The management buy-out of Mace Operate has been led by the FM arm’s chief executive Ross Abbate and financial director Chris Bampton alongside Mace Group deputy chairman Mark Holmes, who will become chair of the new standalone firm.

The independent business will return to being called Macro, employing more than 700 people around the globe, with an annual turnover of £130m.

Macro MBO team: New chairman Mark Holmes, chief executive Ross Abbate and financial director Chris Bampton

Macro and Mace Group will retain a close relationship, with a transitional services agreement in place for the next nine months.

In the long-term, Macro will act as a ‘preferred supplier’ for Mace‘s own facilities management services, while exploring potential future joint servicing offers to existing clients.

Abbate said: “Over the past 20 years, Macro has established itself as a leading facilities management expert under the umbrella of the Mace Group – and now, as an independent company we will be able to build on that success to invest in new and transformed services for our clients and create fantastic new opportunities for Macro colleagues across the globe.”

The divestment has prompted a restructure at the Mace Group. Just four years after aligning the business into four ‘Engines for Growth’, the group will be restructured and consolidated into two units – Consultancy and Construction.

The fourth Engine, Develop, will now be integrated into Consultancy. In the past two years, Mace said it had significantly reduced its development activities and would now offer 0nly development management consultancy services.

Alongside these structural changes, Jason Millett, currently Mace’s CEO for Consultancy, will take up the new role of Group Deputy CEO.

Millett starts his new job in the New Year, retaining oversight of the Consult Engine.

Jason Millett to become Mace Group deputy CEO 

In the post, he will work closely with group chair and chief executive Mark Reynolds delivering the remaining three years of Mace’s 2026 Business Strategy to target £3bn turnover.

He will also lead the launch of ‘Vision 2030’, a strategy setting exercise running over the next twelve months to shape the future of the Group over the next seven years.

Mace said his appointment would help to ensure stronger governance, closer alignment, and more effective oversight of Mace’s operations as it continued to grow.

Reynolds said: “Mace’s core expertise has always been in delivering the complex and challenging projects and programmes that have shaped the last thirty years of our growth.

“Our ambition is to be the leading company of global programme and project delivery consultants and construction experts, and I look forward to working with Jason in his new role and the wider Mace team over the next few years to make that a reality.”