As the chairman and managing director of an award-winning construction contractor, Danny Lucas is proof that you can achieve anything even if you leave school with ‘no exams’

Less than a year after escaping an armed robbery at his home, Danny Lucas’s life began in earnest when he was told by a teacher that he would make nothing of himself, aged 15.

“I had a disruptive childhood,” said the chairman and managing director of decorating contractor Lucas, which has fitted out the Olympic Stadium and the Shard in a long list of prestigious past work.

He was 14 when two men burst into his family home in Wye Road in Gravesend and threatened him and a friend with an axe and a knife.

He escaped, after the axe was thrown at him, and the police later apprehended the men, but the terrifying ordeal sent him “off the rails” at school, coupled with a “messy divorce” between his parents.

He said: “I was disruptive and didn’t care but when a teacher said ‘Lucas, you will go nowhere’ and threw me out of school with no exams, it woke me up.

“It made me realise I wanted to do something with my life. It inspired me to prove myself.”

He joined his father Sam’s business as a labourer, getting up for 5am collections, and he eventually went to college and gained his City and Guilds qualifications.

"I was disruptive and didn’t care but when a teacher said ‘Lucas, you will go nowhere’ and threw me out of school with no exams, it woke me up..." - Danny Lucas

He became a director of the company in 1991. The firm moved its headquarters to Kent in 2010 and around the same time Mr Lucas took control of the business in a management buyout.

Its major projects since have included an extension of the Tate Modern, One Angel Court, McLaren’s production centre and buildings for BSkyB.

Earlier this month, the company secured £880,000 of refinancing from the bank to invest in the business.

In June, Mr Lucas was a finalist in the entrepreneur of the year category at KEiBA 2017 and the company won the Business Commitment to the Environment award for a product developed in the labs at its headquarters in Wrotham.

Lucas Breathe is a coating applied to buildings which reduces the harmful gases in the air like nitrous oxide pollution from traffic.

The product has big potential for towns and cities. London breached its annual air pollution limits five days into 2017.

Mr Lucas said: “Manufacturing has always inspired me. I used to write to companies like Mercedes as a kid wanting to know how things work. I was inquisitive and I wanted to be innovative.”

Aside from his main business, he has launched a litter reporting app, LitterGram, which alerts councils to litter problems in their area.

He won a high-profile battle with Instagram for the right to continue to use the name, which the Facebook-owned social media platform claimed was too similar to its own.

Mr Lucas said: “We are always coming up with new things and sometimes we stumble across technology that has an application in the real world.

“We have this spread of enthusiasm in the company which is quite infectious.

“We are always trying to create new things and move forward.

“We really are a company that is pushing the boundaries of sustainability and doing things better environmentally.”

What makes a good leader?

“You have got to lead by example and show people you care. It comes from the top. If people see you have got different standards to what you’re preaching, because you don’t care, then that shines through straight away and people aren’t loyal to you. You have got to live by your values. It becomes the culture of the company.”

What has been your career high point?

“The year 2012 was the culmination of a lot of things. It was two years after I’d taken over the business in a management buyout from my father, which was a challenging period because I was driving the business ahead with a new vision. I’d had my head down for a couple of years and then we had done the fit out of the Olympic Stadium, the Shard and the McLaren production centre. I couldn’t believe what we had achieved and it made me really proud.”

Why does your contracting business also have a research arm?

“Innovation and research is at the heart of what we do. You haven’t got a business if you aren’t innovative. If you’re not moving ahead and looking at how you can improve things then you stand still and others take over. Lucas Breathe is an amazing breakthrough and life changing. It’s amazing from a business point of view but the good it does for the public and raising awareness is a win, win, win.”

You’re known for having a big personality. What does that bring to the business?

“I was pretty reserved and shy over the years. My confidence only shone through in the early 2000s when I was given the opportunity to head up the business, at which point I’d already been working in the company for 20 years. If you don’t put yourself out there and put out what you believe, no-one knows. Now everyone thinks I’m larger than life.”

CV

Born: 5/7/1967 in Hackney, London

School: St John’s Catholic Comprehensive School, Gravesend

Live: Tonbridge

Family: married to Debbie with two children, Jakob and Holly

First job: Joined Lucas as a labourer, aged 15

First wage: £8 a day

Salary now: Undisclosed

Car: Mercedes Benz S500

Film: It’s a Wonderful Life

Music: Talking Heads, Genesis, Peter Gabriel, Steely Dan

Last holiday: Portugal

Charity: British Lung Foundation, Chelsea Pensioners

Typical day

Danny Lucas begins answering emails and texting colleagues between 5.30am and 6.30am.

He arrives at the head office in Wrotham or on site between 7am and 7.30am.

“There is no clock-watching at Lucas,” he said. “There is a lot of innovation going on.”

His days are split between speaking to clients, visiting sites and dealing with new bids for work.

He said: “Lucas is like a virtual factory which I walk around. That can be at projects in London, at our facilities in Kent or meeting clients in their offices.”

In his downtime, he enjoys photography and being active on social media.