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Peter Linford, Nobles Construction Mover & Shaker
Linford File DOB: 21 March 1964. Education: St Francis Xaviers, in Woolton, then Wolverhampton Polytechnic. Tip for success: Deliver on promises made, be honest be open, be transparent. Get culture in your business for being transparent for doing things safely, for achieving a quality product.
capital projects Peter is confident of the future. Waving aside concern, he said: “Our pipeline of opportunities is in the region of £45 million. Those size schemes will always be there irrespective of the Government If they haven’t got money for a million pound job the country is in serious problems.” Healthcare remains Nobles strongest sector. Recently they completed a new build medical centre for a private healthcare provider, in the region of £4 million, and are currently on site at Aintree hospital refurbishing the outpatients
ward (£1.6 million). They’re also refurbishing Ward 11 at Arrowe Park Hospital and have a £900,000 contract in Southport extending an existing hospice for another private healthcare provider. Peter sees no drying up of the proverbial well (at least not for another 12 months). Liverpool has been hit particularly hard by the shelving of the Building Schools for the Future, with 25 school rebuilding projects scrapped. For now they’ve got to refurbish more hospital wards, they’ll have to build more classrooms onto existing
schools and we do a massive amount of that so we’re looking at all these cutbacks as a positive.” Nobles Construction has now turned its sights nationally, looking at expanding its civil construction arm after winning a contract from Arriva. They have recently begun the construction of the new Arriva bus shelter in Speke. With Nobles Construction weathering the storm of the recession and seeing a rosy 12 months ahead, Peter is now looking at the future of the company through its investment in people, especially after winning the accolade
Investors in People. “We’re employing more people because our turnover is increasing. Our aspiration is not to be Laing O’Rourke, or Balfour Beattie, we want to build the business to £25 million in three to five years. To compete with those bigger players you’ve got to have high calibre people. There is a future in construction, and that’s why we have an active apprenticeship program.” Dina Karim interviewed Peter Linford at Viva Brazil Restaurant, Castle Street. MOVE COMMERCIAL 33