Richard Willmott, who runs contractor Willmott Dixon, has made his first appearance

in The Sunday Times Rich List supplement for 2005. Willmott is placed at 458th, thanks to his family’s fortune of £100m. The Willmotts have a 65% stake in the company.

The uplift in his assets is the result of the contractor’s record £10m profit for 2004. Willmott may be featuring in a higher position next year: the firm is planning a £100m flotation for Inspace, its support services arm.

The highest placed individual from the construction industry is JCB chairman Sir Anthony Bamford and his family. Bamford is 65th in the list with a fortune of £700m. He retired as managing director of the £550m Staffordshire firm last year.

Keith Miller and family have gone up from 120th to 104th place this year with a fortune of £480m, attributable to their 92% stake in Edinburgh-based contractor and housebuilder Miller Group.

Ray O’Rourke and his family are ranked 155th with a fortune of £320m. This is a rise of £115m on last year for the man who bought Laing Construction for £1 in 2001 and follows the firm’s profit of £60m last year.

Ray O’Rourke is at 155th with £320m. This is up £115m since 2004 for the man who paid £1 for Laing in 2001

Former John Laing chairman Sir Martin Laing and family have dropped again to 349th with a £130m fortune. The Laing family ties in equal place with the family of Sir Christopher Wates, former chief executive of the contractor and housebuilder Wates.

The highest-placed housing figure in the list is Wilson Bowden founder David Wilson, who appears in 121st place with £430m. Wilson, who founded the housebuilder and developer 45 years ago as a building company, has a stake worth £378m.

Redrow founder Steve Morgan, who made an unsuccessful attempt to take over Liverpool football club in December, is rated 149th with a fortune of £340m.

Stef Stefanou, who runs contractor John Doyle Group, and his brother Stelios, who runs facilities manager Accord, were ranked 740th with a joint fortune of £66m.