Mark Millar

Why organisations work with Mark Millar

• He has run the project management seat on BBC One’s DIY SOS since 2006, including the Swansea build of the UK’s first adapted surf school for people with disabilities, completed in eleven days. That is a specific, televised record of delivery under extreme constraint.
• He brings the trade voice to corporate audiences. Manufacturers, merchants, installers and developers book him because he speaks the language of the site as well as the boardroom.
• His Channel 5 presenting work, Dream Kitchens and Bathrooms with Mark Millar and Build Your Dream Home in the Country, makes him a recognisable on-camera host for product launches, awards nights and trade conferences.
• He runs a working building firm in Bristol with UK and international clients, so the operating advice is current rather than retrospective.

Biography highlights

• Project Manager on BBC One’s DIY SOS, on screen and behind the scenes, since 2006.
• Presenter of Channel 5’s Dream Kitchens and Bathrooms with Mark Millar (2021) and Build Your Dream Home in the Country (2023).
• Led the September 2020 DIY SOS and Children in Need build in Swansea of an adapted surf school for people with disabilities, completed in eleven days.
• Owner of a Bristol-based building firm with UK and international project work.
• Trained as a carpenter in Northern Ireland through a four-year apprenticeship.
• Recurring host and guest across BBC and Channel 5 entertainment programming, including Pointless Celebrities and radio appearances.

Biography

The Swansea adapted surf school went up in eleven days. Mark Millar ran the site as Project Manager for BBC One’s DIY SOS, working with Children in Need on a build that became the first surf school in the UK designed for people with disabilities. That kind of work, where the deadline is fixed by a broadcast date and the brief is emotionally non-negotiable, is the discipline he has spent two decades practising on screen.

Mark trained as a carpenter in Northern Ireland and has been the project management voice of DIY SOS since 2006. The role has been editorial as well as practical: he has visited every site and shaped which stories made it to air. The show has accumulated audiences and BAFTA recognition over its run, and Mark is the figure most associated with its delivery rhythm.

Channel 5 built two series around him. Dream Kitchens and Bathrooms with Mark Millar (2021) follows homeowners through the rooms they cannot afford to get wrong. Build Your Dream Home in the Country (2023) takes him to self-build projects across the UK. He continues to run a Bristol-based building firm with celebrity and international clients, which keeps the on-screen advice anchored in current site economics.

The reason corporate audiences in construction, manufacturing, merchanting and home improvement book him is specific. He is one of the few public figures in UK media who can carry a room of contractors, hold a brand stage, and explain the trade view to a board, without losing any of the three audiences.

Key speaking topics

• Project management on complex builds
• The realities of running a building firm
• Trades, training and apprenticeship
• Television presenting and brand hosting
• Charity builds and community projects
• Customer experience in home improvement

Ideal for

• Construction, merchant and manufacturer audiences at trade conferences and dealer events
• Home improvement and KBB sector brand activations and product launches
• Corporate hospitality and after-dinner audiences looking for a recognisable TV host
• Charity and community fundraising events with a build or trade dimension

Audience outcomes

• A clear, on-the-tools view of how complex builds get delivered to fixed deadlines
• A working perspective on customer trust in trades, told from the contractor’s side
• Recognisable broadcast presence for awards, panels and product reveals
• Stories from DIY SOS sites that ground discussion of community impact in specific builds