Robert McAlpine to focus on schools work

After a £200m drop in turnover Sir Robert McAlpine has said it will now prioritise chasing Building Schools for the Future work.

The firm's parent company, Newarthill, has released its financial results for the year ending 31 October 2009. The firm's turnover has dropped from £1.8bn in 2008 to £1.6bn in 2009. However, its pre-tax profit rose from £33m in 2008 to £61m in 2009.

Regarding the construction part of the firm, the statement said: “Our construction division marked its 140th anniversary with another profitable year. Our turnover of £1bn remains concentrated in the commercial, leisure, education and infrastructure sectors.”

Highlights for the firm in 2009 have included handing over 724 flats at the former Highbury Stadium in London to Arsenal Football Club, and continuing with work on the 80,000-seater main stadium at the Olympic Park, London, where the external structure has now been finished.

It has also picked up several new contracts, such as the National Indoor Sport Arena and the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, both of which will be built in Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It gained a place on the shortlist for a £400m “super-lab”, which will be built in London's King's Cross for the UK Centre for Medical Research & Innovation, and it is tipped to take the £150m Milton Court office job at London's Barbican.

However, a note on the report said the firm would now be paying particular attention to finding Building Schools for the Future work: “We face a substantial commitment to this particular part of our business and continue to invest in PFI projects. We are prioritising the bidding of BSF projects.”

The firm won an eight-school BSF deal in Newcastle during 2009. It previously won a seven-school deal in Gateshead.

The statement also said that its renewable energy division - Renewable Energy Systems Holdings Limited - was hived off the construction core in October last year and will now operate as a sister company.