All Features articles – Page 632
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Features
Spilling the beans
Workers who uncover wrongdoing in their company and blow the whistle now have legal protection.
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Features
The best of three
When a contractor tried to stop an adjudication by questioning the referee s jurisdiction, the judge knocked down its arguments one by one, but it was the last that proved most interesting.
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Features
John Gains
The man who put Mowlem back in profit is stepping into Sir Martin Laing’s shoes as the new president of the Construction Confederation – but is he straight-talking enough for the job?
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Features
Trouble glazing
The DETR's proposals to revamp Part L are putting the pressure on window designers, makers and installers. How can glazing become more thermally efficient?
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Features
Object lesson
Object software will soon be taking some of the donkey work out of specification. Just imagine having every single bit of information you need at your fingertips
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Features
The new Manchester?
A blizzard of regeneration projects including a £500m retail scheme is set to transform Liverpool s city centre and give it the chance to get one up on its larger northern neighbour.
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Features
Stepping out in style
Unlovely off-the-peg PVCu patio doors have long been the ugly duckling of exterior design. Now, Buro Happold plans to give them the looks of a swan with performance to match.
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Features
Value-added tactics
Local authorities are constantly expected to prove their best-value credentials through a stringent review process, so it s only fair that private contractors in a PFI project also toe the line.
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Features
Where Woolf is wrong
Lord Woolf will make a fine Lord Chief Justice but he s just plain mistaken about the single expert witness in construction disputes. It does not speed up the process, and it makes it more expensive.
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Features
The top 100
Welcome to Building's largest-ever assessment of the top contractors and housebuilders in the UK. This year, we have made a few key changes to our usual format.
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Features
Top 100 contractors and housebuilders by turnover
UK construction had a boom year in 1999, with the top 100 companies turning over more than £43bn. Total pre-tax profit was almost £2.2bn and the average margin was 4.9%. The top 50 companies – which account for 85% of turnover and pre-tax profit in the top 100 – enjoyed ...
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Features
Top 25 contractors in FM by FM turnover
This table was drawn up in recognition of the large number of contractors carrying out infrastructure maintenance and management in the quest for longer-term income streams and better margins.The top of the table is dominated by companies better known as big builders. Amec comes top, with a turnover of £850m, ...
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Features
Top 25 housebuilders by housing operating margins
Last year was a good time to be a housebuilder. And it was the country's two remaining volume housebuilders – Barratt and Wimpey – that dominated in terms of turnover and profit. However, when it comes to margins, they trailed the pack in 16th and 24th place respectively. Smaller rivals, ...
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Features
Top 75 contractors by contracting turnover
In this table, we have ranked firms by the amount of contracting they do. Figures for non-contracting activities, including property, housebuilding and facilities management (which makes up much of the "other" column), are also shown. Just edging into the top spot is Bovis, which handled £2.3bn of contracting – 60% ...
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Features
Top 75 contractors by contracting operating profit
This table is intended to show the profit companies are making from building. Balfour Beatty tops the stakes here with £96m, although its figures are boosted by the fact that all of its activities – including considerable facilities management work for its private finance initiative contracts – are included under ...
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Features
Top 75 contractors by contracting operating margin
This table tells two main stories. First, that the large specialists still make the fattest margins. Steel constructor Severfield-Rowen reported 6.4% and groundwork specialist Keller got a handsome 6.2%. East Anglian contractor Carter also made an impressive 4.4% return, and concrete firm O'Rourke managed 3.6%. Second, it shows that most ...
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Features
They’re back
A combination of shrewd populism and a government with more leaks than a sea-going sieve has pulled the Tories back from oblivion. So meet Archie Norman and Robert Syms, the men who must convince construction that now might be a good time to get to know the next government. Additional ...
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Features
Archie Norman: Why the Tories’ business plan will work
Archie Norman is worried. He has seen the new offices he will soon inhabit at Portcullis House and is unimpressed. It s a funny set-up, he says. The furnishings are expensive but the actual accommodation is very modest. There are a number of small offices with ...