Housing slump hits groundworks contractor’s bottom line
29 Aug
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Housing slump hits groundworks contractor’s bottom line

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Top Stories Tamfitronics Profit at groundworks firm M&J Evans slipped last year amid a slowdown in housebuilding, according to its latest accounts.The Walsall-based firm, ranked 49th in the CN100 2023 table of top contractors, posted a pre-tax profit of £2.2m for the 2023 calendar year from turnover of £334.3m.Both figures represented a steep decrease from revenue of £405.8m and pre-tax profit of £23.4m the year before.Chief executive Chris Southgate described a “challenging year” marked by “a considerable reduction” in demand for residential groundworks and increased borrowing costs as interest rates rose.He added that the resulting “operational inefficiencies”, combined with unrecovered “significant” inflation-related costs from clients, caused the firm’s margin to shrink from 5.8 to just 0.7 per cent.M&J Evans remained free of bank loan debt and had cash at hand of £18.2m at the end...
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Third time lucky as £1bn printworks plan set for green light
29 Aug
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Third time lucky as £1bn printworks plan set for green light

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Top Stories Tamfitronics The £1bn redevelopment of what was Europe’s largest printworks is set for approval, nine years after plans were first submitted.Officers at Tower Hamlets council have recommended conditional approval of the residential-led Westferry Printworks scheme, which will occupy a 61,500 square metre site near Canary Wharf in London. A contractor has not yet been appointed, although Mace is acting as development manager for developer Northern & Shell.Tower Hamlets council will meet later today (28 August) to decide whether to follow the officers’ recommendation and grant the revised scheme permission subject to planning conditions including £652,000 towards construction skills training and 20 per cent local construction labour.The planning application is the third proposal for the site since 2015.If approved, the new development will provide 1,358 homes, a secondary school for 1,200 pupils, and 6,200...
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Facade firm faces collapse after 143 years in business
29 Aug
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Facade firm faces collapse after 143 years in business

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Top Stories Tamfitronics A facade specialist impacted by Brexit and the Covid outbreak is set to appoint an administrator.Enfield-based M Price Group filed a formal notice of intention on 16 August.The firm – founded in 1881 by glass merchant Malcolm Price – specialised in installing aluminium curtain walling, windows and multi-material facade solutions at high-rise and commercial projects. Work included the Emirates football stadium (pictured).M Price’s annual accounts were overdue since April 2023, according to Companies House. Its most recent set of accounts, covering the financial year to 30 April 2021, described a pre-tax loss of £1.2m and a turnover of £29m, delivering a margin of -4.2 per cent.At the time, the firm said that “Brexit uncertainty was compounded by the coronavirus pandemic”, as the firm was hit by project delays and a drop in...
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Britain’s constructors could once again lead the world
29 Aug
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Britain’s constructors could once again lead the world

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Top Stories Tamfitronics Sam Stacey is chair of SustainCRE and chief executive of Stacx InternationalFor four years from 2018, I led the transforming construction challenge (TCC) – a UK Research & Innovation-backed initiative that was match funded by industry to encourage the shift towards manufacturing and digital processes. It set out to champion the sector’s innovators – the people and organisations bringing us more sustainable and affordable buildings at greater speed. Progress on these fronts has been respectable, but to claim it as transformative would be premature. However, the new landscape of political stability and attention to climate change offers the potential for spectacular further headway.“Efficiencies on the supply side could bring profit margins in double digits”Our new Labour government has, very publicly, promised 1.5 million new homes over the next five years, plus...
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