‘I’m here as a change agent’ – Bam’s construction boss on Co-op Live, doing the right things and… dealing with snakes

By Dave Rogers2025-03-25T07:00:00

Australian Kim Sides took up the hot seat at the £800m contractor a year ago. She tells Dave Rogers how things have gone so far

“It’s risk assessment of a kind, if you like.” Kim Sides is recalling the time when she was forced to jam a special stick behind the head of a snake that had found its way into her path.

She was a young girl and the snake in question was a taipan – and for anyone who knows anything about snakes, they are not to be trifled with, given they are widely considered to be among the most venomous in the world.

One bite from the inland taipan has been estimated to release enough venom to kill 100 humans. Sides was six or seven when she stuck the snake stick – which has a V at its apex – behind the taipan’s head.

“You jam it behind the head and call for a parent. You have to respect the snake,” she says.

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