STEVE WAYT · FORWARD PROJECTS
On a small-scale development, everything rides on getting it right: your savings, a personal guarantee, your name with lenders. And the costliest mistakes are made early, often before you know they’re mistakes.
I bring 33 years as a chartered engineer and project manager, and the latest AI tools, to your corner: advice, challenge and introductions to get each deal right, and independent oversight of the team you appoint. You stay in charge.
Your deal.
An experienced head beside it.
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THE SHORT VERSION
What a non-executive advisor is, who I am, and the steer I give at each stage of your deal.
WHAT A NON-EXECUTIVE ADVISOR IS
A non-executive advisor sits outside your business, but on your side. I don’t run your company and I’m not a director, so you keep every decision. What you get is someone who has seen projects go right and wrong, who will test your thinking before your money is committed, and who can open the right doors.
I work alongside you, not as an executive: you still appoint your professional team (project manager, QS and design team) to do the work. I’m an experienced sounding board, part mentor and part coach, and I provide technical oversight and governance. I’ll guide you through the risks you’ll encounter, and help you focus on the things that deliver a successful project.
01 / WHO I HELP
Whether it’s your first scheme or your fifth, or a building of your own that should work harder, we start with what you want to achieve.
FIRST SCHEMES
Your first deal carries everything: your savings, a personal guarantee, your standing with lenders. You need someone who has seen projects go wrong, before yours does.
I help with
GROWING DEVELOPERS
You’re running several projects, and one slip can hurt them all. You need a sounding board, and independent oversight of the people running programme, cost and contractors for you.
I help with
PROPERTY OWNERS & BUSINESSES
You own a property, or run a business from one, and want to convert, extend or redevelop it. You need an independent professional on your side, not the contractor’s.
I help with
02 / HOW I HELP
Most of a scheme’s risk is fixed long before anyone is on site. That’s why I’m most useful early, and why I stay with you to the sale.
FIND
A sense check before you spend on surveys: condition, use class, access, services and the obvious deal-breakers.
APPRAISE
Your appraisal tested line by line (values, build costs, fees, finance and contingency), and what happens when they move.
PLAN
The planning route, including permitted development and Class MA prior approval, and the right planning consultant to take it forward.
FUND
Funding-ready: a clear scheme, a credible team and a realistic programme and cost plan to put in front of your broker and lender.
BUILD
Advice on choosing contractors and contracts (JCT or NEC), your duties as client under CDM and the Building Regulations, and oversight of how your PM and QS control programme, cost, quality and change.
EXIT
The buyer or tenant kept in view from day one, and a clean handover with the documents lenders and buyers expect.
Across every stage: regular reviews and a live risk register your team keeps, so surprises are found while they’re still cheap to fix.
03 / MEET STEVE
BSc (Hons) · MEng · MSc · CEng · MICE · MIStructE · MAPM
FOUNDER, FORWARD PROJECTS
NON-EXECUTIVE ADVISOR TO PROPERTY DEVELOPERS
Where: based near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Working with developers anywhere in England.
I started out designing buildings with Arup, including Brindley Place in Birmingham, then worked on site for John Laing on building projects of up to £22M.
In all, I’ve spent 33 years delivering projects and programmes: extensions and refurbishments, factories, towers and masts, project controls on a £750M power station, and nuclear programmes for EDF Energy and Magnox, where the regulator watches every decision.
Along the way I studied business and finance, with an MSc in Property Business and Management and the full course of ACCA’s Diploma in Financial Management. In 2024–25 I completed propertyCEO’s year-long mentorship programme to learn development the way small developers do it. I appraise and make offers on opportunities myself, so I know how it feels from your side of the table. If our interests ever overlap, I’ll tell you straight away.
That mix is rare: an engineer who can read a structural survey, a project manager who can tell when a programme is slipping, and why, and someone who understands the appraisal, the lender and the exit. Most developers would need three people for that. I founded Forward Projects in 2007 so clients could deal with one senior person who sees the whole picture, and that’s still what you get.
What has changed since 2007 is the tools. I’ve worked with AI since 2022, hold more than 40 LinkedIn Learning certificates in AI, data science and statistics, and build AI-embedded tools and apps for my business.
| Who you might turn to | What they give you | What I add |
|---|---|---|
| A course or mentoring programme | Knowledge, a community, group calls | I get to know your deal and tell you the hard truths about it |
| A large development consultancy | A strong brand and a team | Senior attention, however small your scheme |
| Your specialists (architect, QS, solicitor) | Deep expertise in one discipline each | I join their work up, help you understand and brief them, and help you spot and manage the risks that fall between them |
| Your construction team (contractor, site team) | The build itself | Support and oversight once building starts, so you’re never caught out on cost, programme or contract terms |
With Forward Projects, you get one chartered professional who sees the whole deal, works for you alone and stays with it to the sale.
04 / EXPERIENCE
Whatever you’re building, the chances are I’ve been somewhere similar. The scale changes; the discipline doesn’t.
BUILDINGS
Structural design, site engineering and project management, on jobs up to £22M.
For youI can read your survey and engineer’s report, and spot the expensive questions early.
INDUSTRY
Construction contracts from £100k to £3M for Eaton, with further work at aerospace and automotive sites.
For youSound advice on tendering, contracts and managing contractors at the scale of your scheme.
TOWERS & TELECOMS
Novel engineering designs, and reappraisals of existing structures, for a specialist manufacturer.
For youReappraising what’s already there, which is the heart of every conversion.
CONVENTIONAL POWER
Planning, risk, earned value and reporting support on a c.£750M power station project.
For youKnowing what good programme and cost reporting looks like, so you see trouble coming.
NUCLEAR
Safety cases, new plant, safety reviews and independent reviews for EDF Energy and Magnox.
For youIndependent challenge and risk management to the highest standard.
AI & DIGITAL
AI tools and training, shaped by knowing how this work gets done.
For youFaster, deeper checks on your deal.
Why the big projects matter to a small scheme: they are where I learned rigour, in challenging environments with conflicting priorities and health and safety as the golden thread throughout. Experience gained with and for: Arup, John Laing, Craddy & Partner, Francis & Lewis, Atkins, Magnox, E.ON, EDF Energy, Interserve and Eaton. Forward Projects was founded in 2007, on experience going back to 1993.
CASE STUDIES
Four projects, and the lesson each one holds for a developer.
A 26-week building extension run with the same discipline as a nuclear programme.
For your scheme: the brief, your client duties and your choice of contractor decide most of the outcome.
Read the case studyA programme stopped at a formal review point because better information pointed to a simpler route.
For your scheme: set your walk-away tests before you’re emotionally invested, then keep reviewing the business case as new information emerges.
Read the case studyAn independent review that found over £2M of efficiencies, then was trusted to deliver its own conclusions.
For your scheme: this is a non-executive advisor’s job: owing the plan nothing.
Read the case studyA new strategy for stations in very different states, with an estimated £10M saving.
For your scheme: when the market or the building changes, change the plan, not just the dates. That might mean pivoting the exit from selling to renting.
Read the case study05 / FLUENT IN AI
AI doesn’t replace experience. It lets experience go further. I use it every day to do more for you, in less time.
The judgement stays human. I check everything AI produces, and I’ll tell you plainly where it helps and where it doesn’t.
Development appraisal and sensitivity testing, built from the appraisal spreadsheets I use myself, with a wider plan for AI-assisted assessment across the whole project.
Studies of where development sites are most likely to be found and to work, and tools that track new opportunities against your criteria.
Specialist knowledge turned into working tools, the same way I approach your deal: an exam-study platform for project managers (opens in a new tab), coaching for Chartered Project Professional applications (opens in a new tab) and a UK pension planner (opens in a new tab).
06 / WORKING TOGETHER
No two developers need the same thing. Some want a second opinion on one deal; others want someone beside them for a whole scheme. We’ll talk first about what you want to achieve, then agree the support that fits, in writing, before any work starts.
As much or as little as you need: we agree the rhythm in your proposal.
What I don’t do. I’m not a financial adviser, tax adviser, valuer or solicitor. Nor am I your project manager or QS: you appoint them, and I help you direct them and hold them to account. When you need one, I’ll introduce you to people I rate.
LET’S FIND A WAY FORWARD
A building you’ve found, a deal that needs testing, or a scheme that needs a second opinion. Tell me where you are, and I’ll reply personally within one working day.
Prefer to talk? Message me on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab), or ask for a call in your message.