I started programming on a Commodore 64 in 1987 — aged seven, with my parents helping me type the code in. The computer never stopped being part of how I think, but the path between then and now zigzagged through music, the building trade, restaurant ownership, and a decade of construction project management before it landed back at software.
Intelligent Operations is what I do with that experience now — rebuilding how UK small to medium businesses run for the AI era, on a monthly retainer, powered by Forge. Same operator discipline I'd bring to a 440-apartment conversion or a hotel refurbishment, applied to the bit of your business that actually moves the needle.
Most of my career has been spent in rooms where the plan has to work on Monday morning — not in a deck, but on a site, with real people, real budgets, and a client who has already paid a deposit. I've run a recording studio, built and operated a restaurant, delivered hotel refurbishments and a 440-apartment block, and rebuilt the digital systems for multiple electrical and M&E contractors. The thread is operations: making the work actually happen.
The lens I bring to every engagement comes from that. Strategy matters, but only the bits that survive contact with an actual business. I'd rather hand you one clear move that works than a forty-page report you'll never read again.
The overlap I've ended up specialising in is rare — someone who can read a JCT contract, build the software underneath it, and run the project on site. That's the whole reason Intelligent Operations exists.
The umbrella company. In 2024 I built and launched Forge — an AI-native workspace platform that gives AI agents the tasks, files, and context to run real business processes. In 2026 I rebranded the consulting side as Intelligent Operations: strategy, digital operations, websites, search, and construction commercial work delivered through a monthly retainer, with Forge as the engine underneath.
Process improvement, digital strategy, and operational systems across the business. Rebuilt quoting, invoicing, project reporting, and the Xero-led data model the business runs on. Ongoing.
Start-up phase: business planning and establishing operational processes. Stepped in on rescue packages from a previous contractor that had gone into liquidation — commercial reset, programme rebuild, completion handover.
440-apartment conversion at Wembley Point, Hilton Hotel Canterbury refurbishment, 40-plot new build at Harwich, 300-room student accommodation in Brighton. Ran the tender procedure, sub-contractor selection, payment applications, valuations of variations, and the financial reporting model used by the client and lender throughout.
Built, operated, and digitised a city-centre restaurant. Project-managed the construction, ran finance as CFO, and coded the website and back-office tools myself (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Firebase). The first time I worked the build, the books, and the software at the same time — and noticed they're the same job in three languages.
Hotels and student accommodation: Ibis Budget Luton (134 beds), Novotel Stansted Airport (250 beds), Marland House Southampton (107-bed student), Oakhill Mansions Bristol (172 rooms). Monthly management accounts, payment certifications, interim valuations, variations pricing, final accounts, recruitment.
Ten years running a music business. Built a recording studio, sound-engineered live performances, travelled — studio time in London, Ibiza, LA. The decade where I learned that running anything well comes down to systems, people, and attention.
Commercial delivery for OSR London — procurement, sub-contractor management, and the financial reporting model used by the client and lender throughout.
Refurbishment and extension of a Hilton property — full project management across guest rooms and back-of-house, against a hospitality operator's expectations.
Ibis Budget Luton (134-bed), Novotel Stansted Airport (250-bed), Marland House Southampton (107-bed student accommodation). Monthly management accounts and full commercial cycle.
Stepped in after a contractor had gone into liquidation mid-job. Commercial reset, programme rebuild, transparent client communication, handover to a completion team.
Seven-site portfolio targeting UK regulatory niches — Employment Rights, heat-pump grants, SEND appeals, ombudsman complaints, immigration, pension IHT, social care. Tool-led, not content farms. First site live; six in pipeline.
Structured workspace for running AI agents on real business processes. Built from the ground up; in active use across the businesses Rok advises and operates.
Head of Digital Operations. Leading the digital operations programme across the business — quoting, invoicing, reporting, and the underlying Xero-led data model.
A structured workspace for AI agents. Used across the businesses I run and advise to manage projects, automate documents, and run intelligent workflows.
Seven-site portfolio of UK regulatory-niche tool sites — employment rights, heat pumps, SEND, ombudsman complaints, immigration, pension IHT, social care. First site live, six in build.
The consulting practice — strategy, digital operations, websites, search, and construction commercial work for UK small to medium businesses. Delivered on a monthly retainer, powered by Forge. A trading name of Rok Enterprises Ltd.
Cloud accounting
Construction · M&E · energy
Coursera · 2022
Companies House registered
The enquiries usually aren't the bottleneck. Before you spend a penny on acquisition, it's worth looking at what happens after someone gets in touch. Eight times out of ten, that's where the leak is.
If the strategy only works in a slide deck, it's not a strategy — it's a mood. Every recommendation I make is something your team can actually do next week, with the people and tools they already have.
New software is expensive in ways that don't show up on the invoice. If what you've got works, we keep it. If it doesn't, we replace it with one thing, well-chosen — not three things, badly integrated.
Published prices. Fixed scopes. A clear no when it's a no. It's slower to build a business this way, but it's the only way I've seen work long term — in music, in construction, in software, in trades. Same principle, every time.