Gary Oates has spent the past 14 months as GMI’s northeast operations director, growing the contractor’s presence in an area that previously fell under its Yorkshire division.
He has established an office on Teesside and is in the process of moving to larger premises in Stockton-on-Tees to accommodate a 25-strong construction management team.
GMI is currently principal contractor on several high-profile projects in the northeast, including 362,600 sq ft of commercial units at Hillthorn Business Park in Washington and the 650,000 sq ft Connect warehouse and logistics scheme at the Integra 61 development near Bowburn. It recently completed the construction phase of North Durham Retail Park, near Durham’s Arnsion Centre.
Lee Powell, chief executive of GMI Construction Group, said: “The northeast is hugely important to this business and there are many exciting projects in the pipeline that support levelling up across the region. GMI already has a proud history in the northeast and is excited to be delivering the infrastructure necessary to achieve economic growth and prosperity.
“Appointing Gary to this new role of divisional managing director underlines our commitment to the northeast while recognising Gary’s outstanding contribution in further strengthening our presence here.”
Gary Oates initially spent 15 years with GMI Construction Group, starting as a site manager and progressing to contracts manager. He then worked for TSL Projects for five years before re-joining GMI in October 2021.
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