Thomas Rae

Commercial Director and pre-construction leader with over eight years' experience across the London fit-out, workspace, and life sciences markets, progressing from M&E estimating to full commercial ownership of a business. I pair deep building-services and technical knowledge with a strong commercial focus, and have delivered more than 1,650,000 ft² of office and laboratory space across London and the Home Counties. My record is one of growing revenue, raising tender win rates, and building the supply chains and documentation that make bids more competitive.

I am currently engaged with CIBSE and the Engineering Council to obtain MCIBSE CEng accreditation.

Commercial Director & Head of Pre-Construction at Imperial (2025-07 – Present)

Dual remit covering the commercial performance of the business and its pre-construction function, leading the pre-construction team through the early stages of every incoming project. In my first year I have driven a period of significant growth, increasing annual revenue from £2,000,000 to £7,800,000 by strengthening the supply chain, improving bid competitiveness, and raising conversion at tender stage. Alongside this remit I led a complete overhaul of the company's marketing and client-facing documentation, redeveloping bid materials, presentations, and case studies to present a more consistent brand and build greater client confidence.

• Increased annual revenue from £2,000,000 to £7,800,000 within the first year.
• Hold dual responsibility as Commercial Director and Head of Pre-Construction.
• Set the commercial strategy for the business and direct the pre-construction team across all incoming projects.
• Overhauled all marketing information and client-facing documentation, raising brand quality and consistency.
• Present proposals and progress reports to clients and internal stakeholders.

Technical Director at Maris Interiors LLP (2024-07 – 2025-07)

Led the pre-construction process at Maris Interiors, overseeing the compilation of commercial bids, managing adjudication with project stakeholders, and allocating resources to improve work win rate. I was appointed to the largest project in the company's history, valued at £25,000,000, expanded the supply chain to improve bid competitiveness, and gained valuable experience coordinating in-house MEP and partitioning packages.

• Secured over £25,000,000 of work within the first five months.
• Assigned the largest project in Maris's history.
• Improved all client-facing documentation and marketing materials.
• Managed and coordinated in-house MEP and partitioning packages.

Senior Pre-Contracts Manager at Arke Creative Ltd (2022-08 – 2024-08)

Managed the pre-contract commercial process for up to 15 simultaneous Design & Build projects from RIBA Stage 2–5, leading interior designers, CAD technicians, and specialist subcontractors on schemes from £100,000 to £10,000,000. I expanded Arke's subcontractor network into new sectors including healthcare and laboratory fit-out, and took on greater project-directing and client-facing responsibility with partners such as CBRE, Gardiner & Theobald, and Cushman & Wakefield.

• Won over £16,400,000 of work, including Arke's largest-ever project, Heidrick & Struggles.
• Increased M&E bid competitiveness during pre-construction by 22%.
• Acted as the M&E internal expert, pitching highly technical service schemes to industry specialists.
• Reviewed and negotiated all MEP subcontractor costs and design submissions to improve profitability.
• Supported the sales team on new business, adding technical and design input to build client confidence.

Senior Pre-Contracts Manager at AIS Workspace Ltd / AIS Life Sciences Ltd (2021-01 – 2022-09)

Sole pre-contract manager across AIS Workspace and Life Sciences, overseeing Design & Build contracts. I grew the Life Sciences laboratory fit-out arm from a fledgling business to £5,000,000 turnover within one year, secured £10,000,000 of turnover across CAT A, A+, and B fit-outs, and raised the win rate from 55% to 70% at 30% profitability.

• Negotiated over £1,850,000 of savings across pre-construction and active projects.
• Secured over £5,000,000 of Life Sciences work.
• Increased M&E bid competitiveness during pre-construction by 15%.
• Designed and implemented 15+ pre-construction programmes.
• Conducted extensive JCT contract negotiations and drafted letters of intent and instruction.

M&E Estimator at Modus Workspace Ltd (2020-02 – 2021-01)

Recruited to overhaul the pre-construction team's building services function, covering pricing methodology, compliance assessment, take-off, and subcontractor bid levelling. Also appointed Technical Services Manager on up to 8 simultaneous projects worth up to £5,000,000 each, providing design and commercial oversight from RIBA Stage 2–7.

• Lifted the tender win rate from 45% to 70% and increased M&E bid competitiveness by 31%.
• Negotiated over £750,000 of savings across pre-construction and active projects.
• Reviewed and negotiated all MEP subcontractor costs and design submissions to improve profitability.
• Supported the sales team on new business, building relationships with clients such as JLL and Savills.

Senior Mechanical Estimator at JLL (Integral) (2017-12 – 2020-02)

Within Integral's London pre-construction team, I compiled the mechanical elements of all incoming tenders from RIBA Stage 2–4a, developing cost plans and value engineering on projects of up to £15,000,000 M&E value across the residential, commercial, education, and healthcare sectors, and pitched projects alongside Integral and JLL's board of directors.

• Developed cost plans and value engineering using Trimble Contract Master.
• Analysed main contractor tender information and issued the required enquiries and RFIs.
• Strengthened supply-chain relationships to improve price competitiveness and return rates.
• Compiled project marketing information including submission letters, presentations, and case studies.

MSc in Advanced Manufacturing: Technology and Systems – University of Strathclyde, DMEM Engineering Faculty (2015-11)

BSc (Hons) in Industrial Design – The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen (2013-07)