The best of the bunch

Well, perhaps Sir John might feel a little more cheerful if he reads this profile of the 2002 Building Awards winners and finalists. Not only are all in fairly rude health, but the service they offer clients is first-class and they are engaged in increasingly effective supply chains. More, it's true, must be done. Safety must be more overtly prioritised and too many environmental policies just emit hot air. But casting an eye back over the eight years of the Building Awards, the progress made by the top firms has been staggering. Many entrants that came fourth this year would have walked away with the top prize in the late-1990s.

One of the most consistent winners since 1995 has been Bovis Lend Lease. Sir Frank Lampl would be too modest to admit it but the company's accolades are, to a large degree, due to his personal genius. In 2001, he relinquished his executive role after 30 years with the firm to become life president. We could not let such a moment pass; so we've made him the first recipient of our new Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sir Frank's achievements really do stretch back over a lifetime. Only he will know the Herculean courage needed to survive, first, a string of Nazi concentration camps, then, three years labour in the Jachymov uranium mines and, finally, political exile from Czechoslovakia in 1968. But everyone can appreciate his rise in Britain from a humble general foreman to make Bovis one of the world's top 10 construction companies.

Against all odds, Sir Frank became a winner, and an inspiration to a whole generation. Congratulations to him and to all the other winners celebrated in this supplement. In an industry that's getting a whole lot better, you're the best of the lot.