and commercial judgement
• Leadership style and cultural alignment with your business
• Stakeholder management – clients, supply chain, board

We can also incorporate psychometric profiling and structured referencing at the final stages where the client requires additional assurance.

Yes. This is a routine part of our work in this sector. Whether you are replacing a senior leader, planning succession discreetly, or building a leadership team ahead of a new growth phase, we handle the process without any public-facing activity.

How we protect confidentiality:

• All candidate approaches are made directly and individually
• Your organisation is not identified until you explicitly choose to reveal it
• No advertising, no job boards, no visible market presence
• Brief and candidate information handled on a strict need-to-know basis