Righteous brother

Just as Jarvis is threatening to break up amid profit warnings and bad press, fellow PFI heavyweight Skanska is at the top of its game. Contract Journal reckons it's the biggest PFI player in the UK and last month Building magazine named it PFI Contractor of the Year in the Building Awards.

So who is the lucky man at the helm?

Simon Hipperson, MD of Skanska Integrated Projects came from a long-established family of builders in East Anglia (Hipperson Builders), but his heart was not really in the traditional, adversarial style of contracting as he saw it in the 1980s. "I felt I could offer more," he said.

Up the ladder
After stints at Costain and Taylor Woodrow, he joined the construction management firm Mace, which seemed to him the most enlightened at the time. That's why he took to PFI so naturally, he says - first with Carillion and then Amey - because it requires the same skills as construction management, namely, acting as a consultant to the client. At Carillion he got involved in the first UK PFI projects like the Dartford hospital and the Fazakerley prison, which turned significant profits for Carillion.

Hipperson relishes challenges few others want. When the massive GCHQ complex in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire was out to tender, the response from industry was low. Priced at £800m (£330m of that build costs) the "doughnut" as it was called was the biggest PFI scheme in Britain. Carillion had not planned to enter the race. But he and a colleague got to thinking they should, so they presented their ideas to the board and won the day. It took nearly two years to close the deal, but the project appears to be a feather in Carillion's cap, winning praise for its design and for sustainability.

He also has an eye for good bandwagons. Take sustainability. In 2001 Carillion won accolades for the PFI Princess Margaret Hospital in Swindon. Carillion? The ogre of Twyford Down?

That's right.

Codes of conduct
Hipperson was involved in the Carillion culture change, though he calls it a life change. But then, he would say that, wouldn't he?

Culture change? it sounds nice and fluffy, but the increase in energy and productivity is enormous

Simon Hipperson

"It sounds nice and fluffy, I know, but the increase in energy and productivity is tremendous. The key thing is engaging people's emotions."

It certainly does appear that ethics matter to this man. After he resigned from troubled Amey in late 2002 (where he was head of programme management), he scrutinised Skanska very closely before joining the firm.

"I looked at its track record, its website, its code of conduct and dug around to see if its actions stood up to public scrutiny," he said.

Not only is he righteous, he's also riding proud in treacherous PFI country. Part of it's down to him. Since joining the Skanska board he has: seconded one person full time to Partnerships UK, an advisory body close to PFI policy creation; slimmed down management and put board-level people in charge of major projects; kept in regular touch with PFI policy engines at the Treasury, offering support and advice.

But he admits he succeeds partly because of all the cash sloshing around the global company to back up investments. Which is why he can afford to take a cheeky stance on the high bid costs of PFI – basically, he says the industry should stop moaning. Skanska averages something like one win for every three bids, which he says is just fine. He's so bullish that he welcomes the prospect of new entrants to the UK PFI market, companies who maybe can handle it, like Spanish giant Ferrovial, Australia's Multiplex and even US firm Kellogg Brown and Root.

"The worst thing would be if deals were not coming through because there is not enough competition," he said.

But he insists the Scandinavian business culture plays a big part, too. What is Scandinavian business culture? Meatballs? Herrings, sensible cars and infectiously catchy pop acts?