Our Team

Gaunts Management and Property Team

Chris Pratt

Managing Director

Professional Career

Chartered Accountant with 30 years hands-on experience at board level as Finance and Commercial Director Extensive commercial experience gained in a wide range of sectors including residential and commercial property development, construction, nursing homes, manufacturing and retail.

Role within the company

In charge of day to day running and on-going strategic development of the company.

What do you do with your spare time?

 Spending time with friends and family, walking our dogs and mountain biking.

John Giles

Property Manager

Professional Career

I worked for a small family run buildings contractor as an Indentured apprentice bricklayer. This gave me a good rounded knowledge of all aspects of the construction trade. I started working for Gaunts on a self-employed basis in 1994, carrying out unit conversions and remedial property repairs.

Role within the company

Around 1997 I was asked to become part of the team and manage the property maintenance and conversion side of the business.

The work load has steadily increased with the ever increasing alteration and renovation of existing and newly acquired property, along with increasing Health and Safety management.

I carried out this role untill June 2017 when the positon of the Property Manager became vacant.

What do you do with your spare time?

I enjoy getting out and about in the open country side with my family and our dog Daisy. 

Lauren Oddy

Accounts

 Professional Career

After leaving university I worked at an accountancy practice, where I gained my AAT qualification.
I took a few years out to have children and when I returned to work, I started my own business as a freelance bookkeeper.
I still have a small portfolio of clients alongside my role at Gaunts. 

Role within the company

Day to day running of the Accounts Department, working as Assistant to Chris Pratt.

What do you do with your spare time?

I spend most my time trying to keep my 2 children entertained.
When I have the chance, I like to run or go to the gym.
I also enjoy going on long walks with my dog, preferably with a pub at the end.

Jamie Giles

Building Supervisor

Professional Career

I left school at 16 with 11 GCSEs A-C and then went on to do a four year apprenticeship as an electrician.

I moved onto being self-employed, contracting work from CCR systems who specialised in CCTV and Epas systems.

In 2012 I became employed at Gaunts as part of their maintenance team where I took on most electrical jobs onsite from minor works to full rewiring of units also carrying out general maintenance work.

In 2017 I took on the role as Buildings Supervisor.

Role within the company

As the Buildings Supervisor I work closely alongside the Property Manager, who is also my father.

I deal with the day to day maintenance of the sites, which includes planned and reactive maintenance.

I maintain relevant controls relating to Health & Safety regarding the buildings, services and other trades working on site.

What do you do with your spare time?

I am a father to 3 children, two of which are twins; so I don’t have a lot of spare time.

As a family we  enjoy cycling, keeping fit and watching sport.

Ian Goodall

Heating, Ventilation and Plumbing Engineer

Professional Career

I worked on my family's farm from an early age as a herdsman, looking after and milking cows. I wanted to see more of the world outside of farm life and so worked as an independent HGV driver for a number of years, seeing a lot of Britain. I then decided to have a more settled life and trained to be a gas engineer, moving up in the company to where I was carrying out quotation works. This led me onto starting my own commercial plumbing & gas engineering company, for which we carried out the install and maintenance work for Gaunts Ltd.

Role within the company

I was asked to become part of Gaunts Ltd and manage the heating, ventilation and plumbing side of the in-house maintenance team. My role varies from day to day, which I like, not one day is the same.

What do you do with your spare time?

I am a keen cyclist and enjoy getting out on my bike as much as possible. I still help out on the farm from time to time at busy times of the year.

Steve Allatt

Property Maintenance

Professional Career

My working career started with employment and study as an apprentice trained plumber. This then lead to me working in construction, manufacturing, ,steel works and also a five year stint employed doing cash in transit. I have working experience of driving a variety site plant vehicles, dumper trucks, folk lift, exervators to articulated vehicles. I have also been involved in building, laying drains and the construction of steel structures. From the manufacturer of the steel and the movement of large beams to putting up structures up on site.

 

Role within the company

I like to be busy and enjoy driving and going out on the different Gaunts sites. I also get involved with mechanical and electrical maintenance, this is alongside the routine safety and maintenance checks. I love the variety of work at Gaunt’s where no job is too big or small to get involved with. I also like the customer facing aspect of the role and get to meet lots of interesting people and get to support them to have business premises set up and maintained to there satisfaction, and this role enables me to put good use of the experience, skills and knowledge of my working life to new challenges. Not knowing what is going to come up each day and working with the team to get positive outcomes for what ever situation, keeps the job very interesting. 


What do you do with your spare time?

In my spare time I enjoy the outdoors and doing new projects in my garden.  I have a dog, two cats, parrot and a variety of fish.  I like taking the dog out for walks and spending time with my family and friends.