Contractors Focus
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Features
Pre-election briefing: What can we expect for investment in the NHS estate?
The first of Boris Johnson’s promised 40 hospitals will open this month. But huge delays to the £22bn programme mean that, months before an election, procurement for most of the work hasn’t even begun and there is no certainty that Labour will push ahead. Joey Gardiner asks what it all ...
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Features
‘Perfect, see you Monday’ … McLaren’s Paul Heather on tier ones and being headhunted on holiday
From a teenager wondering what a QS does to running a £1bn business, the firm’s construction boss talks to Dave Rogers about industry ups and downs – and being offered a job by Kevin Taylor
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Features
‘They needed this’ – McAlpine’s new boss wins plaudits as industry prepares for firm to reset
Neil Martin is expected to ring the changes and take the blue-blooded contractor back to centre-stage. Dave Rogers reports
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Features
‘He liked a whisky and a cigar late at night, chewing the cud’… The life and times of Sir Martin Laing
The death of the businessman just after Christmas recalls a bygone age in contracting
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Top 150 Contractors and Housebuilders 2023: Optimism is there if you look for it but familiar worries dog year ahead
High-profile collapses and astonishing losses at Laing O’Rourke mean firms are cautious about what’s coming in 2024
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Features
As Buckingham teeters, rivals wonder what has gone wrong
A firm with a turnover of £700m is on the brink of collapse. How? Dave Rogers reports
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Features
‘The day I convince myself I know everything is the day I go’: an interview with Bam’s John Wilkinson
The firm’s well-travelled COO on margins, a changing industry and the Iron (Scunthorpe United to you and me)
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Features
Marginal gains: Why contractors need help to make a bigger profit
For years, margins have barely shifted much beyond 3% and, to some, talk of 5% and above seems fanciful. But others believe that mandating a figure like that would turn the industry on its head
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Features
Has Ray O’Rourke’s successor been under his nose all along?
Rivals hail appointment of son Cathal as plan about who will take over at UK’s biggest private contractor seems, finally, to be emerging
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Features
It’s hard to let go: Laing O’Rourke and the problem with succession
The latest man tipped to replace Ray O’Rourke is leaving after less than a year. Dave Rogers considers why the septuagenarian founder is still at the helm of his firm
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Features
Can we make demolition greener?
With refurbishment rather than new-build seen as climate friendly, demolition firms need to clean up their act – and some are doing just that
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Features
Construction is bucking gloomy predictions, but for how long?
Recent statistics show remarkable sector resilience but experts warn the squeeze on firms’ finances is set to tighten
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Features
Gareth Lewis interview: how Mace is weathering the economic storm
The chief executive of the firm’s construction arm has been through three recessions but says the current conditions are unprecedented.
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Features
Cartel probe leaves demolition sector to recover reputation - and count the cost
The wider industry wants to know things have changed while those at centre of investigation sweat on what final bill will be. Dave Rogers reports
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Features
An interview with Alison Cox, London MD of Sir Robert McAlpine
Alison Cox almost left the industry, fearing long hours would clash with having a young family. But she found a way back and is at the top of her game
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Features
End of the road for red diesel: what construction firms need to know
From today red diesel will no longer be allowed in construction plant and machinery. What does this change mean for the industry?
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Features
Midas is the latest in a long line of regional contractors to feel cash pinch
Devon builder entering administration this week is a reminder of the perils smaller firms face
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Features
Contractors salary survey 2022: A year of salary growth
Explore the key findings from this year’s survey
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Features
ISG’s new boss on different thinking, growth aspirations - and more of the same
Former bricklayer Matt Blowers has taken over from Paul Cossell at the top of the firm
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Features
Top 150 contractors and housebuilders 2021: The league table
See this year’s top 150 Contractors and housebuilders sortable league table