Construction & Civil Engineering Issue 183 January 2021

www.ccemagazine.com 183 JANUARY

Building essentials MKM Building Supplies stocks everything the trade and public need for their project – it is a true one-stop-shop builders’ merchant See page 44

Powering the rebuild: ABB donates products and solutions to help reconstruction at the port of Beirut F Digital transformations: Schneider Electric successfully completes strategic minority investment in Planon F

EDITOR

www.ccemagazine.com 183 JANUARY

Chairman Andrew Schofield Managing Director Joe Woolsgrove Editor Libbie Hammond libbie@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Assistant Editor Will Daynes Staff Writer Alex McDonald Art Editor/Production Manager Fleur Daniels Art Editor David Howard

Building essentials MKM Building Supplies stocks everything the trade and public need for their project – it is a true one-stop-shop builders’ merchant See page 42

Powering the rebuild: ABB donates products and solutions to help reconstruction at the port of Beirut F Digital transformations: Schneider Electric successfully completes strategic minority investment in Planon F

Inspiring efforts

Advertising Designer Rebecca Side Sales Director Alasdair Gamble Operations Director Philip Monument Operations Manager Natalie Griffiths Research Managers Rachel Harper Jo-Ann Jeffery James Page Ben Richell Editorial Researchers Adam Blanch, Mark Cowles Jeff Goldenberg, Mark Kafourous Tarjinder Kaur D’Silva, James Page Wendy Russell, Richard Saunders Advertising Sales Johanna Bailey, Alex Hartley, Dave King, Theresa McDonald, Ibby Mundhir Web Sales web@schofieldpublishing.co.uk Subscriptions i.kidd@schofieldpublishing.com

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elcome to the first issue of Construction & Civil Engineering of 2021. Last year was certainly one of highs and lows – and 2021 is starting with some challenging conditions for us all. But the construction sector has been adapting to new conditions and

finding new ways to undertake their projects.

Caroline Gumble, Chief Executive at The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), stated at the end of 2020 that ‘throughout this year, I have been consistently impressed with how resilient the construction industry has been in these uncertain times’ and I totally echo this sentiment. When reading our profiles, I am often

Construction & Civil Engineering Magazine

inspired by how these companies have reacted during this pandemic and also by how proud the interviewees are of their teams and their efforts.

I would love to hear from you about how your company has changed and evolved

@CCE_magazine

– do get in touch.

Did you know that we also publish two US construction titles? Construction Today and Modern Home Builders are targeted at the American market and both

© 2021 Schofield Publishing Ltd Schofield Publishing Cringleford Business Centre, 10 Intwood Road, Cringleford, Norwich, NR4 6AU, U.K. Tel: +44 (0)1603 274130 www.ccemagazine.com

are excellent sources of news and projects and are ideally positioned to reach the movers and shakers in the North American construction sector. If you think that some US based editorial that shares insights from business leaders and promotes the activities of some of the world’s leading firms and specialists is relevant to you – drop me a line and I will send you a copy!

Until the next issue.

Please note: The opinions expressed by contributors and advertisers within this publication do not necessarily coincide with those of the editor and publisher. Every reasonable effort is made to ensure that the information published is accurate, and correct at time of writing, but no legal responsibility for loss occasioned by the use of such information can be accepted by the publisher. All rights reserved. The contents of the magazine are strictly copyright, the property of Schofield Publishing, and may not be copied, stored in a retrieval system, or reproduced without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Libbie Hammond Editor 1

REGULAR FEATURES 4

FASTENERS & FIXINGS

The success of construction projects often comes down to details. This is especially

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true with fasteners and fixings, the components that hold everything together

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FIRE SAFETY

Replacing mineral oil with a fire safe alternative is one option for making transformers less of a potential fire risk

10 REMOTE WORKING To aid business leaders in ensuring they avoid ostracising the home workers, team leaders can take simple steps to keep teams

The Red Sea Development Company – The Red Sea Project

connected

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CASE STUDY

Anderton Concrete has supplied more than 80 square metres of Slopeloc block to help

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COVER STORY

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create a 3G sports pitch for a school

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NEWS

Updates and information from the construction and civil engineering market

62 MKM Building Supplies

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Metnor Construction 2

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Drew Smith Homes

CONTENTS

COMPANY PROFILES

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Marshalls PLC

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Lee Marley Brickwork

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Land & Water

Price Building Services

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Thompsons UK Ltd

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FASTENERS & FIXINGS

It’s in the detail

Buildings need to come together more quickly than ever.

To do so without compromising integrity and quality depends on every little detail being thoroughly considered. This detail comes right down to the fasteners and fixings that hold the building envelope together, explains David Fraser

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Crest Girls Academy

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lmost everywhere you look in the field of construction, there is talk of needing to build faster and more efficiently.

Whether it’s because there’s a lack of crucial infrastructure, or simply because there’s not enough labour, it’s evident that we need to streamline our approach to construction.

This is clearly evidenced by the UK’s housing shortage crisis.

In 2018, it was estimated that England had a backlog of 3.91 million homes, meaning 340,000 new homes need to be built each year until 2031. Yet at that time, the government was only targeting building 300,000 homes annually, and any shortfall only further compounds the problems.

However, as the old saying goes, haste makes waste, and this couldn’t be truer for buildings. Structures that are not planned out and correctly specified can cause waste from construction right through to building operation. For example, poor specification can lead to unnecessary servicing and maintenance, and needing to replace materials that don’t meet their expected lifespan.

To ensure that we can maximise construction efficiency, while still maintaining the quality and integrity expected of multimillion-pound buildings, it all boils down to detail. This is especially the case with fasteners and fixings, the very components that hold structures and building envelopes together.

Planned to perfection As with many things in life, wellplanned projects minimise the chance for errors to occur during construction, which can be costly to rectify further down the build chain.

Building envelopes, brackets and subframe systems need to be especially well considered.

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FASTENERS & FIXINGS Kew Tower

to, selected cladding material and the cladding zone.

With this forward-thinking, planned-out approach, Kew Tower achieved an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating following the refurbishment. The NV4 system will also help the building endure for many years to come, thanks to built-in adjustability that allows for contraction and expansion in extreme weather conditions.

Fast and furious fasteners and fixings

They need to withstand whatever the elements throw at them, from wind loads, to corrosive substances in the air and the substrate they are fixing back to.

Meanwhile, they also need to be able to assure the deadweight of the cladding that is being installed on them.

Identifying these components correctly though is easier said than done. For architects and specifiers, trawling through datasheets and product specifications can be time and labour intensive.

Here is where manufacturers can help at the planning stage.

With expert knowledge and tools, manufacturers can help suggest

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rainscreen and cladding systems that are fit for purpose, which was the case during the refurbishment of Kew Tower in Richmond.

This refurbished office building, had the upper floors of its building reclad by building envelope contractors, using the NVELOPE® NV4 system from SFS. The key to the success of the project was as much in the NV4 system as it was in SFS’ Project Builder tool.

Project Builder provides a comprehensive, project-specific cladding solution involving only a two-step process. The tool factors in considerations such as local wind loads, height of the façade, the substrate that the rainscreen system is being fixed

Raising buildings faster is not just in the planning – it’s in the detail.

This includes selecting the most appropriate components that are designed to help installers on the job, such as fasteners and fixings.

Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of fasteners and fixings need to be secured on a given building. The time needed to install these components can quickly add up, leading to costly labour expenses. Here, any incremental gains can lead to major reductions in construction time.

This was certainly the case with the refurbishment of Parsons Tower, Newcastle College. The tower block, which dates to the 1970s, was refreshed with a contemporary zinc and copper façade with the help from SFS’ specialist fastening systems.

To secure the cladding back to composite panels on the building, low profile, high-grade stainlesssteel fasteners were required.

The solution was the SX2/8-D9 self-drilling fastener in A4 316 austenitic stainless steel. As well as giving excellent pull out values, the thread design helped construction time by reducing over-driving.

Similarly, construction time was significantly reduced when installing the PIR insulation into concrete deck of the roof. The contractors were facing issues with extensive drilling and the need for multiple combinations

of fasteners and polypropylene sleeves. The isotak® TIA adjustable fastener system from SFS was the ideal solution in this instance.

The system reduced fastener and polypropylene sleeve combinations by 50 per cent and in turn, dramatically decreased drilling times.

Buildings? Here’s one I made earlier As well as planning and choosing the right components to help achieve faster builds, a big shift in the way buildings are realised is through modular construction.

More and more, buildings and their components are being prefabricated off-site under factory conditions.

Much like fasteners and fixings that aid installers on-site, manufacturers must also be able to adapt to these new offsite construction techniques and adapt their products to suit.

In reality, this can be as simple as inserting fasteners into their sleeves before they are sent to site or supplying brackets pre-assembled. Crest Girls’ Academy in Neasden, which required modernisation to its various buildings, is a great example of pre-fabrication. As well as using the Project Builder to create a detailed design to support approximately 6,000m2 of timber and cedar cladding, the project also utilised vertical point brackets with thermal isolators to help reduce thermal bridging. These brackets were pre-assembled from SFS, to speed up construction time and also prevent loss of materials on-site.

Fast tracked for the future The future of our world very much depends on the construction projects of today being built right and being built to stand the tests of time for years to come.

While we improve the pace at which we construct new

buildings, it must not be to the detriment of the finished products themselves. Building envelopes must be well thought out and designed, to minimise the need for amendments both during specification and installation. They must also be

Above: Parsons Tower, Newcastle College

well considered so that they can be as thermally efficient and sustainable as possible.

By looking at all these details closely, we can facilitate faster construction and create buildings where future generations can live, work and play in comfort.

David Fraser is NVELOPE® Business Unit Manager at SFS UK. SFS is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of carbon and stainless steel fastening systems for metal and flat roofing and has been based on the UK site in Leeds for over 100 years.

Backed by the extensive resources of a successful international group and the widest range of innovative, high performance, roofing and cladding self drilling fastener systems in the UK and experienced technical professionals, SFS is able to provide a bespoke product specification tailored to your requirements.

For more information, please see:

www.sfsintec.co.uk

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FIRE SAFETY

Safety first Why retrofill? Transformer safety and high-rise buildings. By Barry Menzies

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rom a 48-storey fire in the UAE, to a 200-firefighter-strong blaze at student accommodation in the UK, several high-profile, high-rise fires continue to keep the focus of utilities, regulators, developers, and public associations everywhere on actively seeking ways to reduce the risk of fire with innovative materials.

Statistics show that the majority of fire related fatalities occur in a domestic setting between the hours of 10pm and 6am. Protecting high-rise residential buildings from fire, where occupancy rates are high but the reaction to danger is

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Barry Menzies

lower (while asleep), is a critical engineering challenge.

While most recently built highrise buildings will be equipped with risk safety provisions such as wet or dry risers, protected staircases, sprinklers, and communications systems as standard, thousands of post-war, purpose-built flats require careful risk assessment and improvement.

What was acceptable at the time of build may no longer meet today’s standards or may have been affected by changing environmental factors such as the encroachment of neighbouring buildings. While the fire safety legislation adopted in 2006 has driven improvements that seek to

address these types of issues, its application has sometimes been problematic, with varied results from site to site.

A fire risk assessment is the first step in evaluating the risks posed and identifying options to reduce the potential for a devastating event. Electricity substations, which are often located in the basement or adjoining a high-rise building, will often be identified as a potential fire risk due to the proximity of a source of a fuel – mineral oil – to a source of heat and sparks. This concurs with the findings of the MIDEL Transformer Risk Report 2020, where respondents identified fire risk as the second most important

consideration when assessing transformer risk overall.

Mineral oil is widely accepted as the most flammable of the insulating fluids used within a substation’s transformers, but has persisted in its use due to its price point. A mineral oil fire will burn ferociously, producing thick, black smoke, impeding evacuation by reducing visibility and potentially jeopardising ground floor and basement exits. At their worst, there are documented cases where transformer fires have caused loss of life and significant damage to the environment.

They are certainly not a risk to be ignored.

In newer buildings, the use of mineral oil in a transformer needs to account for the substation to be constructed to the latest fire safety standard – reinforced concrete or brickwork with a minimum four-hour fire containment rating. In addition to fire suppression systems involving significant civil engineering works, these measures do not eliminate the risk of fire by preventing it but are necessary to contain a fire once one starts.

Additionally, in older buildings, where the retrofitting of concrete reinforcements or a complete relocation of the substation would be expensive and technically challenging (if not impossible), the fire risk can be mitigated in a completely different way once mineral oil is eliminated from the equation.

One pioneering UK utility is leading the way in mitigating transformer-related fire risk.

Following the fire at Grenfell in the UK, the utility considered that any element of risk was no longer acceptable and so undertook a sizeable and substantial review of its property portfolio. It subsequently identified over 100 residential sites where upgrades could be made to further enhance fire safety and the safety of residents. Many of

these higher-risk units are located in embedded substations in the basements of the high-rise apartments that rely on them for electricity. The units range from 500kVa to 1000kVa. After exploring the options, the utility embarked on an extensive programme of corrective upgrades at a scale never seen before in the UK. One long-term and economic solution to reduce transformer fire risk stood out; replace the mineral oil in each transformer with a fire safe alternative. Synthetic ester fluids are a K-class rated fire-safe and biodegradable alternative to mineral oil, and it is increasingly being chosen by power utilities and end users to minimise fire risk.

The contract for the utility’s schedule of upgrades was awarded to MIDEL Service Partner Grosvenor Oil Services who opted to use MIDEL 7131, a synthetic ester transformer fluid, that has a high fire point of 316°C, far exceeding that of mineral oil (180°C). The significantly higher fire point makes it the ideal choice for improving the safety of transformers located in residential and high-rise buildings.

The retrofilling technicians leveraged their experience of MIDEL’s ester liquids to the benefit of the project - and the safety of residents. For each site, the technicians inspected the condition of the transformer before draining it of the mineral oil and flushing it through. Once completed, the transformers were retrofilled with the fire safe synthetic ester and tested.

Replacing mineral oil has several benefits beyond the peace of mind it brings to residents in high-rise buildings. For one, it significantly enhances the sustainability of substations: ester fluids are biodegradable and non-toxic – in the event of a leak, it does not pose a threat to the environment or to people that

come into contact with it.

Ester fluids also keep the transformer in better condition for longer, by reducing the impact that water ingress has on components such as the insulating paper. Because of this benefit, ester-filled transformers require less frequent quality testing (once every five years, rather than once every 12 months). Subsequently, this reduces utilities’ maintenance burden as well as increase uptime.

Sites are also better protected against unexpected power outages due to failure. Finally, it offers the ability to safely increase transformer load, a benefit that became particularly fortuitous when the Covid-19 lockdown significantly increased domestic property electricity demand.

While pioneering, this utility is not alone in its efforts. Utilities across the UK are turning to the benefits of fire-safe materials to reduce the potential for transformer fires in high-rise buildings and higher-risk locations such as hospitals, schools, and shopping centres. The benefits and the process of retrofilling is well-established, and with many more people expected to work from home for the foreseeable future, there is not a moment to waste to ensure that the thousands of transformers that supply domestic power are fire safe, sustainable and reliable.

Barry Menzies is Managing Director at MIDEL, the world’s leading brand of ester transformer fluids. Since the 1970s, MIDEL transformer fluids have been chosen by utilities and transformer manufacturers across the globe.

MIDEL synthetic and natural ester fluids are acknowledged for their excellent fire safety and environmental protection properties, driving installation savings as well as mitigating transformer fire risk.

For more information, please see:

www.midel.com

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REMOTE WORKING

Keep in touch

Sam Hill takes a look at how to keep your teams connected while remote working

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ith the UK now operating in tier systems for the foreseeable future and the government advising employees to avoid their workplace where possible, businesses in the construction and civil engineering sector face a real

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challenge as their employees and teams are split between locations, with bubbles in one place and individuals elsewhere.

This poses a new challenge for many in the industry, specifically in managing different teams which are responsible for different tasks in a project, so what is the best way to do that in this new way

of working?

Employees and teams alike have a need to feel valued and connected to other colleagues, even when working remotely. To aid business leaders in ensuring they avoid ostracising the home workers, this article provides simple steps for team leaders to ensure they keep teams connected.

continue to host daily ‘huddles’ or weekly team meetings via video conferencing, where employees can catch up and share what they are working on. This will ensure all employees continue to build connections and celebrate their achievements. To keep up morale, a good thing to do once a week is allow one of these daily calls to be informal where the team plays games or quizzes.

Encourage collaboration wherever possible across teams

Technology is more important now than ever before When part of the team has returned to the workplace, it can be easy to forget to include remote working employees in particular conversations which may happen in passing or casually during the day. For those not in the same workplace, this can be

a significant contributor to them feeling isolated at home as they aren’t privy to what is going on in the rest of their team.

To combat this, business leaders should ensure their teams continue to use technology to their advantage. In order to maintain the communication which can be lost with remote working, management should

When employees work separately in different locations, it can be easy for those away from the team to feel isolated and detached from their direct team.

Despite this, business owners should encourage collaboration wherever possible to allow the group to solve issues together and meet targets in a more efficient and effective manner.

Employees within the construction industry who are away from the rest of the team may struggle to speak up when they are facing challenges since they cannot turn to a colleague as quickly to ask for advice and may feel scheduling something in makes it seem like more of an ‘issue’. But by encouraging team members to work together, this issue can be combated as employees build a natural relationship over time where they feel more comfortable reaching out to their peers, while the added benefit of being virtual ‘opens the door’ to new lines of communication between colleagues which may not have ordinarily communicated face-toface.

Reinforce the culture and focus of the team While employees are split between home and office work, the company and team culture can begin to slip, so it is important for leaders to ensure they are

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REMOTE WORKING

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proactive in nurturing and reinforcing the company culture, since healthy cultures have a direct impact on the performance of teams.

Taking the time to reinforce the vision and values of the company or the immediate team to employees - or even shorter term goals, especially given the current circumstances - will help

open communication of any news or updates relating to the company and team will allow for transparency, an important trait which ensures employees remain loyal to the company. Uncertainty is detrimental to the morale of a team, so any communication should be as clear and certain as possible.

to ensure the team is in touch with the wider aspirations of the organisation, while noting exactly where they fit into that journey. Coupling this with the

Introduce lunch and learn talks Lunch and learn sessions are a great way to ensure businesses are stimulating employee

engagement and generating a positive team activity. They are typically less formal and can offer employees opportunities to deliver talks on a variety of topics which are directly or indirectly related to the business. It is also an opportunity for updates from different teams and allows every member of the business to have an insight into other teams and what they are working on.

For employees working remotely, this is a perfect way to ensure they are still able to engage in training.

Don’t dismiss the social side of work Virtual social events should not be dismissed by businesses just yet, despite how laborious Zoom quizzes soon became. For employees still working remotely, these social events are a direct replacement for the usual events and informal drinks after work which they would have otherwise attended. Since employees who have returned to the office may be engaging in more social events in person, it is imperative for businesses to facilitate a space

for remote working employees to socialise as well.

Social events are an easy way to create natural conversation opportunities and bring employees together on a far more personal level. Equally these events don’t have to be companywide. If you manage multiple teams on a project, facilitating a virtual event or space where the teams can all communicate and relax could really aid in developing the success and productivity of the teams and ultimately, the project in hand.

Sam Hill is Head of People and Culture at BizSpace, the UK’s leading provider of regional flexible workplaces who for almost 20 years has been offering office, studio, and workshop units to a wide range of businesses in convenient regional locations across the country. Enhanced customer experiences are at the heart of the offering from BizSpace, we focus on offering simple, affordable, and flexible workplaces to our customers.

For more information, please see:

www.bizspace.co.uk

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CASE STUDY

Pitch perfect S Anderton Concrete scores with new sports pitch

pecialist manufacturer of precast concrete products, Anderton Concrete has supplied more than 80 square metres of Slopeloc block to help create a 3G sports pitch for Nottinghamshire based school, Carlton Le Willows Academy.

Specified by McArdle Sport Tec, the UK’s leading sports facility construction company, with partners TigerTurf UK; the Slopeloc block will form part of a perimeter wall that will surround the artificial pitch, offering a natural and durable playing solution for clubs and educational establishments.

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Third Generation sports pitches are currently the only approved surfaces by both FIFA and World Rugby and requires infill in order for the fibres to remain upright and to maximise playability and safety.

The pitch was created with the support of a Government backed sports charity in a bid to encourage grassroots football in the local area and to improve the mental and physical health of students and local residents.

With the development located in a school facility, a high-quality perimeter and fencing solution was required to ensure safety and

security at all times. Additionally, an aesthetically pleasing system was needed to complement the new sports pitch and the surrounding buildings of the school. As a result, McArdle Sports Tec worked closely with Anderton Concrete to create a bespoke charcoal colour.

Jason Amson-Orth, Site Manager for McArdle Sports Tec, commented: “Partners TigerTurf UK & McArdle Sport Tec were awarded the Carlton Le Willows project at the beginning of 2020. The community 3G football pitch was completed on time with the programme, whilst upholding health and safety

safeguarding measures to ensure the protection of vulnerable people, we specified materials, which, could be installed quickly and easily without compromising on quality and longevity. With this in mind, we turned to Anderton’s Slopeloc block.”

As a dry lay block for retaining slopes, Anderton’s Slopeloc can be used domestically or for larger scale commercial applications.

Usually available in three colour variants, Anderton’s technical and production teams are able to work towards creating special order colours suitable for varied applications.

Jason continued: “Slopeloc is available in three select colours, however, with Anderton Concrete’s special order colours, we were able to select a finish that would complement the surroundings of the pitch.”

Slopeloc features a unique ribbed face appearance that can be built as a gravity wall, and therefore be easily erected and provides a unique, economical alternative to vertical retaining walls.

Tim Fields, Technical and Development Manager at Anderton Concrete, added: “The Carlton Le Willows academy was an exciting project to be involved

with, particularly when working closely with the sports charities and McArdle Sports Tec. “The Slopeloc block is popular among landscape contractors due to its ability to be used for garden retaining walls, as well as larger scale projects such as embankment repairs and perimeter walls. The block is available in a variety of colours, so contractors can rest assured that they can specify a block that is in keeping with the design of surrounding buildings.”

For further information on Anderton’s offering, visit: www.andertonconcrete.co.uk

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NEWS

Student housing for Edinburgh An application for planning permission for the development of high-quality student accommodation was approved by City of Edinburgh Council in December. Located at London Road, the 76-bed development is being undertaken by developer, HG Developments.

This is a second phase development of the neighbouring student accommodation at 61-63 London Road, also being undertaken by HG Developments. This incorporates the vacant land, presenting a continuation of regeneration along the London Road corridor.

The proposal will help to address the increasing demand for student accommodation in the city. Edinburgh’s leading universities and colleges are a key driver of the capital’s economy and civic life, and student bed provision in Edinburgh remains below average compared with competing student cities across the UK. The contemporary state-of-the-art development will replace the existing car wash and will see the delivery of a six-storey block, predominantly in brick, bringing a strong architectural element to the corner site.

Energy efficient design will enhance the sustainability of the development, and water consuming systems will offer considerable reductions in water use compared to baseline technologies, including low flush toilets and low flow taps and showers.

Architects 3DReid worked on the scheme and the planning consultants were Turley.

Second phase commences Construction has started on the second phase of infrastructure works at Peel L&P Environmental’s strategic energy and resource hub Protos near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. The £10m works will provide road access for the new Energy Recovery Facility to be operated

by Covanta and the second phase of plots of at Protos to be brought forward for development.

The infrastructure works include new access roads to adoptable standards, new nature areas to create habitats for wading birds and water voles, two new bridges, upgrading the existing canal berth onto the Manchester Ship Canal, water supply to phase 2 plots and new service infrastructure.

The infrastructure work is being undertaken by Sisk and is due to be completed in early 2022.

Commenting on future plans for the site, Jayne Hennessy, Development Manager at Peel L&P Environmental, said: “Protos is already playing an important role in the region’s net zero ambitions with low carbon energy generation. We’re also looking at futureproofing the site by designing routes for other energy technologies like hydrogen, carbon capture and heat networks.”

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Digital transformations Schneider Electric has successfully completed the strategic minority investment in Planon Beheer B.V. (Planon), a leading software provider in Building & Workplace management. Schneider Electric owns 25 per cent of Planon.

Schneider Electric and Planon will jointly collaborate on innovation to deliver a suite of software and services to digitize the building lifecycle for both existing and new buildings.

This will improve building sustainability, operational efficiency, and wellbeing for multiple customers in the Government, Education, Real Estate, Healthcare, Finance, Data Centres and Insurance sectors.

Philippe Delorme, Executive Vice-President of Energy Management and a member of the Executive Committee at Schneider Electric, said: “With an estimated 90 per cent of our time spent indoors, buildings of the future need to be sustainable, hyper-efficient, resilient, and people focused.

The Covid-19 pandemic has added a new dimension to this shift: buildings must support business resiliency. Schneider Electric is committed to playing a central role in the creation of the sustainable and resilient buildings of the future.”

Pierre Guelen, Planon’s Founder and CEO, added: “Schneider Electric brings building operating technology to our solution portfolio with a global reach and unparalleled customer and partner relationships. We share a common vision on the digital transformation of the entire building lifecycle and its contribution to creating healthy, sustainable, efficient data-driven buildings and provide building users with a personalized workplace experience.”

Fast-track firewall ISD Solutions is delivering a fasttrack firewall element at the UK’s new Vaccines Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) at Harwell in Oxfordshire. The firewall division of the Gloucester firm was recently contracted to provide the two-storey building with almost 5000m2 of extensive certified fireproof separation walls.

VMIC was established to provide the UK’s first strategic vaccine development and advanced manufacturing capability. It has taken a leading role in advising Government teams on vaccines manufacturing in response to Covid-19. Demand for the site accelerated when the pandemic started, construction was backed

by UK Government and Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited the site in September. It was around this time that ISD was selected through a tender process as the supplier of the fireproofing elements of the building.

The VMIC facility is due to open in summer 2021, a year ahead of schedule.

Brett Harrington, Manager of ISD Solutions’ Firewall Division, said: “This was an exciting opportunity to be involved in a project of such importance. The compressed timelines have added to the challenge but we have sufficient resources in house and quickly

mobilised our design and project management teams. Working with our supply chain we were able to support the synchronisation of material ordering and delivery, even while the design phase was ongoing.”

Powering the rebuild Following the devastating explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, in August 2020, rebuild efforts have picked up pace as ABB donates products and solutions to secure the power infrastructure. Major hospitals and a school in Beirut will receive products and solutions from ABB to restore and accelerate reconstruction efforts.

Working with ABB’s local partner, Harb Electric, the product donations will include a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) System for each hospital, along with various smart power equipment and energy distribution solutions.

The UPS and smart power components will be supplied as a holistic solution from ABB to future proof the electrical and power infrastructure of the hospitals in the event of blackouts.

The infrastructure will also feed all critical loads from operating theatres and rooms with power sensitive equipment including X-ray machines, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and respirators.

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PROFILE: THE RED SEA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY – THE RED SEA PROJECT

Breaking

new ground Arguably the world’s most ambitious and exciting tourism and hospitality project, The Red Sea Project – led by The Red Sea Development Company – is setting new standards in sustainable development

2021 will be very much about bringing our hotels out of the ground, and that will – for the first time I feel – really help to give people an understanding of how this amazing destination is going to look, the shape and form of these resorts, and the unique nature and beauty of this incredible part of the world

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PROFILE: THE RED SEA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY – THE RED SEA PROJECT

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eveloped over 28,000-square kilometres of pristine lands and water along Saudi Arabia’s west coast, and including an archipelago of more than 90 islands, The Red Sea Project is the country’s flagship international regenerative tourism initiative and one of the standout projects to form part of its Saudi Vision 2030 framework. The destination is home to mountain canyons, dormant volcanoes, and ancient cultural and heritage sites, and will ultimately play host to several hotels, residential properties, and leisure, commercial and entertainment amenities, as well as supporting infrastructure that is

centred around renewable energy and water conservation.

A joint-stock company, wholly owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, The Red Sea Development Company (TRSDC) was established in 2018 to drive the development of the project, while also becoming a preeminent developer in the country for future works. For now, however, the sheer scale of The Red Sea Project makes this particular undertaking especially notable. “At 28,000-square kilometres in size, The Red Sea Project measures in at only slightly smaller than Belgium,” explains Chief Projects Delivery Officer Ian Williamson. “The location itself, which has been

largely left untouched by man, is absolutely breath-taking and it is a real privilege to be leading on the planning, design, construction and procurement of such an important project.”

Rapid progress The Red Sea Project is envisioned to eventually attract approximately one million visitors to the region per annum, a figure which has been capped in order to preserve an environmental balance to the area. The 90 plus islands that form its archipelago cover around 65-square kilometres in themselves, and owe much of their existence to mangrove forests. Of these islands, many

WATG Designing the world’s most ambitious master plan 28,000 square kilometres of pristine lands and waters. An archipelago of more than 90 islands.

A landscape so diverse it includes hundreds of miles of coastline, mountain canyons, dormant volcanoes, ancient cultural and heritage sites. And dozens of precious, interlocking ecosystems.

In January 2018, WATG began the journey to answer this question: How do we design a master plan that accommodates all these natural wonders and create the world’s most ambitious luxury, regenerative tourism destination?

Respect the land. Listen to the locals that have lived there for centuries. Spend months on-site hiking the sands, navigating delicately through the reefs, studying the migratory and nesting patterns of the native wildlife and mapping the seasonal flushing of the lagoons by wind and water. Engage the world’s most esteemed environmental specialists.

Most importantly, we collaborate day by day, moment by moment, in partnership with our client.

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Our energy is intellectual.

Our talent is irrepressible.

Our resilience is unquestionable.

For 75 remarkable years, WATG has redefined what is possible. In 170 countries and territories, we have delivered over 400 built projects and 120,000 guest rooms, welcoming over 100,000 guests every night around the world. To all the clients, partners and colleagues who have joined us and inspired us on our journey, thank you. And special thanks to our extraordinary partners at The Red Sea Development Company. watg.com

STRATEGY | MASTER PLANNING | ARCHITECTURE | LANDSCAPE | WIMBERLY INTERIORS

WATG_SP_297x210mm_AW.indd 1

08/01/2021 15:31

PROFILE: THE RED SEA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY – THE RED SEA PROJECT

are either too small to develop on, or would be too severely impacted environmentally, leaving 22 of the 90 that have been marked for development.

The board of TRSDC, which regularly boasts ministerial level attendance, is chaired by His Royal Highness, The Crown Prince, giving the company the direction, political will and leverage to support its ambitions as a cornerstone of Saudi Vision 2030. “Of the many different projects and initiatives that make up Saudi Vision 2030, The Red Sea Project is the only one to be entirely focused on attracting tourism to the country,” Ian states. “Vision 2030 is, of course, designed around the need to diversify the country away from being a purely oil-based economy, by enabling the growth of new sectors, with the ultimate aim to create jobs and contribute to GDP. We believe that The Red Sea Project will create as many as 35,000 direct jobs – people who will be required to support its hotels and other infrastructure – as well as 35,000 indirect and induced jobs, while also contributing an estimated SAR 22 billion towards Saudi Arabia’s GDP once fully operational in 2030.

“The Saudi Government understands the opportunities that tourism brings, and the country has long been known for being extremely welcoming to religious tourism on a massive scale, with millions travelling for The Haj on an annual basis. However, with tourism currently accounting for only around three per cent of Saudi Arabia’s GDP – whereas globally this figure tends to be around ten per cent – it highlights the headroom that we have available to us.”

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Since TRSDC was formed in 2018, it has made incredibly rapid progress in terms of its development of The Red Sea Project. In that time, the company has awarded some SAR 14.5 billion worth of contracts (nearly $4 billion), covering some 500 individual agreements in total, and resulting in around 5000 contractors currently working on site on numerous fronts. “We have been extremely busy over the last two-plus years in terms of both procurement and mobilizing major contracts and designers from all around the world,” Ian explains.

“What we chose to do was to build in tandem with designing, rather than adopting a sequential approach of designing, procuring and building, as we felt that this was the best way of meeting our ambitious deadline of opening the

first elements of the destination by the end of 2022.”

Work underway Today, some 100 designers – be they architects, interior designers or landscape engineers – are actively supporting the company with various developments, including the construction of no fewer than 16 hotels being built during the project’s first phase, as well as a coastal village that will cater for 14,000 permanent residents of the area. By 2030, the goal is to build the destination up to 50 hotels.

Due to the remote nature of the project’s location – it is served by a single four-lane carriage way and the closest regional airport is a two-hour drive away – the first few months work centred on establishing a base camp with

accommodation, offices, and recreational and catering facilities for what was at first a team of 150 people. Those efforts were completed in early 2019, with work quickly commencing on building primary infrastructure.

“Since then,” Ian details, “we have built around 71 kilometres of road of a planned 80km, to better connect the resorts, facilities and infrastructure both inland and along the coastline, and the location of our future airport.

We soon completed the works on our main compound, and we have been doing a lot of work since on raising a large section of land around the coastline by around four metres to protect again sea level rises and storm surge. We then got to work on designing and awarding contracts to complete the necessary

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PROFILE: THE RED SEA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY – THE RED SEA PROJECT

power, water, sewage treatment and waste collection works that needed to be completed, before we could then start the construction of key buildings.

“As we speak today (January 2021), we have an office to staff 500 people nearing completion.

This will be a permanent asset of TRSDC with a 50-year life, and it will open its doors by the end of Q1 2021. We also have a hotel that has largely been built for our own purposes, initially to serve TRSDC and its consultants, that will open by the end of Q2 2021. That hotel will also become a permanent asset of our coastal village. We also have around 220 residential apartments completed, which are going through testing and commissioning ahead of their opening in April 2021, and we have just recently awarded a large contract for the building of

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40 apartment buildings, which we are keen to see completed by the end of 2021 as they will provide accommodation to our construction workforce.”

Smart destination Another impressive undertaking

by TRSDC is the construction of a dedicated ‘Construction Village’, which will house up to 10,000 workers. An important element of the project’s Phase One development, the village is designed to ensure that workers remain healthy, safe and happy during their time working on The Red Sea Project. Complete with cricket and football pitches, basketball courts, gyms, a twoscreen cinema, a supermarket, a doctor’s clinic, and a 24/7 helpdesk, the village is something that is truly unique to the region. Two Saudi firms, Red Sea

International and the Facilities Management Company (FMCO) will each be tasked with looking after up to 5000 workers, providing maintenance, security, catering, administrative and laundry services.

A project of this size and scale has understandably required TRSDC to adopt a number of innovative approaches to its work on top of proven methods of construction. “We have imposed BIM throughout the supply chain, and instigated a model of working that enables everyone to see model designs in 3D, which allows us to walk through different spaces and understand how buildings and infrastructure are going to look and feel once complete,” Ian adds. “We also have what we call a Smart Destination team, whose focus revolves purely around

arrival, meaning that they won’t need to queue to show passports and be fingerprinted, thus minimalizing delays.”

Concept Master Plan In terms of its construction methodologies, one of TRSDC’s biggest commitments throughout the project is to the concept of offsite manufacturing. “We believe,” Ian reveals, “that there are far greater opportunities within, say, a hotel, than simply producing bathroom pods or the like, which has pretty much been the industry norm for the last 20 years as an offsite manufacturing element. Our efforts are focused on achieving more standardization where we can offsite manufacture entire rooms that come largely pre-finished and pre-fitted, thus reducing the

Timeless & Sustainable Architecture

amount of labour required onsite.

“We have embraced such methodologies on the building of our hotel and residential apartments, with Saudi Amana Contracting and Dubox Precast Products – who are well known for their pre-finished, volumetric, concrete construction efforts – being awarded the contract for this work. Effectively, what it means is that we are receiving modules brought in on flatbed trucks to site, which are then craned into position onto preprepared foundations, and these are then fitted together, while also being interconnected in terms of services. There is some final finishing work required to the exterior, but in general they come as largely finished units with kitchens, bathrooms and toilets fitted, tiling in place, ceilings in,

ARCHITECTURE MASTERPLANNING PROJECT MANAGEMENT STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING INTERIOR DESIGN

technology and how we can use it to enhance the customer experience and protect the environment, while also creating operational efficiencies in the way we perform whilst these assets are being built.

“Although there is smart technology already being built into the design of our buildings – in the form of things such as smart meters – being a smart destination means extending that through to applications such as smart transport modes, smart vehicles, smart signage and so forth. We have also looked to incorporate such technology into the design of our new airport, in which we are working to create a totally new customer experience when it comes to arrivals and departures. We anticipate smart technology enabling passengers to be pre-screened ahead of

PO Box 26642, Dubai, UAE | T: + 971 4 355 4447 | E: info@killadesign.com www.killadesign.com

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PROFILE: THE RED SEA DEVELOPMENT COMPANY – THE RED SEA PROJECT

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and lighting complete. So, offsite manufacturing is something that we are very keen to continue to explore, and what we want to do is to take this philosophy further still, getting it to a more refined stage so that we can apply it to some of the remote islands that we are developing as part of The Red Sea Project.”

TRSDC has also proudly achieved a number of unique firsts when it comes to the environment and sustainability. In the early days of the project, it entered into a partnership with the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) to conduct an ambitious Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) program to map out land and coral reef conservation areas at the site. This exercise – the data from which was digitalized into what the company called Benefit Mapping – helped to inform the Concept Master Plan for The Red Sea Project.

“Using the information from the MSP program, we were able to break down the entire marine geography of what is a 5000-square kilometre space into a management grid, which we can use to detail our level of impact occurring on a per grid basis,” Ian enthuses. “This totally influenced our philosophy on how we would go about developing the whole area and helped to generate our commitment to enhance the net conservation benefit of the region by as much as 30 per cent by 2040.”

Towards the tail end of 2020, TRSDC also announced the award of a public-private partnership (PPP) contract to a consortium led by ACWA Power to design The Red Sea Project’s utilities infrastructure.

The significance of this contract is that it marks a major step towards the project’s aim of being powered solely by renewable energy. Under the terms of the contract, all utilities will be delivered under a single agreement, including the provision of renewable power, potable water, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, and district cooling.

Energy will be generated via solar panels and wind turbines to meet

an initial demand of 210MW, while the PPP agreement expects to generate up to 650,000MWh of 100 per cent renewable energy to supply the destination, whilst emitting zero carbon. Included within the package is the world’s largest battery storage facility of 1000MWh, which will allow the destination to remain completely off-grid and powered by renewables day and night.

Taking shape Looking ahead to what 2021 has in store for TRSDC and The Red Sea Project, Ian goes on to explain how focus is now moving away from design and into completing the procurement phase. “We have around SAR 8 billion worth of work still to procure, and then it is all about construction,” he says.

“We have a deadline of December 2022 to welcome our first guests, and we are literally counting down the days until then, but there is still a lot of work to be done. We are making great inroads with our Coastal Village community, and you can now see buildings starting to spring up out of the ground alongside the coastline. We have now switched some of our attention towards the hotels, with 11 of these currently tracking for completion by 2023.

“At present, we are excavating an estimated one million cubic metres of fill material in order to raise our islands in order to commence the build, however we need around another eight million cubic metres more to complete the task. To achieve this, we have come up with an innovative way of retrieving

materials from the seabed local to the island, in an area that is not blessed with corals, seagrass or other areas of natural beauty.

We worked very hard in 2020 alongside our environmental team to identify where it was best appropriate to carry this out, and once raising the islands is complete, we will begin awarding further construction contracts.”

Inland, The Red Sea Project has a destination called Southern Dunes, which sits on the top of a plateau that offers panoramic views of the destination. In December 2020, the company awarded a contract to a contractor to begin putting in the core infrastructure here for a number of luxury villas. In addition to this, another of TRSDC’s hotels at Desert Rock is being designed to be partially built into one of the area’s impressive granite mountains. At the time of press, site establishment works here were underway and progressing rapidly.

“In summary,” Ian concludes, “2021 will be very much about bringing our hotels out of the ground, and that will – for the first time I feel – really help to give people an understanding of how this amazing destination is going to look, the shape and form of these resorts, and the unique nature and beauty of this incredible part of the world.”

The Red Sea Development Company – The Red Sea Project www.theredsea.sa Services: Driving the development of The Red Sea Project 29

PROFILE: MARSHALLS PLC

Paving the way The UK’s leading hard landscaping manufacturer, Marshalls PLC is creating better spaces across the nation

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Warrington Bridge Street Quarter, featuring Marshalls granite and landscape protection products

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PROFILE: MARSHALLS PLC

An award-winning domestic garden, featuring Marshalls natural stone

L

ike the products it manufactures, Marshalls PLC is built to last. A complete external landscaping firm, the company has been supplying superior natural stone and innovative concrete products to the construction, home improvement and landscape markets since 1890. Established as a small family operation at a Yorkshire quarry, today Marshalls is a member of the FTSE 250, turning over close to £600 million, with a market cap of £1.6 billion.

Offering both domestic and commercial services, Marshalls has become known as a provider of a wide range of quality products, including block paving, patio slabs, pavements, kerbs, roundabouts, concrete bricks, concrete pipes and drainage solutions. In recent years, as demand has risen, the company has been heavily involved in the development of landscape protection designed to prevent vehicles accessing pathways or buildings, as well as the sale of ready-to-use mortar and aggregates.

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At present, the Government is talking about more infrastructure spending to come on rail and roads, which is keeping us optimistic. Over the next three to five years, I expect to see many more opportunities for Marshalls as we grow into new areas and expand our brand Martyn Coffey, CEO of Marshalls, joined the business in September 2013, and has overseen over seven years of rapid growth at the firm.

With the positive trajectory set to continue in 2021, Martyn outlines what he believes makes the business special.

“I think what differentiates us at Marshalls is the size of our product range, the sophistication of our logistical services, and our dedication to delivering better spaces,” he declares. “Whether it is a domestic or commercial project, we work really closely with our clients. We tend to get in early and support in the design

and choice of materials in order to achieve the best results.”

Though a broadened product range and strategic acquisitions have been key drivers behind Marshalls’ recent expansion, the company’s core focus has been on organic growth. Each year, the firm makes substantial investments in its factories and products. In 2021, Marshalls will be committing £30 million to the cause – its largest investment so far.

Focus on innovation Historically pioneering, Marshalls’ latest innovations include a new, versatile paving range called Conservation X, and a concrete drainage solution for driveways named Driveline Drain.

“Six years ago, we went to shareholders and tried to describe our vision,” Martyn says.

“New product development is critical to us, so we prioritise that. Driveline Drain, for example, is an integrated concrete solution that can replace metal grates. It is a much more

PROFILE: MARSHALLS PLC Marshalls paving at the newly opened Boeing manufacturing site in Sheffield

access to our product range, both digitally and in person. It’s all about teaming up to create the best and most feasible looks and designs.”

Business performance

efficient way of taking water away from a location and its popularity is going to grow and grow.

“On the commercial side of things, our development teams work on projects that are years in the making. We have been

collaborating with architects and designers on major contracts like Crossrail and HS2 since the very beginning. We have two design spaces, one in London and one in Birmingham, where we invite architects and provide them with

Hanson UK Hanson Cement and Hanson Aggregates are proud to work with Marshalls. We provide them with cements, cement replacements and aggregates that help them develop sustainable, innovative products for their customers. Our high service levels and supply chain ensures that their factories are provided with the right product at the right time, and our technical support helps them run efficiently and without interruption.

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Some of the busiest areas in UK cities bear evidence of Marshalls’ handiwork. In 2020, the firm helped with the redesign of London’s Bond Street, installing wider pavements to allow for more foot traffic. Similar work is set to be performed in and around Oxford Street as more urban hubs look towards added pedestrianisation.

“We are always getting involved with these kinds of projects. Not only does Marshalls have the experience, but we have our own fleet of vehicles, which deliver products direct to site,” Martyn

states. “We currently have 220 large articulated lorries with cranes. They run seven days a week and can deliver to anywhere in the country. Around 60 per cent of the products we sell with builders’ merchants go directly from the factory to the jobsite, improving leading times and work flow. It’s another advantage of doing business with us.”

Though the company was not impacted as heavily as some other firms, Marshalls certainly felt the strain of the Covid-19 pandemic over the last twelve months and has only recently returned to its regular model of operation.

As confusion reigned in the construction industry during the March 2020 lockdown, Marshalls saw its sales drop by 75 per cent when many builders’ merchants were forced to close. In response,

the company worked on cutting its costs and securing its finances.

“Back in March, we didn’t know what the long-term forecast was going to be, so we rationalised the cost of one of our factories and took advantage of the Government’s furlough scheme,” Martyn explains. “However, from June onwards, the industry bounced back. The domestic market never really went away because, with so much time at home, people started working on more renovations. House building, which had stopped,

benefited greatly when the stamp duty holiday was announced, and by Q3, most housebuilders were hitting prelockdown rates.”

As regular sales volumes returned, Marshalls made the decision to repay the money used to cover furlough payments, despite profits being affected by the virus. Senior management figures, who had taken a 20 per cent pay cut at the beginning of the crisis, refused to have their lost wages repaid, and instead, unanimously

Thomas Dudley Thomas Dudley were asked by Marshalls to solve poor service issues related to the supply of ductile iron drainage castings. As a UK manufacturer of these products we were uniquely placed to solve the service issues that are rife in this sector. The vast majority of castings are imported with associated logistic and quality concerns, tolerated by lower prices than perceived possible in the UK. By optimising the design for manufacture on world class automated moulding lines our in-house team were able to offer competitive prices. Marshalls awarded the business and the relationship has grown with new products under development for 2021.

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PROFILE: MARSHALLS PLC Marshalls natural stone paving on Exhibition Road, London

everyone gets behind. For many years we have sourced product from overseas and we only use suppliers that are responsible, that believe in the safety of their workforce and that are opposed to slavery and child labour.

Green approach

agreed to donate the money to MacMillan Cancer Support £120,000 in total.

The 2020 MacMillan donation is indicative of the culture at Marshalls, a company that has always cared for communities and worked towards achieving a positive societal impact.

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Environmental, social and corporate governance plays a significant role in the firm’s modern decision making and has led to Marshalls earning an MSCI ESG rating of AAA. “We have always been very active in ESG,” Martyn reveals.

“It’s an important credential that

“As the environment has become an increasingly important topic for investors, shareholders, employees and customers, we have lowered our plastic usage by 60 per cent and invested in solar power and water self-sufficiency at some of our factories. We are one of the first companies in the materials sector to design science-based targets on carbon reduction in our product range and carbon data is now disclosed on everything we produce. Our shareholders continue to be very supportive in

this area. They are creating more ESG-related funds and we have signed up to make more carbon reductions in the future.”

Seven years ago, Marshalls recorded less than £10 million profit before tax. In 2019, that number had risen to over £70 million and, through an approach that sees half the firm’s profit designated to shareholders as dividends and half reinvested in the business, the company continues to grow.

Digital capabilities In 2021, Marshalls’ to-do list includes a sizeable investment in machinery at one of its factories.

At present, the site manufactures 48 block paving slabs every ten seconds, but the introduction of state-of-the art technology could allow the business to double that production rate. Though the investment will cost around £20 million, Marshalls can look forward to more finishing options, better quality and reduced costs in the long-term.

“We have also been investing heavily in our digital capabilities,” Martyn adds. “There’s no doubt that things have been trending that way, but in the last 12 months, it seems like everybody has got the ability to digitally trade and we want to make sure our products are available digitally too. Ideally, we would like our customers to be able to upload a photo of their garden and apply

A Marshalls lorry on the road we’ll wait and see what happens,” Martyn remarks. “At present, the Government is talking about more infrastructure spending to come on rail and roads, which is keeping us optimistic. Over the next three to five years, I expect to see many more opportunities for Marshalls as we grow into new areas and expand our brand.”

Marshalls PLC www.marshalls.co.uk Products / Services: Paving slabs, drainage solutions and other hard landscaping products

our products to it to see what different options look like.”

Having ridden out the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Marshalls can now focus on the five-year strategy it laid out in 2019. Through internal investment, organic growth and complementary acquisitions, the company hopes that the decade ahead can be as successful as the one previous.

“Going into 2021, the market is relatively strong and domestic housebuilding is picking up, so

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PROFILE: LEE MARLEY BRICKWORK

Brick by brick Specialising in large-scale, high quality residential, commercial and public sector projects, Lee Marley is an award-winning brickwork and scaffolding subcontractor with a growing presence across the UK

T

he speedy ascent of Lee Marley Brickwork is probably no surprise to those who know the company’s ambitious Founder.

Just five years after completing

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his apprenticeship, Lee Marley was only 24 years old when he established the bricklaying firm in 1997. After assembling a strong team around him, Lee’s business grew tremendously across the subsequent decade and added

scaffolding services to its offering in the mid-2000s.

In 2010, Lee was ready to launch the company into its next stage of development and consequently, Dan Clarkson was invited to invest in the firm as part of plans to

help grow the scaffolding side of the business. As we move into a new year, Dan, Joint Managing Director at Lee Marley, is proud to look back on another decade of success for what is now one of the UK’s major integrated

brickwork, scaffolding and stone subcontractors.

“Back when I joined the fold in 2011, we were turning over around £17 million. Today, that has grown to £47 million,” Dan states. “In part, it’s due to the changing nature of

construction in London, especially residential construction, where there has been a move towards concrete frame towers. We partnered with Berkeley Homes back in 2013 who were at the front of the market for tall masonry

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PROFILE: LEE MARLEY BRICKWORK

towers. No other developers had really gone down that route, but when you travel around London and other regional cities, you can see that it is the way residential construction is going.

“As a company, we have built up a good reputation over the years as a one-stop shop that can take responsibility for the whole shell of a building. We install everything ourselves, including masonry support, insulation and fire stopping, which has won us a lot of trust from our key clients and has enabled us to grow. We now have offices in London, Reading, Glasgow, and in 2020 we opened a new office up in Leeds.”

Office launch With a growing market in the North of England, Lee Marley’s new Leeds-based team will be focusing on the large-scale schemes that have become the company’s hallmark in southern England and Scotland. New Commercial Director Mike Hampton, a former Business Development Director at Marlborough Brickwork, will be the man tasked with successfully implementing the Lee Marley model in West Yorkshire.

“We are very much a people organization, and as more and more clients have requested us to look at work up in the North, we have been studying the opportunities and waiting for the right people to become available,” Dan reveals. “Once Mike Hampton joined us it was an easy decision for us to go ahead and launch the new office.

“There are some very good companies that operate in our space up there, but they will obviously be going through a learning curve, whereas we have essentially done that already,” Dan adds. “The Government is currently looking to boost spending in northern England, but it is clear that the natural level of growth there is already accelerating. Given the size of our business, opening in Leeds is the right thing to do to make us more diverse.

“The new office will benefit from significant crossover with our client base from Scotland and down in the Southeast. There are lots of big schemes becoming available to us and we will be choosing our work up there carefully, in partnership with our clients, to make sure we do the job correctly.”

As the UK market continues to change, Lee Marley has transformed from a company working on around 50 contracts a year worth £200,000 to £400,000, to a firm completing 30 annual projects at the much higher value range of £1 million to £8 million. Over the course of the last decade, the business has seen its average contract value rise from £300,000 to £2.5 million – a consistent trend across London, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

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Among the key projects Lee Marley has worked on in recent times is Regency Heights, a Fairview New Homes development in Park Royal, London. Part of a £26 billion regeneration initiative providing two new railway stations and 25,500 new homes, Regency Heights saw Lee Marley execute 28 stories of traditional masonry, as well as working with offsite manufacturers to produce brick arches and lintels to help speed up completion.

Specialist project One of the company’s more specialist projects within the last five years came in the shape of the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) at Stanford Hall, Nottinghamshire. A large-scale military rehabilitation hospital for the severely wounded,

FFX “FFX are a vital part of our supply chain. We have been working closely with FFX for a number of years and I must say their product range is phenomenal, service levels are second to none and when technical assistance is required they are always our go to.”

Julie Martin, Lee Marley Brickwork

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PROFILE: LEE MARLEY BRICKWORK

the DNRC was completed in 2018 and is a fitting example of how Lee Marley is able to work in close collaboration with a supply chain, from design to construction, in order to create buildings that make people proud.

“We had over 180 workers onsite at the peak of construction to ensure we could deliver the level of detail required,” Dan says.

“There was a lot of interaction with our supply chain and we transported key staff members up there, as well as building local teams of bricklayers and stonemasons.

“The DNRC is a particularly memorable project because it is not the type of building you see very much today. There was a lot of detail more reminiscent of Victorian builds. It required a combination of modern

construction methods and traditional architecture that made for a unique building constructed for a special purpose, passionately backed and championed by the late Duke of Westminster.”

Training programme Having completed prestigious projects over the years for Eton College, Chelsea Wharf, London’s Olympic Park, Crossrail, Kings College and the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice, Lee Marley has earnt a wide variety of accolades and awards, including Specialist Brickwork Contractor of the Year for three of the last six years, ROSPA Silver 2020, and the Housebuilder Awards’ Subcontractor of the Year 2020.

Though Dan is grateful for all industry praise directed towards the business, he suggests that awards for the company’s focus on training and staff development are particularly special considering Lee Marley’s history.

“As Lee was an apprentice bricklayer himself, he has always had a passion for investing in people, bringing them through apprenticeships and into the business,” Dan remarks. “It can be quite difficult finding colleges with good apprenticeship programmes, so we set up a scheme with Brooklands College four or five years ago now that blends our requirements with the apprenticeship curriculum. In 2019, the scheme won Apprenticeship Initiative of the Year at the Constructing Excellence SECBE Awards. Our commitment to that programme continues and we currently have around 40 apprentices in both brickwork and scaffolding on our books.”

Strong pipeline Not solely focused on attracting those new to the trade, Lee Marley also invests heavily in its existing workforce, funding higher NVQ qualifications and helping team members to further their technical

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skills and personal growth. “A lot of our projects last between nine and 18 months, so staff know that there are secure job opportunities here,” Dan asserts. “The courses we fund and training we offer has been a chance for a lot of them to progress to the next levels of their careers.”

With a pipeline of £44 million worth of work already secured for 2021, Lee Marley is hoping that its new site in Leeds, and the continued success of its Glasgow location, can help the company achieve a turnover exceeding £50 million by the year’s end.

Based in Reading, Lee Marley’s

scaffolding business is now starting to experience the benefits of the upcoming Crossrail connection and Dan expects to see a similar impact in other areas where Governmentfocused investment is driving further private development.

“There is a lot of work out there.

I think, for the industry, there is a good strong pipeline for the next couple of years,” Dan notes.

“Although Coronavirus has had an impact on the sector that has certainly been felt on the commercial side of the market, there are a lot of regeneration projects and residential schemes

that are driving a significant workload. It is not all about building more houses either but about a focus on improving social housing too.

“As a business, we are excited about the possibilities the future holds,” he concludes. “We have a desire for growth and we have the capacity management-wise to achieve turnover circa £60 million.”

Lee Marley Brickwork www.leemarley.com Products / Services : Brickwork, scaffolding and stonework subcontractor

A J Brickcutters Ltd A J Brickcutters Ltd are based in the South of England, supplying prefabricated arches, brick specials and brick clad GRP chimneys to the construction industry.

We worked closely with Lee Marley on the redevelopment of the Eastenders set, starting with the designs required back in 2018 and then going into production during 2019 to completion in early 2020.

We now cater for their sites across London and Kent supplying cut bricks and specials.

We have built our business on the quality of service we offer along with our ability to produce a high standard of finish across our product range.

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PROFILE: MKM BUILDING SUPPLIES

For all your building essentials A true one-stop shop builders’ merchant, MKM Building Supplies stocks everything the trade and public need for their project, from bricks and blocks, to landscaping, plasterboard, insulation, plumbing, heating, bathrooms and kitchens

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A

s David Kilburn, Chairman & CoFounder stated when he spoke to Construction & Civil Engineering in December 2020, in many ways, the MKM Building Supplies (MKM) of 2020 was almost unrecognisable from its first branch, which opened in Hull in 1995. At that time, there was a small team of five people working from rental premises, which had been secured for less than a year to get the business off the ground. David recalls: “Ironically, the premises belonged to an MKM competitor William Wilson. We signed up for nine months but were still there 18 months later, at the time we were just glad not to be chucked out!”

He looked back to when the business was just starting out and recalled that some of the most demanding times in business have also been the most enjoyable.

“Some of our best times were in the early days - negotiating manufacturing deals, securing credit with the banks and often coming up against brick walls, whilst driving a couple of old bangers to collect building materials and grafting to sell,” he commented.

Interesting strategies As we stand today in the early days of 2021, MKM employs over 1700 people and last year recorded sales of over £470 million. It now stands as the UK’s largest independent builders’ merchant, and a visit to its comprehensive website - www. mkmbs.co.uk - gives an overview of the extremely extensive product portfolio on offer by the company.

Whether a customer is a small DIYer looking for a roll of electrical tape, or a large builder wanting blocks, bricks and mortar, MKM has the stock to meet their needs, combined with valuable advice on areas as diverse as flooring and ovens!

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PROFILE: MKM BUILDING SUPPLIES

give them a true understanding of individual client needs. The patrons who regularly use the services of MKM appreciate this aspect of its services, with David noting that it results in excellent levels of repeat business. “We are extremely lucky to have such a loyal band of customers, who range from builders, plumbers and joiners to national house builders,” he said. “We have developed strong relationships over the years, with many customers becoming firm friends.”

Positive atmosphere Being able to supply what the customer wants is clearly a huge attraction to MKM’s branches, but it has also set itself apart from the competition through some interesting strategies. One particular concept that stands out is the priority the business places on location. MKM was built on the

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concept that skilled, local people who understand the needs of local customers should serve the local trade. Thanks to this philosophy, each of its branches is able to utilise the home-grown knowledge and expertise of its staff to provide great service to every customer, as well as build relationships that

It has also differentiated its offer through a unique business model, which is centred on branch directors owning an equity stake in their business, with an opportunity to share in profits. David believes empowering people and supporting their entrepreneurial spirit has been a key driver of

growth, but added an important note about the working ethos at MKM. “Our mantra, which we instil in all of our teams, is to have fun at work. Working hard, but having fun is very much the MKM culture.

“Our culture is at the heart of everything we do, as we really want our teams to enjoy coming to work every day. We spend a lot of our waking life at work so we might as well love what we do. Furthermore, the positive atmosphere in our branches rubs off on the customers, which keeps them coming back day after day. Due to our business model the branches are run semi-autonomously and they each have their own unique culture specific to the geographical region they are in or the personalities of the team members.”

New branches The locale of each store obviously plays a very significant role in their overall success as part of the group, and adding new sites is a major part of MKM’s future agenda - in 2020 MKM opened its 79th branch and plans to be operating 100 branches by 2021/2022 and lots more beyond. With seven stores opening in 2019, David was able to highlight the newest locations that MKM has recently unveiled, all as part of its ambitious scheme to open a further 40 branches in the next two years. “We have an expansive growth programme but finding good properties in good locations can be a challenge and planning applications can be very slow, which frustrates progress,” said David. Despite the challenges, 2020 saw four new sites unveiled, with one of the most recent in November, located in Scunthorpe.

MKM Scunthorpe is headed-up by two branch directors, Karl Wilmore and Kevin Danks, both from Scunthorpe and both with years of experience across all aspects of the industry and the trade. Karl noted the

Garador Garador are one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of garage doors, with an ultramodern production facility located in Somerset. We offer a comprehensive range of up & over, sectional, roller and side-hinged garage doors, in a selection of standard and purpose-made sizes, as well as a variety of colours and finishes. All Garador garage doors are precision engineered and built to last. We have worked with our long-standing partner MKM Building Supplies to supply the building industry for many years now. Using Garador’s EasiQuote pricing service we have worked with MKM to provide quality garage doors and accessories to customers throughout the UK.

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PROFILE: MKM BUILDING SUPPLIES

superb efforts that the MKM team put in, to ensure that this branch could open despite the difficult conditions at the time: “Our staff and customers’ safety has been paramount in planning for our opening and I have been really impressed by how the whole team has pulled together to make the branch Covid secure and prepare for the launch,” he confirmed.

In fact, Covid-19 has brought not only challenges, but also opportunities to MKM. During the first lockdown, the demand for garden products like decking, fencing, paving, and sleepers was unprecedented. With so much of the country at home, furloughed, with ‘holiday money’ to spend, but nowhere to go, their attention

detailed. “At the end of March, it felt like the world was going to end from a business point of view, April was a tough month, but then May, June and July brought new customers to our doors, some of whom may never have shopped in a builders’ merchant before, and sales jumped to levels we would never have believed when the country first got locked down. So, while 2020 was extremely difficult from lots of angles, the business has performed fantastically well.

Much of the success is thanks to our dedicated and hardworking staff and our customer base, many of who have navigated the Covid issues remarkably.”

seemed to turn to their own homes. “This year has been like no other (for obvious reasons),” David

Alongside its strategy for opening new branches, whatever adversity it faces, another key part of MKM’s methodology is the strategic acquisition of suitable businesses.

Most recently it added DTC Merchants and Brooke Ceramics to the organisation and David explained the key benefits of this approach to the business.

“Acquisitions are very much part of our near-term plans, particularly given the positive early signs with DTC & Brooke,” he said. “Both teams have integrated well into the MKM family.”

DTC delivered a high-quality merchant network in the South West of Scotland to MKM, which helped expands its geographic coverage and David believes it will be a great asset to the Group. Brooke Ceramics was the UK’s largest independent tile and bathroom store and gave MKM access to products and suppliers which it hasn’t majored on previously. “We found a like-minded company in Brooke Ceramics, which places the customer at the heart of the

Recipe for success

business. The team at Brooke Ceramics is highly skilled, has superb product knowledge and a great distribution network, and is a natural extension for MKM,

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bringing the chance to incorporate an extensive tile choice into our nationwide network,” David added.

Over the course of our conversation, David touched on several different areas of the business that he believes all combine together to create the foundation for the company’s longevity. “The business model, the culture, the customers, the growth in the number of branches are all important, but ultimately the drive, determination and passion of all of our staff who continually amaze us with the results they produce are the key,” he confirmed. “Our ultimate

recipe for success, now finetuned over 25 years, has been giving customers what they want, employing and retaining the best

Triton Triton are delighted to work with the UK’s largest independent builders’ merchant as both companies pride themselves in offering excellent service to their customers. Happy 25th anniversary MKM.

staff, engaging people in profit generation activities and of course having fun at work – which we certainly do!”

MKM Building Supplies www.mkmbs.co.uk Services: Builders’ merchant

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PROFILE: PRICE BUILDING SERVICES

The price is right Working for a range of prominent clients on both commercial and residential projects in and around London, Price Building Services is a mechanical services specialist whose work is based on excellence and exacting standards

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stablished over 30 years ago – initially as a plumbing and pipework focused business – Price Building Services is a mechanical services company, based in Greater London, and with a long and successful record of trading within the construction industry. Today, the core of its business centres around mechanical building installations, but it also carries out a significant volume of smaller mechanical and electrical (M&E) combined packages, maintenance packages, domestic refurbishments, and building fabric works for its portfolio of clients. These clients typically operate themselves within the construction sector throughout London and nationwide.

“Over the years that we have been operational, we have developed an excellent level of knowledge and understanding of mechanical building installations, systems and associated services,” explains Fraser Jones, Price Building Services’ Operations Director. “We take huge pride in the quality of the work that we do, and in the strong relationships that we have built with our various clients. It is these values that continue to serve us so well.”

Looking a bit more closely at its operations, Price Building Services divides its offering into two segments, Services and Trades, with the former covering the construction of Major Projects, and Planned and Reactive Maintenance.

The business’ Major Projects Services are supplied to clients via dedicated and highly trained teams that are familiar with commercial pressures and time constraints, and the need to ensure that projects are delivered in line with the programme and budget. The teams work hard to achieve the desired end results whether they are a major project, M&E design and fit-out, minor works or major refurbishment to meet all M&E and construction requirements.

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PROFILE: PRICE BUILDING SERVICES

On the Planned Maintenance side, its experienced teams will design an inspection and maintenance schedule to ensure that a client’s property is looked after and stays in the required condition throughout the years.

The Reactive Maintenance team is specially trained and equipped to deal with requirements as a call out service or emergency response. Price Building Services specialises in providing rapid reaction to emergency situations such as fire and flood damage and any resultant damage, gas leaks. Furthermore, many clients combine Planned Maintenance with this reactive call out facility, ensuring a total property service is achieved.

Company organisation Furthermore, Price Building Services is also highly experienced in all types of general building work, installations, repairs and refurbishments, and can carry out works from small repairs to large projects.

Privately owned, Price Building Services organises and carries

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...We believe that the conditions in the marketplace are such that there are plenty of opportunities for Price Building Services out there, it is just important that we remain able to adapt to the environment around us as it evolves and to respond to client demand as it arises out this significant range of services from its head office and fabrication facility in Croydon, Surrey. The business began life as an operation working out of several garages, but has since grown to accommodate two purpose-built pre-fabrication units, which the company intends to extend into a third building during the first half of 2021.

Across its operations, the company directly employs over 100 operatives and 30 management staff, and also boasts a number of regular and specialist sub-contract staff.

Fraser explained how these have been organised to supply the vast array of services that were detailed above. “As we have expanded our reach and service offering, so too have we formed various dedicated teams to deliver various offerings to our clients,” he said. “These include a team focused on thermal installation works, a team that is fully skilled in Building Information Modelling (BIM) and works with our clients to take their ideas, map them out and push them in the right direction, and we have also recently taken on several design engineers.

These individuals, along with

ME Hire “ME Hire is very pleased to be established amongst Price’s major suppliers. I have worked with Roy Price and his team for close to 30 years, and our relationship with excellent companies like them has been a significant factor in our success; we look forward to meeting their requirements for many years to come.” Richard Hayward, Director, ME Hire

PROFILE: PRICE BUILDING SERVICES

our Design Manager, come from a consultancy background and will help to drive our mechanical electrical offering.”

Among the many prominent clients that Price Building Services is proud to work with, names include the likes of Berkeley Homes, Sir Robert McAlpine, Mace, and BAM. The company is also blessed with having delivered to a wide range of landmark projects – each of differing levels of complexity – over the years. “The first major project that we took on from a mechanical services perspective was our work on the American Embassy building in London in 2015,” Fraser reveals. “This was a particularly challenging project,

not least of all due to the security constraints that were involved in working on such an important building. Fortunately, we have had experience of working on such sensitive locations through our installation work over the years on buildings such as the Ministry of Defence’s Whitehall HQ. It also required a lot of understanding of American technology and infrastructure, which we had to make work with our UK-designed systems, however it was a major success for us and helped to make Price Building Services stand out.

“Another stand-out undertaking from the last several years has been our contribution to the development of the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London.

The challenge of bringing this state-of-the-art, 62,000 seater stadium to life was well documented, but we helped in realising it by providing numerous mechanical services, and it resulted in a hugely rewarding job for us.”

Valued staff Throughout its journey from being a plumbing and pipework installer to a mechanical contractor, the company has maintained excellent retention rates amongst its employees and its management team. Fraser himself has been with Price Building Services for some 18 years now, and is as well placed as anyone to explain why people who join the company

Coolair Equipment Limited Price Building Services partnered with one stop air-conditioning specialists Coolair Equipment Limited, who designed, supplied and installed the cooling infrastructure on the Northern Line extension.

With more than four decades industry experience, Coolair were the ideal choice for the project, which was overseen by Coolair Chairman John Otterson.

He said: “I am delighted Coolair was able to continue our relationship with Price Building Services on this high-specification project, delivering a first-class cooling system throughout this major Tube line extension.”

It’s not the first time Coolair and Price Building Services have worked together. Three years ago, Coolair were appointed by Price Building Services to install air-conditioning in several communications rooms at South Quay Plaza.

Headquartered in Manchester and with offices in the Midlands and Kent, Coolair’s specialist team of engineers and project managers provide tailored air conditioning solutions to customers across UK, delivering commercial air conditioning solutions for a diverse range of organisations.

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Commercial Air Conditioning & Heating Solutions

Creating the ideal indoor environment for people to live, work and play, now and always.

www.coolair.co.uk

sales@coolair.co.uk

PROFILE: PRICE BUILDING SERVICES

often do so for the long haul.

“Throughout the company, you will find that our people really buy into the business and what we do on a daily basis,” he states. “The senior management team have always shown their readiness and willingness to look after everyone who is a part of the company, and in turn that makes everyone feel part of a larger team.

“No one individual here is made to feel above or below anyone else, which is good characteristic to have, and the company has retained an ethos built around everyone pitching in to help one another out, which it has had in place since its earliest days. There is also a clear collective pride in the work we carry out together, and that is reflected in the results that we deliver time and time again for our clients.”

Apprenticeship scheme

Aquilar Leak detection specialists for over 20 years, Aquilar are pleased to have supported Price Building Services on several of their successful projects.

Their ethos of excellent standards echoes our own. Leak detection is a small, but increasingly important, cog in the larger construction wheel.

Aquilar believe the correct products and system design is not only imperative, but importantly more effective with regard to efficiency, and often cost. From single tea points, to 600+ unit residential projects, to major data centres. From initial design, through to ongoing technical support, Aquilar leak detection solutions can help you get it right.

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Facilitating personal development and growth is another key facet of the company’s culture, with apprenticeships being an area of significant importance to Price Building Services. “At any one time, we have anywhere between 30 and 40 apprentices on our books,” Fraser reveals. “Every single one of these apprentices – many of whom are coming to us straight from finishing school – is welcomed into the business, where they meet with Roy Price the Managing Director, Bob Davies, the Finance Director and myself. From there, we give them the training, tools and support to experience work either within our facilities or onsite, whilst also attending college or other education. We train our apprentices to the same high standards that we expect of all of our employees, and that works extremely well in supporting their development as they get started within our industry.”

The efforts of all of its people – apprentices to employees

and through to senior management – also helped Price Building Services through the unprecedented year that was 2020. “When the first Covid-19 lockdown began in March of last year, we had to very rapidly work out how best to respond to the challenges that this presented,” Fraser says. “We quickly got our office-based staff set up to work from home, providing them with the necessary equipment to do their jobs. We then turned our focus to making sure that our people onsite were properly protected and could continue working in a safe and secure manner, and this meant purchasing PPE, masks, screens and the like. To an individual, our people quickly embraced these new ways of working and this helped the company no end.”

as Phase 3a moves forward to completion.

“Our management team is also committed to ongoing investment in the business. For example, we have a new office in Victoria that we will be opening in the coming weeks, and we have the aforementioned plans to expand our fabrication site in the works too. We believe that the conditions in the marketplace are such that there are plenty of opportunities for Price Building Services out there, it is just important that we remain able to adapt to the environment around us as it evolves and to respond to client demand as it arises.”

Whilst the company has plenty of work ahead of it, it is all too aware that in must not take its foot off the pedal as it looks to fill its order books for the second

half of this year and into 2022. “If we can maintain stability across the company over the coming months, then there is no reason why we cannot also bring with that a degree of further growth as well,” Fraser says. “It is important to note, however, that as business we have never simply chased turnover and it is not something we will do going forward. Rather, if clients want us to work with them that is great, and we will ensure that we do so at the right price and to the high levels of quality and professionalism that we are known for.

Price Building Services www.pricebuilding.com Services: Mechanical services, installations, maintenance and domestic refurbishments

Investment & expansion Over the course of the last 12 months or so, the company’s workload has continued to build up. “Our work with Berkeley Homes, for example, has continued, with one project in particularly involving work on 635 high-end buyer residential units.

Similarly, our efforts in tandem with Sir Robert McAlpine continue to progress,” Fraser details. “In 2018, we also successful tendered for work on the multi-billionpound Battersea Power Station Regeneration Project, which represents a huge scheme for us. That work continued through 2020, and will do so during 2021

Danfoss PBS and Danfoss have worked closely together on the landmark project South Quay Plaza for clients Berkeley Homes South East London. The business relationship has gone from strength to strength in the past years with the delivery and ongoing site support of over 50 Packaged Floor level stations and other critical system components, such as energy meters, heat exchangers, and control valves, for building one. PBS and Danfoss are also partnering on the technical design, support and future delivery of a further 50 stations and components for building four currently breaking ground. Further to the success on this project Danfoss continue to support PBS on other London projects with both their services and solutions team.

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PROFILE: LAND & WATER

Innovation that inspires For multi-award winning inland waterway, coastal civil, and environmental engineering company Land & Water, 2021 is likely to be confirmed in the not-too-distant future as being its biggest year in history

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hough it has featured within Construction & Civil Engineering previously, it is well-worth familiarising one’s self with the innovative and pioneering business that is Land & Water. From its modest beginnings over four decades ago, the company has grown based on its recognition of the need to support the changing landscape and environments that we live in. Boosted no end by a team of people who are all equally passionate about the UK’s coastline, and its network of rivers, streams, wetlands and waterways, its clients include government agencies, large corporations and private individuals who rely on Land & Water to design equipment to solve the most complex of engineering challenges.

“Working in environments where land meets water, we deliver sensitive engineering projects in what can be typically described as high ecological settings, and our mantra has always been – and will always be – to leave the world a better place than we found it before our work starts,” affirms Land & Water’s Chief Executive Officer, James Maclean.

The company’s works cover complete project life-cycles, from initial strategic planning, to early contractor involvement and supplier partnership. Land & Water also manages operational project execution, training, advice and follow-up, all with close stakeholder engagement being of top priority. Amongst its numerous services, the company carries out activities such as – but by no means limited to – dredging, flood defence, waterway maintenance and restoration, marina construction, bioengineering, planted solutions and plant hire.

For Land & Water, 2020 was a quite remarkable year, being one that not only brought with it the challenges relating to Covid-19, but also significant growth. “Like every business out there, at the time when the pandemic took hold in the UK around March, what followed for us was an immediate period of concern as we assessed the possible impact of restrictions on ourselves,” James explains. “Fortunately for us, a lot of our frameworks are governmentrelated, and by being classed as an essential business we were able to be back up and working as quickly as

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PROFILE: LAND & WATER

we could, albeit in a safe and responsible manner. Since then, we have been further bolstered by the growth within our plant hire and contracting businesses, and this winter has seen an increase in activity across various conservation works projects.

When added together, it means that Land & Water enters 2021 with a very strong order book.”

There are numerous examples of the company’s work that one can draw upon to highlight its successes in 2020. In November, for instance, Land & Water completed its works as part of the Thames Tideway Tunnel project to transport and unload London Clay mined from the western section of the new ‘super sewer’ tunnel to its Habitat Creation Scheme at Rainham Marshes. As part of the company’s commitment towards safeguarding the environment and investing in UK infrastructure to build sustainable solutions, Land & Water’s hub at Rainham aims to unlock the River Thames as a liquid highway, linking directly to water transport, whilst building

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the largest habitat creation scheme inside the M25. To date, the Thames Tideway Project has contributed over 450,000 tonnes of material to Rainham.

Significant project While the above project represents a major undertaking for the company’s remediation business, Land & Water’s contracting business has also continued to deliver several high-profile works.

These have included its dredging and navigation improvement activities at Peel Marina on the Isle of Man. Works here will move into a second phase in 2021, which the company is looking forward to being a part of.

“One of our other recent big successes has been our work with the Environment Agency (EA) at Calstock, South East Cornwall,” James continues. The project that he refers too has been to reduce the risk of flooding in the area through the construction of new flood defence embankments on a set-back alignment. This will enable the reconnection of an area of floodplain to create reed-beds, thus increasing biodiversity and offsetting some of the losses in habitat that are occurring due to rising sea levels.

“This project is also significant because during it we significantly reduced the carbon footprint of the scheme by 75 per cent – or 7350 tonnes – by redesigning the geotechnical embankments to negate the need for using cement to stabilize soils,” James adds.

“This has also prevented the need for dry cement tanker deliveries through Cornish villages, therefore decreasing the impact on the local community, and reducing carbon emissions further still. There was a phenomenal level of trust needed between ourselves and the EA to deliver this project in a unique and innovative way, so its successful completion is a great example of proper partnering and a demonstration of how we as a

business make decisions that are in the best interest of a particular scheme, as well as the community in which we are working.”

Land & Water’s efforts at Calstock form a part of a campaign it is driving as it strives to achieve net carbon zero status by 2030. “In 2021,” James details, “we will be rolling out a business-wide carbon reduction strategy. In recent months, we have been demonstrating a greener way of working through the implementation of Crown Oil’s HVO fuel in our plant, and we are also actively examining other exciting and innovative new technologies as part of our net zero carbon ambitions. As part of our efforts, we are also empowering our supply chain and our workforce to bring new, lowcarbon ideas to the fore.”

Moving into 2021, Land & Water’s pipeline of secured orders places it in a strong position, and gives James confidence that the company can achieve – at the very least – similar levels of profitability and growth as that experienced in 2020. He also believes that with legislation and public opinion pointing increasingly towards

protecting the environment, that the company will have an evermore important role to play in the future.

“Awareness of climate change and its impact on the world around us has grown exponentially in the last five years or so. The key thing going forward is for us to see the work being put in behind the scenes and on the ground turned into orders, and regardless of how long that takes, we want to be there when such projects appear.

In that regard especially, we have every reason to be excited about the long-term possibilities for the company,” James concludes.

Land & Water www.land-water.co.uk Services: Civil and environmental engineering

Dedicated team On the subject of Land & Water’s workforce, James also tell us how the company has continued to invest heavily in its people’s training and development. He reveals that at the onset of the first Covid-19 lockdown back in March 2020, the company went so far as to provide all of its employees with a one-off payment that could be used to purchase food and other provisions for their families at home. Such actions highlight the level of thought and care given to the company’s employees, and this in turn is appreciated and reciprocated in their own actions and output.

“Our people deserve a huge amount of praise for the way they responded to the challenges brought about by the pandemic and subsequent restrictions,” James enthuses. “Their collective ability to adapt to rapid change and their embracing of new ways of working certainly helped us to get back up and running as fast as we could, and that attitude has helped to drive our growth in the time since.”

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PROFILE: METNOR CONSTRUCTION

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Strong foundations Formed in May 2002, Metnor Construction Limited is one of the three main trading divisions of the Metnor Group, which operates in the construction, mechanical and electrical services and pressure testing sectors

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ach Metnor division is a specialist in its own field and this individual expertise combined with the strength of the Group’s resources is what enables the organisation to deliver first class products and services to its customers and clients.

Sean McNicholas is Head of Operations at Metnor Construction and he gave some more insight into the operations of the Construction division. “We’re a Principal Contractor covering traditional contracting, design and build and partnering contracts,” he began. “We’re based in Newcastle and we’ve also got an office in Maidenhead. We undertake projects ranging in value from £1m to

£70m, and we operate primarily, but not exclusively, in the Student Accommodation, Care Homes, Hotels & Leisure, Data Centres, Commercial, Retail and Stadia sectors.”

Having worked on a number of noteworthy contracts over the years, in 2020 the order book at Metnor Construction included a multi-million-pound, state-of-theart leisure centre in Coalville, a new seafront inn in Sunderland, and a £20m sports centre based in East Hampshire. It was also appointed to deliver a £50m build-to-rent apartment development in the heart of Birmingham by the High Street Group, and Sean highlighted that this represents a particularly significant milestone for the business. “This contract marked our

largest ever single contract win,” he stated. “Whilst supporting our ambitions for future growth, it also demonstrates our growing reputation in the UK construction market. Something we are immensely proud of.”

He also shed light onto what the scheme involves. “The development is a mix of 220 one and twobedroom open plan apartments, configured around a central courtyard, and the eight-storey building will offer a concierge service, and residential gym along with car parking and cycle storage,” he said. “The project, which started in November last year, will be on site for 24 months and be complete in Q4 2022.”

Solid position It is heartening to see so many exciting schemes on the books for the future at Metnor Construction, especially given the challenges that 2020 have brought to the construction industry, and indeed the world. Sean explained how the business had plotted its course through the issues of the last 12 months. “We invested in the right people in the right roles and strengthened our Senior Management Team,” he stated.

“We also invested in Syncro – a 4D planning tool which really has had a massive impact on how we plan, manage and co-ordinate our projects.

“We’ve been fluid in our approach to change, and we identified growing sectors at the

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PROFILE: METNOR CONSTRUCTION

right time but remained loyal to those that make up our core business and have served us well for so long.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly delivered many challenges for businesses across the UK including the construction sector, but by being agile and adapting to those changes, we are delighted to be up and running safely and looking forward to the future. There is no doubt about it, 2020 was a difficult year, however we managed to weather the storm and we’ve come out of it in a stronger position than we were before.”

Having referred to investing in its staff, Sean went on to emphasise the importance of the people side of the business and how Metnor Construction supports its successful company culture. “Construction is a people business, more so than most industries I believe,” he said. “Our culture is underpinned by four key values which were developed by our people: Embrace Change, Be Stronger Together, Play Your Part and Challenge Yourself.

“I’m extremely proud of everyone in the business. There’s certainly something special about the ‘Metnor Way’. There’s a great deal of camaraderie and selflessness in the business. We’re all in it together and in construction, you certainly need that!”

Metnor has also made some recent changes to its team, including the appointment of a new National Quality Manager, and also a new Group CEO in the form of Chris Cant. Sean pointed out that Chris joined the business in 2004 as a Quantity Surveyor and progressed through the ranks, meaning that he has an exemplary insight into the company’s operations. “Chris is a big believer that we can all learn from each other to become better at what we do,” he added.

“Building good relationships with our staff is key to this, as is nurturing and investing in their

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development. Chris always says if you talk the talk – you have to be able to walk the walk.

This is something our senior management team do really well, bringing their experience to the fore to develop others. I never think you should get too comfortable - Chris encourages staff to challenge decisions, bring ideas to the table and throw as many ‘curve balls’ as possible to keep the business looking forward.

“He brings drive, energy and enthusiasm to the team. You need to have confidence and a ‘can do’ attitude backed up with technical ability and a tenacity to see things through. You have to not be afraid of making difficult decisions, no matter how hard they may be and making the necessary changes when needed. Patience is also key and keeping that razor-sharp focus on the long- term vision of the business. Not everything will happen overnight – but it will happen!”

Customer satisfaction Metnor Construction’s approach to people management also extends outside its own walls into the operations of its clients. In Sean’s words the business is ‘extremely passionate (obsessive perhaps!) about customer satisfaction.’

“We understand there’s a lot more to this than delivering on time, on budget and defect free.

It’s much bigger than this,” he revealed. “We work extremely hard to understand and identify with clients’ issues, be aware of their objectives and then develop and carefully plan the right solutions within the right team environment.”

Sean continued: “We always have been, and always will have a relatively flat organisation structure. There’s many benefits to this – everybody (including Chris) is easily accessible to our people and our clients. We make decisions very quickly without the bureaucracy of our multi-tiered

competition. It works, and we’ll never change.”

Collective expertise With the fresh ideas coming through from the new Quality Manager and with new Group CEO Chris at the helm, Metnor Construction is entering 2021 with some bold ambitions for the future. “We want to build upon the solid foundations already established over the years, such as completing our projects on time, within budget and to an exceptional quality whilst exceeding client expectations,” Sean asserted. “To do that, we have improved our internal brand and now we need to ensure our new and existing customers are bought into that vision. Our challenge will be unifying all the divisions under the group brand as we continue to grow while allowing them to flourish individually, too. Part of that vision is to harness the collective expertise of the Metnor Group divisions, from our construction services to the mechanical and electrical installation services of our Norstead division in order

both our loyal and new clients and also our dedicated supply chain,” he added. “The dedication and commitment of our staff across our different divisions including Metnor Construction and our mechanical and electrical engineering arm Norstead really has been paramount to our success. We pride ourselves on delivering projects not only to the highest standards but to schedule and budget and it’s through collaboration and a tight knit working culture with all our

stakeholders that we are able to deliver the very best outcomes for our clients.

“We are now focused on maintaining our position after impressive growth both in terms of revenue and workforce over the last few years. We’re in fantastic shape.”

Metnor Construction https://metnorconstruction.co.uk Services: Principal construction contractor covering traditional contracting, design & build and partnering contracts

to offer a total solution for our clients.

“In terms of revenue growth, in five years’ time, I’d like to see us consistently achieve a turnover in excess of £150 million per annum.

With the plans and team we have in place, I am confident of this being more than achievable.

Overall, we remain relentlessly focused on delivering the highest standard of work to our core sectors. Our short-term goals will help us pave the way to delivering our long-term ones as we grow to become one of the UK’s leading construction companies.”

Clearly enthusiastic about the future of Metnor, Sean was extremely excited about the prospects the business has for growth over the next few years and the opportunities that it is facing. “We’re supported by

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PROFILE: DREW SMITH HOMES

Better together

Working in close partnership with local authorities and housing associations, Drew Smith is delivering a mixture of private and affordable homes, revitalising communities across the south of England

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he Southern office of Vistry Partnerships which forms a part of the wider Vistry Group, alongside Bovis Homes and Linden Homes, Drew Smith is a well-recognised and highly respected specialist in the delivery of residential property.

Close to Winchester in Hampshire, the firm operates under a partnerships model, working with partners to bring forward the development of its core business, mixed tenure housing.

“Drew Smith is very different to a standard house builder.

Working with the relevant parties, we are dedicated to delivering additional affordable housing at each of our sites, meaning that

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wherever possible, at least 50 per cent of a Drew Smith site is usually affordable,” explains New Business Director Leanne Smith.

“It means we are the largest provider of affordable housing in the private sector and we strive to deliver more affordable housing in collaboration with our partners than any other construction business in the country.”

The quality for which the company has become renowned during its first 25 years as a private company means that the Drew Smith name and brand has maintained its identity through two recent acquisitions. Consequently, though the company is now part of the larger Vistry Group, Drew Smith has retained the freedom,

flexibility and feel of a small business, but shares in the benefits and backing of its parent firm. This ‘best of both worlds’ experience is reflected in the company’s plans for the next 12 months as it looks to blend a 50/50 balance of contracting and open market sales sites.

Over the last two and a half years, Drew Smith has secured several sites across the south of England that it will be bringing forward as new home sales outlets in the coming months. One project that the company is already working on is Pembers Hill Park in Fair Oak, Hampshire, where the firm is in the process of delivering 244 homes in joint venture with the local authority.

Simon Mason

“By the end of 2020, 18 people had moved into Pembers Hill Park.

The House Builder Federation (HBF) surveys we have received in 2020 suggest that 100 per cent of our residents would recommend us to a friend looking to buy a property,” reveals Simon Mason, Drew Smith’s Head of Sales and Development. “When you compare those scores across the wider industry, it puts us in the top two or three of the 192 businesses surveyed. It proves that Pembers Hill Park is an outstanding development and goes to show what Drew Smith is capable of achieving.”

As a member of the Homes England Delivery Partner Panel (DPP3), Drew Smith is also

able to bid on a variety of land opportunities presented for regeneration by the government agency. The business has secured three of these sites; namely the Havant Colt Industrial Site in Havant, Brewery Place in Blandford St Mary, Dorset, and what was previously St James’ Hospital in Portsmouth.

“The opportunities presented to DPP3 members are generally brownfield sites where development has stalled usually due to site complexities such as contamination or a difficulty securing planning permission,” Simon says. “Homes England has an allocated budget which is utilised to remediate these sites moving them to a position where they can be released for the development of much needed homes by a company like ourselves.

“Combining our experience as a contractor and a housebuilder means we are able to put both of those skillsets to use on all of our projects. Lots of the people in our team have been with Drew Smith for 15 or 20 years and they bring with them a lot of capabilities from when we were contracting on hospitals, military sites and performing other commercial jobs. The Blandford site we have acquired is an old brewery with a river next door, which presents its own intricacies, and St James’ in Portsmouth is an old hospital.

Leanne Smith

These sites aren’t standard greenfield projects but require a bit more work and thought, which makes us an ideal partner for Homes England.”

Ethos and values Another of Drew Smith’s new Homes England contracts is the Colts Brook development in Havant, Hampshire. After securing the site, the company worked closely with its housing association partner Vivid Homes and concluded that the best outcome for the local area would be to make Colts Brook 100 per cent affordable. As a result, Drew Smith is set to deliver 94 affordable homes in a town with a long waiting list for affordable housing.

“I come from an affordable housing background and the fact that Drew Smith recognises the benefit of delivering additional affordable housing is really important to me from an ethos and values perspective,” Leanne asserts. “Our housing association partners and local authorities embrace our partnership model, and we enjoy supporting them in improving the amount of affordable housing in areas around the UK. These organisations can use their Homes England funding for the acquisition of the homes we develop and so it’s mutually beneficial for all parties. It works well for everyone involved.”

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PROFILE: DREW SMITH HOMES

In 2020, Southampton City Council committed to the delivery of 1000 new homes in the area by 2025 and Drew Smith has been working closely with the local authority to help make these aspirations a reality. A family business at its core, Drew Smith has always recognised its social responsibility as a builder of not just homes but communities.

“As part of Vistry, we have a specific Social Value Representative at a group level and all Vistry businesses make a commitment to build sustainable communities,” Leanne reports. “We use a social value calculator before taking on any new developments, which helps us to analyse what our work will bring to the community in the form of infrastructure, local engagement and work opportunities – we always use a local supply chain.

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run a Skills Academy onsite, people with no experience in construction can attend the academy and train for their CSCS card which demonstrates a level of construction competency and Health and Safety awareness. It’s all part of recognising the importance of social value, improving employment opportunities and building communities people want to live in.”

“Education is a big part of creating communities too.

There is a recognition within the Industry that the representation of young workers is diminishing and that the industry is facing a significant skills shortage. We need to be encouraging young people, and especially women, into what is a very exciting and expanding sector. Wherever possible Vistry Partnerships will

Vital role At the end of 2020, as Drew Smith prepared for the New Year, the company took time to look back over the most challenging year of its history, but a year that has also made the business stronger.

Following a five-week shutdown of its services in the spring, the company’s Pembers Hill site was one of the first in the industry to reopen, operating in line with new

bespoke Covid-Secure measures, derived and in conjunction with the Construction Leadership Safe Operating Procedures.

“It’s a challenge, particularly when you would previously have had multiple trades working inside on the final fix of a property.

Thankfully there has been a real spirit and determination from everyone in the business,” Leanne remarks. “The industry has ridden out the storm together. I think we all realise that we have a vital role to play in the long-term economic wellbeing of our country.”

Over the coming months, Drew Smith will continue to acquire land at sites that suit its partnerships model, keeping housing associations and local authorities at the heart of its operation.

As the 50/50 blend between contracting and open market sales sites evolves, the focus is very much on finding new development sites, growing the Drew Smith new home sales business and maintaining our relationships with key partners.

“We are really confident in our recent progress and we can’t

see that progress being curtailed anytime soon. Vistry Group is committed to investing capital in the partnerships element of the business and so our land acquisition opportunities will remain strong. It’s certainly been a difficult time for us in the construction industry, but the mood is buoyant at Drew Smith and we are really positive about the future.”

Drew Smith Homes www.drewsmithhomes.co.uk Services: Residential developer

Willmott’s Plastic Building Products Our relationships with all of our customers is built on communication and respect.

Our formula is to understand their needs, to look at supply and service from ‘their side of the fence’, and to plan accordingly. To be pro-active, and where necessary be reactive to changing circumstances.

Whilst our relationship with the Company has been for a relatively short period, all at Drew Smith; in all departments, have bought into our ethos of relationships, and it has been great! Add to this the help from Site Management in arranging call-offs and schedule changes, it has been a first-class experience working with them all.

All of this had been under the cloud of the Coronavirus Pandemic, so Drew Smith’s performance is even more exceptional.

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PROFILE: THOMPSONS UK LTD

Top tippers Innovation, investment and continuous improvement are some of the key factors behind Thompsons UK’s quest to maintain its position as the premier tipper truck manufacturer in the UK

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s the UK’s leading manufacturer of tipper bodies for the construction industry - as well as the waste, environment, highways, utilities and rental sectors - Thompsons UK never compromises on quality. Even in 2020, a difficult year for businesses the world over, the company has stayed true to its philosophy, finding ways to improve its existing products without disregarding the key elements that have made them a success.

“At Thompsons, we only purchase market leading material and equipment,” explains Group Engineering Director Neil Griffin.

“At present, we are working with

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SSAB to use their brand-new Hardox® 500 Tuf material. It is the next level up from the products that everyone else in the industry uses.

We can get a 20 per cent reduction in bodyweight via this material without compromising service life.

That cannot be sniffed at.”

Based in London, Thompsons has built a presence across the UK during its 50 years in business and now boasts facilities in Croydon, Dover, Blackburn and Dalmeny, Scotland. The company has never been slow to invest in new equipment to maintain the efficiency of these sites and over the last three years has ploughed around £5 million into the cause.

The trend continued in 2020 as Thompsons looked for new

processes and technologies to help improve production and product quality.

“During 2020, a new Trumpf 6kW laser was installed in Blackburn giving us two lasers now within the group,” Neil reveals.

“This means reducing our reliance on external suppliers to be able to take up the surplus requirements as well as allowing us to be very flexible during manufacturing. If we need the parts now, we can cut them straight away without delays for suppliers or shipping times.

Additionally, the extra capacity means we can put even more components through the laser, rather than guillotine or manually manufacture them. This leaves the shop-floor free to get on with

building the bodies, not making the parts as well.”

Towards the end of December 2020, Thompsons agreed the purchase of two brand-new, state-of-the-art press brakes from Bystronic, worth £500,000.

Croydon and Blackburn will be the two sites to benefit from this acquisition.

“The new press brakes will replace old presses but come complete with bespoke tooling, laser measuring and hydraulic lifting tables to make life easier for the press operator,” Neil adds.

“The investment doesn’t stop there though as we will imminently be placing an order for a new plasma cutter at Dover. The new power source will allow faster cutting and the ability to cut even thicker material. At Blackburn, a second paint booth is now in operation, along with deburring and drying equipment to enhance the durability and appearance of the paint process. As you can see, we’ve been busy making upgrades, as always.”

Possessing the latest equipment enables Thompsons to provide a one-stop-shop solution for its customers, offering them a wide range of rigids, trailers, tailgates, tipping gears and cranes. Product development is a vital part of the process too and success in this area means that Thompsons reputation as an innovator continues to grow.

“New products, ideas and requests are generally derived in two ways,” Neil states. “The first way is to satisfy a customer requirement. This may be a new function, an update to an existing product or a change in operation of how something works, but it very much depends upon the customer’s needs. Whilst these products may start life satisfying a customer request, they may eventually go on to be offered as standard options.

“The second way ideas are generated is through our engineering department,” Neil continues. “This may include new lighter bodies, converting existing

designs from utilising pneumatics or hydraulics to an all-electric operation, producing designs to ensure we can comply with current legislation or designing new systems to make operating with the new legislation easier.”

Latest development Among Thompsons’ latest product development successes are extra-versatile aluminium bodies, which can accommodate a much wider range of operating requirements. The company is currently experiencing more and more customers requesting these to be fitted with a steel floor liner to provide extra strength and reduced wear when carrying products. Thompsons’ aluminium bodies also include various design and production methods that further improve their performance, durability and long-term reliability.

In early December, major tipper operators such as Tillicoultry Quarries in Scotland’s Central Belt took the first of these aluminium bodies into their fleets.

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PROFILE: THOMPSONS UK LTD

Another area of focus for Thompsons in recent times has been the development of electric vehicles. “Given the drive towards more electric alternatives, we are currently working with one customer and a truck manufacturer on an electric truck,” Neil reports. “Ensuring a vehicle is fit for purpose requires input from all interested parties to confirm that it works in the way the customer expects. This means looking at layouts to check the equipment can be fitted and looking at the power requirements to run the equipment - not just for an hour, but all day!”

Despite the continued productivity and progress, Thompsons did not escape the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and the company took the decision to shut its doors during

the UK’s first lockdown period. It was, of course, not a move the firm took lightly, but employee safety was prioritised and as a number of staff members use public transport, Thompsons decided to adopt Government guidance and close.

“At the beginning of May, we started to open again in a limited capacity,” Neil says. “Before worrying about workload, we had to make the factories safe.

This involved purchasing a large amount of PPE, re-marking walkways, and closing kitchens and canteens in order to maintain social distancing. Given that a number of our employees work in teams, this became more difficult and we had to devise methods of working alone instead. Looking back, the company is probably in a healthier working state now as hard times make you evaluate your processes and help to improve the development of better, quicker, leaner systems.”

Unified organisation In many ways, 2020 has been a remarkable year for Thompsons.

In spite of the myriad challenges posed by Covid-19, the company has remained resilient and will now be able to consolidate its position in the New Year. The next hurdle, Neil notes, will be Brexit.

“Most of the trucks come from Europe and a lack of trucks during lockdown meant a lack of work in the bodybuilding sector,” he remarks. “Truck deliveries are now back on track, however potential price increases are on the horizon.

Orders for the future look very good but whether this is down to a pre-Brexit surge, we are not sure.

We have been trying to arrange sufficient material availability in the UK so that any delays in getting future material won’t affect our manufacturing ability for a while. Hopefully a resolution can be reached and we can continue trading with minimal extra bureaucracy.”

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Though 2021 is set to offer a degree of external unpredictability for all UK businesses, Thompsons will rest assured knowing that its strength comes from within.

After years of working to create a successful company culture through team building, social events and face-to-face interaction across its network of sites, the company has become a truly unified organisation with a commitment to achieving shared goals. In return for its employees continued dedication and hard work, Thompsons remains flexible

and understanding of each team member’s individual needs. The Thompsons ethos has become a vital part of the firm’s half century of success and that is why the company often chooses to promote internally when selecting those that will lead the business

into the future.

“Eighty per cent of our factory managers are internal promotions,” Neil proclaims. “Who better to help improve production than the guys who have been making our products for the last few years?

This fact also endorses a culture within Thompsons that if you work hard you can move upwards within the company.”

Thompsons UK Ltd www.thompsonsuk.com Products: Tipper bodies manufacturer

Binotto UK Binotto UK arrived in the UK in 1999, being the first division outside of Italy. Twenty years on, we are now one of 18 well established branches across the globe.

Being one of the market leaders, we serve all the major truck bodybuilders and truck dealers across the country, providing various hydraulic components, for easy, reliable tipping. We pride ourselves on product design, performance and service back-up. With continued innovation in the Binotto brand, we are going from strength-to-strength.

Being one of Thompsons (UK) Ltd’s suppliers, we wish them continued success.

So why not fit Binotto, fit it & forget it!

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PROFILE: BMSI

Smart solutions BMSI is an industry leader in the BeMS sector and has been operating at the forefront of technological innovation within its field for over 20 years. An accredited, independent provider, it offers consistent and cost effective services, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for some of the largest BeMS installations in the country

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edicated to making buildings smarter and helping businesses reduce their energy costs, solutions from BMSI help its clients to improve control over their buildings and achieve their environmental goals.

Having grown to be recognised as one of the leading players in the BeMS arena, today BMSI can recite numerous prestigious buildings in the private sector that are benefitting from its services, as John Axten, Managing Director reported. “We were involved with the ‘Scalpel’ in Central London (a circa £3m total services package for us) and the new Macallan Distillery in central Scotland. We continue to work at Heathrow Airport, and recently completed an installation at

of energy efficiency and comfort.

Monitoring and controlling services such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning, the system finds the optimal level of effectiveness by constantly sustaining the correct balance between operating requirements, external and internal environmental conditions, and energy usage.

In November 2020 BMSI announced it will be providing the BeMS installation at University College of London’s innovative new building-complex on the prestigious East Bank Development. “This is a recent award of a substantial new build contract,” noted John. “UCL East will be part of the £1.1bn East Bank development, a collection of cultural and education institutions,

80 Fenchurch Street, which was a successful project for all concerned.”

A Building Energy Management System (BeMS) ensures that a building operates at maximum levels

including the London College of Fashion, BBC Music, Sadler’s Wells and the Victoria & Albert Museum’s collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution.

“This ambitious project will build on the fantastic legacy of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, creating a high specification, collaborative and state-of-the-art research, innovation and teaching facility in Stratford.

BMSI have been appointed by Dornan Engineering to provide the required BeMS system.”

BMSI’s Major Projects Division will deliver the installation, located at Marshgate, Stratford. This impressive new building comprises a total of nine stories, including an academic block split over two floors, a rooftop environment, and a basement.

“We also provide services for schools, prisons, hospitals, police, fire and rescue services, and MoD installations in the public sector,” added John. Overall, BMSI provides project installations, support services and integrated energy management solutions to many of the UK’s leading businesses.

“This ranges from proposing suitable solutions for both the

when asked to describe what sets the company apart from its competition. “We take pride in the skills and experience held within our workforce and work closely with our partners to ensure all of our engineers are informed and trained on the latest products.”

Data visibility BMSI has a national coverage across the UK via a network of local offices, which allows the business to provide a multi-site solution to customers. A further service that seems particularly pertinent given the current Covid-19 situation is BMSI’s firstclass remote hosted services capability, branded as Medi-Centre.

The range of Medi-Centre services is focused on providing a full life cycle service for customers and creating a holistic view of

the efficiency of a customer’s estate. The core services are centred around the acquisition, analysis and presentation of data from a variety of sources, which is achieved by utilising BMSI’s software platform, MEDIC, a software solution developed in partnership with Bosch.

“BMSI have been providing SMART building solutions for many years, allowing buildings to take automated actions to provide the required environmental conditions for its occupants – all achieved in a safe and energy efficient way,” John explained.

“Through our MEDIC solution, we look in detail at how the building is achieving its desired output to ensure best and efficient use of both primary and secondary plant items, as well as monitoring the installed BeMS System to ensure

retro-fit and new build market, to a complete project managed and installation capability, followed up by a first-class after-sales support service and on-going Remote Hosted services. Our focus is on our clients’ requirements, be that installation of an initial SMART solution all the way through to a managed service with a focus on energy efficiency,” John said.

“We hold formal partnership agreements with all the major manufacturers of BeMS equipment and systems enabling us to select the right product to suit the client’s requirements, and we have offsite testing facilities to allow us to prove the operation of software and user interfaces before solutions are installed on site.”

Having accrued years of working with partners with well-known names such as Trend, Schneider, Honeywell, Siemens and Cylon, BMSI has established a team that is well versed in the workings of the vast number of legacy BeMS systems that are installed across the UK. “We have a reputation for delivering on our promises with established safe, efficient, modern ways of working,” added John,

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PROFILE: BMSI

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the complete building services systems are operating correctly.

Internal Environmental Quality of a building’s performance can

We work with our clients to ensure data - whether that is energy consumption, building performance and/or system monitoring - is

then be overlaid on the energy performance to allow informed decisions to be made. The beauty of the MEDIC dashboard is that it features a customizable interactive display for viewing metering, energy, weather, wellbeing and BeMS information, all on one place.

This means our customers have 360 visibility and real-time analysis of their data like never before, helping businesses to lower their operational costs and be mindful of creating a sustainable business model for the future.”

securely collected and easily accessible to those it has value for.

We are able to offer advice as well as carry out proactive interventions based on real time issues through the use of our Medi-Centre services.

Our investment in our Remote Hosted Services is allowing our customers to continue to operate their buildings efficiently.”

These new solutions are also opening up new prospects for BMSI. “Our understanding of truly SMART value-added solutions is leading us back into mainland Europe as well as creating

SMART solutions John noted that increasing numbers of customers are looking for SMART solutions such as these, to support their building operations in this modern and challenging world. “This includes providing more digital remote services for a wide range of buildings, and supporting the most efficient method of delivering actual on-site services. At 52 Lime Street, London (the Scalpel) we provide an offsite, remote maintenance service that allows on site engineers to focus their time on areas that need

opportunities in existing markets as customers continue to look for us to support them in ensuring their buildings are fit-for-purpose,” he said. “Healthy buildings are just as important as efficient and SMART buildings – our proven expertise will help more customers achieve all of these aims.”

Remote monitoring has proved especially valuable during the 2020 pandemic, with the various restrictions placed on occupancy within buildings over recent times. John pointed out that BMSI needed to make some adaptations

attention,” he commented. “We pride ourselves on the best and proper use of SMART solutions. In today’s connected world, it can be too easy for data to become noise.

to its own ways of working where necessary to ensure it could safely and efficiently deliver its services across the UK. “We worked closely with our customers and our supply

chain partners on this,” he added.

Naturally, making sure that its own staff were safe was a number one priority – BMSI sees its people as the ‘BMSI Community’ and the business recognizes its staff as its biggest and most valuable asset.

“We offer all employees a career that is challenging and rewarding in equal measure. We invest in training and development plans for all employees and energise them to influence the future direction of BMSI,” said John.

“We are adding resource into business development and into our operational delivery teams to make sure that we are capable of delivering to the demands of new as well as existing customers.”

BMSI has come a long way from the early days of providing day-today services on installed systems, but its initial focus on developing a dedicated and highly-trained team of HVAC/BeMS Controls Engineers hasn’t waned. “We continue to invest equally in people and technology,” agreed John.

“Going forward, we will continue to be at the forefront of developing and delivering remote digital services to our customers whilst having trained engineers available for all on-site requirements – we are skilled Building Management Solutions Integrators and we will continue to focus on what we are good at. Whilst there are sectors of our business, most notably in the travel related industry, which are still experiencing reduced demand, the rest of our business units have seen a return to pre-Covid demand levels and a return to growth.

We plan to continue building on the successes we have achieved over recent years, which have established us as a leading market provider of BeMS solutions.”

BMSI www.bmsi.co.uk Services: Leading systems integrator of Building Energy Management Systems (BeMS)

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