"It is my daily commitment to help my team achieve our objectives."

Grégory Gnidach, Head of National Prescription, Xella France

Can you tell us about your career journey and how you ended up at Xella?

I’ve worked in several industries, which has given me a broad perspective on construction solutions. I started in large-scale distribution, working with a manufacturer of ventilation products, then moved into the brick industry, and later into precast reinforced concrete. My time in these industries provided valuable insights into product development and sales, especially working directly with clients and project managers.

In 2015, I joined Xella, and I’ve held various positions over the years, including Sales Engineer and National Manager for Single-Family Houses. Currently, I’m leading the French prescription department, where we focus on supporting key clients and guiding them in the use of our building materials.

What does your role as director of national prescription involve?

My role involves leading the key account strategy for prescriptions in France and building strong relationships with major clients. We engage with influential networks through federations, prescriber meetings, events, and institutional networks to promote our offerings and generate leads. By doing so, we create a robust network of project contributors, aiming to foster recurring business.

I work with my team to provide tailored solutions for large projects, supporting clients from the planning phase through to implementation. Our focus is on delivering expert advice and ensuring our solutions meet the specific needs of each project.

Our department has several objectives: grow brand awareness, promote our products, enhance knowledge of our construction solutions, expand market share, and ultimately drive sales growth.
On a daily basis, we assist and advise designers, integrating and showcasing our construction solutions from the early stages of project studies to ensure they are included in project specifications. This proactive involvement creates demand and interest, making us key contributors from the project's inception.

What are the main challenges you face in this role?

My main challenge was initially to structure the prescription activity with a dedicated team, selected and trained with expert methods, a clear strategy, vision, targeted goals, and a precise action plan.

It was then necessary to integrate this new team into our organization so that it would naturally fit within the commercial department, functioning as a support service that works to prepare future sales by acting upstream, right from the project design phase by decision-makers. Our mission is to build brand awareness, encourage the use of our solutions, and generate demand.

The combined challenge is to have a clear vision of the direction needed to grow our market share in a sector where new construction is increasingly dense and governed by strict environmental standards. These standards push the industry toward new approaches, such as bio-based materials, with the emergence of innovative building systems. Decarbonization is underway and has become essential, with short-term deadlines that we must meet to ensure our model’s sustainability. Recycling is also becoming increasingly important, which is why we must evolve rapidly.

What’s been the most significant project you’ve worked on recently? How did your team contribute to its success?

One big project that layed the foundation of our work was not a building, but the unification of our team, guiding them, helping them build their skills, and supporting them to achieve our objectives.

We work on multiple projects with long timelines. The ones that stand out most, in my opinion, are those that best showcase the range of benefits of our solutions: thermal insulation, fire resistance, and light weight. By this, I mean the versatility of our constructive solutions in large-scale renovations and complete rehabilitations, where our materials are used as filler masonry in applications like spandrels, loggias, rooftop extensions, and attics.

A notable project, led by Virginie Biarnes, who is also part of the prescription team, involves the transformation of a former hospital reimagined by the developer into a mixed-use space with housing, retail, and student residences. This project, which spans 6,000 square meters, represents the perfect equation where our solutions resonate with designers. Such model projects perfectly embody our potential, unique qualities, and the opportunity to stand out from other materials that may be less suited to fully express our DNA: sustainable, efficient, and affordable.

What do you find most rewarding about your work?

For me, the most fulfilling part is seeing our solutions make a real difference in a project. Being able to guide our clients and support them throughout the process, especially when the outcome is a successful project that meets all their needs, is incredibly satisfying. I also enjoy helping my team grow and seeing them succeed. It is my daily commitment is to help my team achieve our objectives.

How do you like to spend your free time?

I enjoy spending my free time with my children, my wife, my friends, and my close family. They are my foundation and my source of strength. Whenever possible, we travel to discover new regions, countries, cultures, and ways of living. It’s an opportunity to see how people live elsewhere and reflect on life.
Lastly, I am a musician; this is my sanctuary, my time for myself to create, compose, and write.