With an ever-growing ifse team thanks to a steady influx of exciting new projects, it’s with great pleasure that we welcome Design Office Manager, David Hones, to oversee and collaborate with our dedicated team of in-house design experts.
From his recent experience in the design industry to his new role at ifse and how he likes to unwind, read on to learn all about our new addition to the design team.
What’s your new role at ifse? Who will you be working with and what will you be doing?
I’ve been really fortunate to recently take on the role of Design Office Manager for ifse. A large part of this role will be closely collaborating with our design team and managing our long list of projects alongside our Creative Director, Sally Medina.
I’ll be spending my time overseeing the design process using technical expertise. motivating and encouraging our in-house design team, ensuring structural drawings and designs are easy to decipher and are produced on time and to the high quality we’re famous for.
One of the many great things about the role is that I get the chance to work on something new every day with almost everyone in the company, teaming up with the Sales, Estimating and Project Management departments across a wide variety of projects.
Tell us a bit about your background, qualifications, and recent roles across the Construction and Building industry.
In terms of education and qualifications, I was grateful to graduate with a BSc in Product Design from Bournemouth University, the same university as Commercial Director Adam, and also completed the prestigious CFSP course to support my knowledge of the catering sector.
Following my time at university, I spent 6 years at Nelson Catering Equipment and another 6 years at ABDA, progressing my way from Designer to Senior Designer before starting my current position as Design Office Manager, plus some other bits of experience here and there.
How does this background and experience relate to your new role?
To be honest, given these qualifications and a pretty extensive background in the world of interior design to boot, I feel like my background perfectly aligns with my new role.
I gained some incredibly valuable insights into the world of restaurant design at Nelson’s, learned all about kitchens and interior design at ABDA, managed junior designers throughout my career, and even delved into the world of sustainability and building standards having focused on BREEAM and BIM in recent years.
What’s a project you’ve worked on that you’re proud of?
I’ve had the privilege of working on some absolutely fantastic projects throughout my career for a wide variety of clients, including working as a Design consultant for the Barclays state-of-the-art campus in Glasgow, creating the commercial kitchen for the Kyubi restaurant at the Arts Club London, and even developing the kitchen and servery area at Solihull School, plus many more.
I can’t wait to replicate some of these experiences during my time with the new ifse team!
How have you found your first week at ifse?
Having only started on Monday this week, I’m very happy to say that my first few days at ifse have exceeded my expectations.
The entire team is incredibly welcoming, and there are some really exciting projects in the pipeline that I’m keen to get stuck into and share with you at a later date.
It’s safe to say that I’m genuinely looking forward to my time with the new team.
What do you do to unwind outside of work?
I keep myself pretty busy both inside and outside of the office these days.
When I’m not spending time with my young kids (though I’m not sure if you can call that ‘unwinding’), you’ll find me either on the golf course taking some lessons to improve my swing, indulging in some cooking and baking in the kitchen or kicking back with the F1 on the telly, as I’m a passionate supporter of the McLaren team.
I also dabble in a bit of DIY around the house from time to time, blowing off some steam (and dust!)
