Meet the Supplier: Get to know AD Construction Group

In our latest ‘Meet the Supplier’ feature, we caught up with James Ellis, Operations Director of AD Construction Group, supplier on the GFP decarbonisation delivery framework. 

James talks about the company’s growth from a small decorating firm set up in 1944 to a multi-disciplinary contractor.  

He outlined its commitment to innovation, including digital resident engagement tools and the development of a Resident Engagement App, and its plans to continue investing in people and skills over the next 12 months. 

What is your company’s mission statement/aims /objectives? 

Our aim is to deliver safe, high-quality and energy-efficient homes through a culture shaped by integrity, accountability and excellence. We focus on improving the lives of residents while helping clients achieve their strategic objectives and long-term sustainability goals. 

AD transforms spaces and builds lasting relationships by delivering exceptional refurbishment, maintenance and retrofit services with care, quality and integrity. We aim to be a trusted public-sector partner, provide excellent customer experience, and create long-term value for residents, clients and the wider community. 

We have four core purposes: 

• Preferred Partner: To be the go-to provider for comprehensive refurbishment and maintenance services across London and the South of England. 

• Sustainable Success: To remain profitable and commercial while acting responsibly toward our communities, staff, and stakeholders. 

• Excellence in Service: To deliver exceptional quality and workmanship to public sector bodies and property management companies through highly qualified professionals. 

• Empowered Workforce: To train, develop, and retain a skilled team who take pride in their work. 

Can you give us a brief history of your company? 

AD began in 1944 as a small decorating firm built on quality craftsmanship and honest, trustworthy service. These values remain at the core of who we are today. When Steve Doyle took over leadership from his father, the company entered a period of steady and well-managed growth, expanding into a multi-disciplinary contractor serving the social housing sector. 

Over the decades, AD has grown to deliver planned works, cyclical decorations, fire safety, windows and doors, roofing and large-scale retrofit programmes, operating across London, the South East and Home Counties. It has a turnover of £60m plus and is supported by over 180 skilled staff and a strong, reliable supply chain. 

Even as the business has expanded and broadened its service offering, AD has maintained the family values that shaped its early years – trust, accountability and genuine care for residents. This ethos sits alongside our ongoing investment in safety and quality, reflected in our consecutive Distinctions in the British Safety Council International Safety Awards. 

AD delivers services via three main work streams: 

• Planned maintenance 

• Fire safety/fire stopping 

• Energy efficiency/healthy homes 

What are the benefits of being a supplier on this framework? 

Pretium gives us a clear and collaborative route to work with clients who share our focus on improving homes and the resident experience. The framework creates the stability needed for long-term planning, consistent delivery and meaningful investment in skills and supply chain capacity. 

For AD, the benefits include: 

• A stable pipeline that supports workforce planning, skills development and supply chain continuity. 

• Early engagement with clients, enabling better programme planning, mobilisation and risk management. 

• A collaborative environment where partners share insight, innovations and best practice across retrofit, safety and planned works. 

• Alignment with client priorities around decarbonisation, resident wellbeing and long-term asset management. 

• The framework complements our partnership-based delivery model and our commitment to long-term client relationships. 

What specific products or services does your company deliver through the framework?

AD delivers full PAS 2030/2035-compliant retrofit and energy-efficiency programmes through the GFP decarbonisation delivery framework. Our services encompass assessment, design, installation, resident engagement and quality assurance across a range of measures, including: 

• Loft and cavity wall insulation 

• Internal and external wall insulation 

• Solar PV 

• Air Source Heat Pumps 

• Mechanical ventilation 

• Underfloor insulation 

• Window and door replacement 

• Roof insulation 

• High heat retention storage heaters 

We currently support clients such as the Hyde Group, Tandridge Council and Settle Housing, across both Wave 2 and Wave 3 programmes. 

Can you share some key achievements or successful projects completed through the framework? 

The framework has created opportunities for clients to continue and expand their retrofit programmes with confidence. AD’s achievements include: 

• Supporting Tandridge Council’s progression from Wave 2 into Wave 3, reflecting trust in our approach and delivery model. 

• Early engagement and appointment by Settle HA for both Wave 2 and Wave 3, demonstrating confidence in our technical capabilities. 

• Strong resident satisfaction, driven by our CSR team, clear communication and team professionalism. 

• Strengthening our retrofit supply chain with training, accreditation and consistent investment. 

The clearest indicator of success is the willingness of clients to extend programmes and appoint AD for successive waves of funding. 

What sets your business apart from competitors? 

Our distinctiveness lies in our culture, our delivery quality and our commitment to public-sector housing. We bring the capability of a main contractor with the personal accountability of a family business, aiming to build strong and trustworthy relationships, a combination that clients consistently value. 

Our strengths include: 

• A family-led ethos, promoting trust, transparency and long-term relationships. 

• A resident-first service model, with dedicated CSRs and clear, accessible communication. 

• High delivery standards, supported by PAS 2030, TrustMark, ISO14001, CSRA Gold, Investors in People (IIP) accreditation and IIP Investors in Apprentices Silver accreditation, 5% Club Platinum, and back-to-back Distinctions in the British Safety Council International Safety Awards. 

• Technical expertise across planned works, fire safety and zero-carbon delivery, supported by accredited multi-measure capability and in-house retrofit professionals. 

• Meaningful, measurable social value, including apprenticeships, award-winning earn and learn/social mobility schemes, community investment and digital inclusion support. 

• Sustainable growth, ensuring quality and consistency without overextending delivery capacity. 

• Commitment to innovation, including digital resident engagement tools and the development of our Resident Engagement App. 

Clients often highlight our communication, responsiveness and willingness to take ownership; attributes that define the AD approach. 

How does your company contribute positively to the communities it operates in? 

AD is committed to delivering meaningful social value that enhances opportunity, wellbeing and resilience across our communities. Our work focuses on practical support, skills development and environmental improvement. We have invested in creating a defined Social Value Coordinator role, established clear strategic goals, and expanded the scope and reporting of our social value measures. This work has been recognised by clients, including award nominations for going the ‘extra mile’ in delivering community benefit. 

Our Social Value initiatives include: 

• Employment and skills planning, providing apprenticeships, work placements, career support and digital inclusion workshops for residents. 

• Educational outreach, helping young people build confidence, raise aspirations and gain insight into future careers. 

• Community improvement projects, such as hub refurbishments, upgraded outdoor spaces and donations to support vulnerable families. 

• Support for youth development, including materials and equipment for training programmes that help young people gain trade experience. 

• Environmental contributions, such as planting, biodiversity enhancements and estate clean-ups. 

What will be the key areas of focus for your business over the next 12 months? 

Our focus areas reflect the needs of our clients, the expectations of residents and the future direction of the social housing sector. Over the next year, we will prioritise: 

• Consistent, high-quality, safe delivery, driven by strong planning, robust controls and clear programme oversight. 

• Exceptional customer service, ensuring communication, responsiveness and satisfaction remain central to our approach. 

• Reducing environmental impact, improving waste performance, fleet efficiency and sustainable procurement. 

• Strengthening social value, expanding employment support, community investment and partnerships with local organisations. 

• Responsible growth, reinforcing existing relationships and ensuring quality remains uncompromised as capacity increases. 

• Investment in people and skills, with a continued emphasis on apprenticeships, structured training pathways and leadership development. AD currently has 16 apprentices working across major contracts, with over 14% of our workforce enrolled in structured training, securing AD Platinum membership of the 5% Club. This exceeds industry benchmarks and forms a crucial part of our strategy to address sector-wide skills shortages while creating long-term opportunities for local people. 

What are the biggest challenges currently facing the housing sector? 

The housing sector is facing a period of significant regulatory, operational and financial pressure. Recent legislative changes, increased scrutiny and rising resident expectations have created a challenging landscape for landlords and the wider supply chain. Key pressures include: 

• Strengthened consumer regulation (and the Social Housing Competence & Conduct Standard) with the Regulator of Social Housing’s new standards and TSMs placing greater focus on transparency, responsiveness and the lived experience of residents. 

• Awaab’s Law, which from October introduced strict timescales for addressing damp and mould, requiring robust triage processes, consistent data capture and fast, coordinated responses. 

• Renewed focus on all 29 HHSRS hazards, driving the need for accurate property assessment, updated asset data, and clear escalation routes where hazards are identified. 

• Building Safety Act compliance, including delays in the Gateway approval process for higher-risk buildings, which impacts planning, programming and delivery certainty. 

• The national skills gap, particularly in retrofit, compliance, fire safety and specialist trades, affecting the sector’s ability to meet regulatory expectations and deliver improvement programmes at scale. 

• Decarbonisation pressures, where landlords must transition homes toward EPC C by 2030, requiring sustained funding, strong access strategies and reliable installation capacity. 

• SHDF Wave funding cycles, where condensed timelines, design requirements and resident engagement influence deliverability and long-term planning. 

• Rising cost-of-living pressures, compounded by inefficient housing stock, which increase demand for investment in warm, safe and affordable homes. 

We recognise the scale of these pressures and work closely with clients to help them respond. Our teams are in residents’ homes every day, enabling us to identify issues early, support compliance, and contribute to safer, healthier and more energy-efficient homes. 

What are the biggest challenges currently facing your company and supply chain partners? 

While the broader regulatory environment shapes the sector, contractors and supply chain partners face their own operational challenges. For AD, the key pressures relate to capability, capacity and the resources needed to maintain high delivery standards in a fast-moving landscape. 

The main challenges include: 

• Recruitment and retention of skilled labour, particularly in accredited PAS 2030/2035 roles, fire safety disciplines and emerging energy-efficiency technologies. 

• Material availability and price volatility, especially for insulation, fire protection products, windows and specialist M&E components, which require early planning and strong supplier relationships. 

• Increasing compliance and assurance requirements, which demand ongoing investment in systems, training and internal governance to maintain quality and meet regulatory expectations. 

• Supply chain resilience, particularly among SMEs who face rising operational costs, accreditation requirements and fluctuating labour availability. 

• Programme certainty, where fluctuating scopes, resident access constraints and SHDF-related timelines contribute to delivery risk and planning complexity. 

• Scaling capacity to support EPC C ambitions, requiring workforce development, long-term programming and alignment between contractors, designers and clients. 

We mitigate these challenges through proactive planning, a strong internal training and apprenticeship offer, and sustained collaboration with clients and supply chain partners. Our approach is built around early engagement, transparent communication and continuous improvement, ensuring that we maintain quality, consistency and safety across all programmes. 

Are there any recent innovations or developments in your business that excite you? 

Yes. A significant innovation is our Resident Engagement App, launching in phases from 2026. Designed to improve accessibility and communication, the app will: 

• Provide appointment information and reminders 

• Offer live updates, surveys and feedback tools 

• Include QR-code-enabled guidance 

• Support digital inclusion 

• Link residents to job and apprenticeship opportunities 

We have also expanded our communication capacity with a Business & Marketing Assistant, strengthening how we share successes, social value activity and project outcomes with clients and residents. 

If you were Housing Minister for the day, what would you change? 

I would prioritise reforms that deliver safer, warmer, more efficient homes through clear, consistent policy: 

• Accelerate building safety approvals, ensuring no life-critical works are delayed by avoidable bureaucracy. 

• Establish a long-term national retrofit strategy, giving providers and supply chains confidence to invest. 

• Invest in training and skills, building the workforce required to deliver net zero and maintain safe homes. 

• Put residents at the centre, ensuring their voice, wellbeing and experience shape policy and delivery. 

Can you tell us an interesting fact about your organisation? 

AD has worked on royal residences in the past including Buckingham Palace and properties at the Royal Windsor estate. 

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