John Heaney (Electrical) Limited (JHE), the Livingston-based electrical and mechanical company, has strengthened its senior management team as it prepares for its next stage of growth.

John Cowan steps up from Facilities Management (FM) Operations Manager to FM Operations Director, while Derek Menzies is promoted from Contracts Manager to Contracts Director.

The duo joins Managing Director Mark Heaney on the board alongside Steve Rodman and Gerry McGovern.

The family-run engineering firm specialises in all types of industrial and commercial mechanical and electrical installations and serves a client base throughout Scotland and the north of England from its West Lothian headquarters, including the likes of CBRE, Mitie, ISS Facilities Services UK and Integral. 

Welcoming the appointments, Mr Heaney said: “This is key to sustaining our growth and identifying the next steps forward.  We recognise that our business and success is built upon long-lasting relationships of respect and trust. We have forged a strong reputation over the years and want to keep building on that. Bringing John and Derek into these positions provides us with the ideal foundation to do that.

Where possible we have promoted from within and it has worked well for us. I am confident that will again be the case as we are fortunate to be able to call on people of their experience. 

Our investment in our staff allows us to continually grow in stature I am genuinely excited by what the future holds with the new structure in place. The pair of them have worked with much bigger organisations but it’s pleasing they recognise the opportunity here and what might lie ahead.”

Both new directors began their careers with JHE. John spent five years with the firm after joining in 1990 for his first permanent job on completion of his apprenticeship, returning in 2021.

He said: “I want to help move the business forward and further develop it as I believe there is strong potential for significant growth. Key will be continuing the customer service, maintaining the client relationships we have and building new ones. We get a lot of repeat business so must be doing something right.”

I have always had a strong affinity with John Heaney (Electrical). They provide a very good service and I really like their values of integrity and honesty. We have a number of staff who have been here for a long time and that’s because it’s a good company to work for. The saying ‘we’re big enough to cope, small enough to care’ sums us up.”

Derek spent 11 years with JHE after starting out as an apprentice in 1994 before joining Balfour Kilpatrick in 2005. He returned at the start of 2021 and said: “It was hard to turn down the approach to come back.  It’s an exciting time to be in this position whereby we can help steer the future direction of the business. 

John and I are both keen on modernising and updating the processes where possible as we strive to become the contractor of choice.”