Al Kellock joins Xburo as a non-executive director

Xburo is teaming up with Al Kellock to bring his leadership and high-performance skills to the growing engineering firm.

The Managing Director of Glasgow Warriors and a former Scotland captain will see him tackle the world of the engineering as he joins Xburo as a non-executive director.

Kellock was approached by Xburo to strengthen the performance of its team as it has seen exponential growth since its launch in 2018. The company has grown from two to twenty employees in that time.

The firm started by Thomas Brady and Michael Gribben first reported a lockdown boom in 2020 with contracts worth in excess of £100milllion and five years later, business is not slowing down with projects worth in excess of £300million in 2025.

Kellock’s appointment at Xburo sees him take up an advisory role where he will lend his expertise to the company on what drives successful teams as the firm continues to expand. His position will see him challenge directors to drive the team forward during this acceleration period.

Since taking over as Managing Director of Glasgow Warriors, Al has instilled a culture of a values-driven organisation with the motto whatever it takes leading the change on and off the pitch. This has led to an increase in self-generated revenue growth and a renewed approach for strategic investment.

He said: “The world of rugby and business are very much aligned. Individuals drive success but teams drive significance and grow collectively. Xburo has strong foundations as a company, and we want to build on this success as the company evolves and grows.

“Cultural and environments are crucial to the success of any team, and we see this in sport and in business. High performance allows team to keep pushing for success in a competitive marketplace and through my experiences, I will be working alongside the team to capture winning behaviours to allow the team and the company to adopt a culture of success by driving each other on to succeed.”

Xburo has a portfolio of clients throughout the UK and leads significant projects including acting as NEC3 supervisory at The Baird Family Hospital and The Anchor Centre and works on the multimillion development at Ocean Terminal in Edinburgh. Recent appointments have included a number of educational projects alongside Strathclyde Water Park as well as a significant major framework win with a major defence contractor.  

Director Michael Gribben reached out to Al Kellock to bolster the team’s performance and challenge the directors to drive a winning team.

He said: “Al brings with him business acumen and a winning desire. We see that the world of engineering and sport united in their aims to do whatever it takes to succeed. His appointment will challenge each of us to drive high performance to an exceptional level as we enter the next phase in our growth trajectory. Business and the power of sport are already in our foundations as an engineering firm that sponsors, supports and is committed to the challenging the status quo. At Xburo, our expertise sets us apart and our unique partnerships and perspectives have afforded us some great success in recent years. We want to continue to foster this and grow strategically through our alliances.”

The team has grown in size with 20 employees located throughout the UK with offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. A recent recruitment drive for all levels is underway in mechanical, electrical and sustainability roles.