We are Procoelum. We founded our construction business in 2021 and though the branding of Procoelum was ‘new’ by its company name, construction and the building industry was far from new for Alexandr Ghidirim, its Founder. Alexandr has 15 years+ experience in building and construction, and I (Zofia Sharman) joined him as Co-Founder, completely fresh and new to construction and property development. My background had been for 15+ years in sales recruiting, hiring professionals in corporate life and as a career coach which I continue to do today. I understand how every job translates and is inter-related with other job types via the same elements, for example, first and foremost all jobs are about people, connections and relationships irrespective of the profession or trade. I happen to build people’s careers, design their CVs, career direction and now with Procoelum this translates to building and designing people’s homes, their living spaces and also their lives. I am a builder too for many years like Alexandr, so you could say we are equal in our respective building capacity tenures! OK, technically not so for me but operationally yes. Alexandr builds houses and I build human beings. People, relationship and connection is what life is about. It’s also business and how it succeeds. It’s additionally for us about having integrity in what’s done, what’s held as value or as a quality standard and generally how you’re operating and being in the world to the best of your capacity.
We both came together in the first place to form Procoelum via mutual connections and built relationships. In 2019 I had stepped into a local architects shop down the road where I live and spotted a stunning onyx slab in there, the one you’ll see is now in our business branding and set into the wall at home. This same architect suggested Alexandr to refurbish my London residence though I initially declined given I’d already another builder lined up. Despite many attempts to secure the builder I’d already verbally given the business to, for some reason they’d stopped being in touch to leave me without a builder for my project. Or maybe the heavens stepped in – I returned to the architect and the build work with Alexandr started Feb 2020, then Covid hit. Over the time Alexandr and I both became clients of each other with me naturally providing general business support and counsel to help him launch and brand the business to what it is today operationally with new systems, processes and overall order to ensure the smooth running. This gives Alexandr the space to lead and take care of the end-to-end project build side of the business, the sub-contractors and project/site management, whilst I develop and lead in the background operationally and up front with building client relationships, supplier negotiations, pricing, costings and customer service. We are a great match together.
Background wise, Alexandr has developed small, mid to large scale residential projects across London up to several million (£) in value. He loves what he does and is proud of his work when he sees the client pleased with the result. He goes the extra mile to ensure everything is taken care of and the space or work area is left clear and tidy and ready for the next day’s work.
Originally from the Republic of Moldova and speaking 6 East European languages including English fluently, he’s soon to become a British citizen. Alexandr grew up in agricultural farming and has an educational background in horticulture, nature and prior to this criminology. Seasons, people, behaviour and how they mix, think, and move are of natural interest for Alexandr. He has a clear sense for the space, for the land where the building is positioned including its surrounding areas, and generally how everything is in it that includes the people that occupy the area and the interactions taking place. His priority is that ‘things should be natural’ and that they are encouraging of collaboration between people. He places his attention to the overall detail, to the angles and positioning and above all practicality to ensure there’s a flow to the living space.
As a recruiter I have met and interviewed thousands of people and recruited for many different positions across business and corporate life and have come across many work-related situations or dilemmas especially as a recruiter for the HR industry sector. I also worked 5 years in Singapore and have always been naturally interested in people, their culture, backgrounds, lives, how they are, what drives them or holds them back in their careers and getting the job they love and deserve. I spot potential in a person, candidate, client, CV sometimes before I’ve even met the person, and Alexandr does the same potential spotting in a job or project. Of course, key for us both is that potential is only potential, it is not yet landed and may not land, so we like to keep our feet on the ground realistic about the types of opportunities that come out way. Some we say yes to, and some we have learned to say no to and move on from.
Perhaps though as a recruiter/coach and as builders, our signature is that both of us really care and are known for sharing a joint focus on integrity in what we do and how we operate, and so when our close friend and business mentor Nicholas came up with a Procoelum business strapline ‘Built Integrity’, it was a natural fit.
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