delivering construction excellence

Our Customer Care philosophy is based around our commitment to provide our Clients with a comprehensive, value for money service that meets, or exceeds, their needs and expectations, and to develop and maintain long-term sustainable relationships as a result. We recognise that repeat business is a vital element of on-going success, and achieve almost 60% of our turnover from repeat business Clients.

A full understanding of our Client's requirements and stakeholder expectation is key to delivering a successful project, and strategically our aim is to maintain a customer focus in all our activities. We encourage and welcome open and constructive dialogue at every stage of the design, construction and management process between all members of the Construction Team and stakeholders who are impacted by our activities. Our experience has proven that this collaboration ensures the best route to a successful project.

Our Management Teams and key supply chain partners will share a clear understanding of our Client's objectives, priorities and aspirations - innovation and collaboration being at the top of the agenda. Budget and zero defects are also high priorities for our Clients, and we strive to provide an end product delivered within budget and value-engineered where appropriate. We also understand that the project must be of high quality and completed on time. Many of our Clients appreciate the fast decision-making process established through our unique management system, which involves the Project Director at all stages of the scheme, and his close liaison with the Client's Team ensures expert project planning and delivery.

health & safety priority
The Board of Directors is dedicated to improving the health and safety of our workforce, and ensuring the safety of the general public and others who may be affected by our operations. Health and Safety is given the highest priority throughout all our activities, ensuring our employees and supply chain are appropriately trained and informed. Our heavy investment in health and safety has enabled us to achieve results well above the Industry benchmark. All members of our Teams are fully committed to, and have their own responsibilities for, delivering a safe and healthy working environment.

considerate constructors
We ensure we maintain safe, well-ordered and environmentally-friendly sites. All our projects are managed strictly in accordance with the principles of the CCS, achieving consistently high scores on our projects, winning a Silver Award from the CCS in early 2016. The awards scheme recognises registered sites that have raised the bar in considerate construction, showing the highest levels of consideration towards the public, workforce and environment.

our commitment
We employ the services of an external Consultancy to provide an inspection and advisory service, in support of our own internal management regime. To further build on our expertise our Health & Safety Director is NeBOSH-qualified.

Our Managing Director voluntarily represents SME Employers on the Construction Industry Advisory Committee - the main role of which is to support the HSE in achieving its strategic objectives - and has also been a Board member of a Health & Safety Consultancy providing a service to SME Companies throughout England and Wales, and in so doing has helped to drive up standards in this sector.

Management skills
We retain the Management skills to take a scheme from land appraisal right through the construction process to occupation. This has been achieved as a result many years of undertaking our own private developments and, together with our extensive experience of Design and Build procurement as Building Contractors, means that we have long-established working relationships with a number of Design Teams, and are well-used to managing the design process, value engineering projects and using modern construction methods. It also enables us to fully appreciate the concerns and requirements of our Clients, in both the public and private sectors.

Partnering
We are currently active in a number of partnering arrangements; our continued involvement has led to a detailed understanding of Client management structures, funding processes and ultimate needs, thus making it easier to identify specific objectives as part of the design and development process. Our extensive experience of development and open-book negotiated schemes has meant we have acquired the expertise to be a full participant in the design development and decision-making processes.

Incorporating Innovation
As a respected Design and Build Contractor and Developer we have provided innovative design solutions on numerous schemes. These have varied from proposing alternative forms of construction, to re-examining scheme programmes and re-scheduling phased arrangements to benefit the Client by adding value in terms of savings to cost, time or buildability. On each of our schemes we hold an initial evaluation meeting to determine where improvements or innovative ideas can be incorporated.

Technical Expertise
We have considerable in-house technical expertise within our Site Teams and our office-based Technical Buying and Estimating departments. Our strong Buying Team is well used to working closely with major suppliers, and so is kept fully informed of innovations within the Industry. This close contact provides us with the opportunity to seek out efficiences in both process and product selection. Within our Team of Estimators and Surveyors we are able to accommodate varying procurement routes, including Design and Build, negotiated, two-stage tender, and traditional competitive tendering.

Our Management Teams are vastly experienced in successfully delivering complex and challenging projects across a wide range of sectors, including three major projects for the Ministry of Defence. The collective skills they bring to our projects are applied to key issues for the benefit of our Clients. We are proud to have within our Team a qualified Code for Sustainable Homes Assessor, and NeBOSH qualified Health & Safety Director.

Collaborative working and pro-active approach
We enjoy long-standing relationships with many of our Clients, some of whom we have served almost continuously in recent decades. Combined with a strength of trust in within our supply chain, these long-standing relationships have helped us to develop our ethos of collaborative working and problem-sharing. Since we began trading as Building Contractors in 1908 we have undertaken development projects in both the residential and commercial sectors. This has resulted in our Teams being able to take an holistic approach to problems, and assists with understanding issues from our Client's perspective. We believe this understanding to be a key driver in providing innovative and rapid solutions where problems may otherwise arise.

Director-led project teams
Throughout our involvement in a project it is led from commencement to completion by one of our vastly experienced Technical Directors. This provides continuity for our Clients and ensures a seamless transition between tender and construction phases. Our Clients benefit from dealing directly with an anthoritative decision-maker, ensuring a swift pro-active response on key issues - an approach that continues to bring customers back.

Working in live environments
We have established and successfully implemented procedures for working in live environments and occupied premises, with schools, hospitals and care homes being particularly sensitive. Our experience has helped build an appreciation of the issues faced by end-users and others affected by the construction process, with our Teams developing an emphasis towards customer relations which is reflected in our success in these environments. We take a sensitive approach to project management and minimising disruption.

Fair trading
We have built an outstanding reputation for fair trading with our supply chain partners. This is of great benefit in engendering the essential trust between our Company and its partners. A pool of highly experienced and trusted partners has evolved from operating in the South for over 100 years - an invaluable resource for successful project delivery. A considerable number of these partners have worked with us regularly on projects over many years of trading, and with whom we have built strong collaborative working arrangements. We can therefore call upon a supply chain keen to work for us, and from whom our Clients can expect to receive a competitive, fully committed and responsive service.

We seek to provide a quality service to our Clients, producing a quality product in a manner that, through efficiency and conformity, aims to exceed their expectations. Our Quality Management Policy forms an integral part of our drive for continuous improvement.

The aim of the Company's Management Team is to sustain and improve the high quality of services provided to our Clients. The appointment of appropriately skilled and trained staff, together with careful selection of subcontractors and suppliers, is a key driver in achieving this aim. Selection of supply chain partners is carried out diligently. We are committed to ensuring appropriate performance by our partners, and engage only those who are proven in both quality and delivery, to form part of our supply chain.

We efficiently communicate our quality procedures to our employees in order that they have a clear understanding of arrangements and their individual roles and responsibilities under our Quality Policy. Employees are also encouraged to give feedback on how any of these procedures and processes might be enhanced or streamlined, in our drive for continuous improvement.

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement throughout our business activities, we are actively involved in the Construction Best Practice Programme, where we have been part of the General Contractors' Benchmark Group. This Group has set requirements for continuous improvement and subsequently measures us against the rest of the Industry.

We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint, and to becoming a truly sustainable business. This means having the ability to continue providing our Clients with high quality products and services in ways that enhance the environment.

We apply quality controls in all we do, and aim to set an example in our area by contributing towards its sustainable development in integrating sustainability into business practice. To this end we have a number of long-term arrangements in place which are applied across all our site and office operations.

Where we have direct design control we seek to influence design of the construction in such a way as to minimise the impact on the environment. Our procurement arrangements include a checking process prior to order to ensure that, wherever possible, all materials are procured from sustainable sources. As an SME we support the localism agenda in the employment of subcontractors and labour, reducing work travel distances, transport costs and environmental impact, thereby further supporting sustainability gains.

We seek to design, operate and maintain our construction sites to the highest level practicable in order to meet our own environmental objectives, wherever possible involving the public in our work by liaising with resident and other groups when our operations may have a direct effect upon them.