Category: Construction Services

McLaughlin & Harvey profits halve to £5.9m

Private contractor McLaughlin & Harvey saw pre-tax profits slide to £5.9m from £11.5m last year as extra costs from Covid safe working took their toll on the business.

But despite these challenges, the Cheevers family-owned group held revenue at a near-record level of £480m, down 6% from the year before, with operating margins at 1.1%.

Both the construction and civil engineering division, which contributed £417m of total revenue, continued to trade profitably despite the additional challenges and extra costs that Covid brought.

Over the year the group, which employs 800 staff out of offices in offices in Belfast, Glasgow, London, Edinburgh, Liverpool and Bristol, received £2.2m in furlough support cash from Government.

Finance director David O’Neill said that other smaller group businesses – distribution and the environmental landfill business – also both performed strongly last year, building a platform for the year group ahead.

“The current order book, tender opportunities and performance for 2021 are very healthy and we anticipate a strong performance,” said O’Neill.

“The fundamentals of each of the businesses with McLaughlin & Harvey Group are strong. The balance sheet for the group shows net assets of £57.6m supported by net cash of £69.9m.”

In June, McLaughlin & Harvey launched a new dedicated fit-out business called WorkSpace to offer clients a range of services spanning build, fit out, facilities management, bespoke joinery, and commercial furniture.

Richard Cheevers, McLaughlin & Harvey Director, said: “The company has built a strong reputation for delivering large scale construction and civil engineering schemes over many years, and recently the directors felt there was a need to create a dedicated division for projects outside the scope and scale of those traditionally associated with McLaughlin & Harvey.

 

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Subbies threaten to “rip-up tarmac” in Derby cable dispute

Subcontractors have stopped work on parts of a £45m digital infrastructure upgrade across Derby following payment rows.

The Enquirer understands that some firms have even threatened to “rip-up tarmac” they have laid.

CityFibre is bringing high speed internet to the city with its major fibre optic installation scheme set to be mainly completed by 2025 after starting last year.

Nottingham based McCann Construction is main contractor on the job.

A spokesperson from McCann said: “We are unable to comment on this specific matter.  However, we would like to stress that J McCann takes its payment and contractual obligations very seriously and would never intentionally withhold payment for any works that have been completed in accordance with the terms of our agreement without firm legal justification.

“As can be expected for a project of this size, there will be contractual issues with some of our supply chain, but we continue to work through these in an open and collaborative spirit to ensure that our supply chain partners receive the correct payments as they fall due.”

Did you miss our previous article…
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4 Ways to Improve Collaboration in Construction

As construction projects become more complex, effective collaboration is increasingly becoming a key factor in completing projects on time and within budget while delivering a quality product to the client. Good collaboration leads to many benefits like innovation, time and cost-saving, added value for the client, reduced errors, and unnecessary rework.


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What is Construction?

 A Simple Explanation

What is construction

Construction is a broad term meaning both the science and art of constructing objects, structures, or systems and derives from Latin adhaerens reae, literally, “to build up.” To build is the subject word: the object of construction is the verb: to be created, and the subject is art: the mode of creating. Both verbs are used to mean work (as in the dictionary definition), but only one sense of each word refers specifically to the activity of constructing. In constructing an object, building refers to a specific process, a definite process, while building up is broader and refers loosely to any activity that produces objects.

 

Construction is not limited to building things (houses, monuments, etc. ) but extends to their support. Natural structures, such as those found in nature at the earth’s surface, are considered construction sites; artificial constructions, such as buildings, are not.

 

A number of the building blocks of the modern industry have been derived from the activities of construction. The most obvious among these is the wheel, which was invented partly due to the wheel being used as a carriage in the early Renaissance. Machinery is partially constructed, through what is called mechanical invention, by the actions of human workers engaged in work (labor). Machines themselves are constructed, through what is called mechanical invention, by machines that are driven by human beings operating them. The processes involved in construction explain many of the activities of modern industry.

 

Many of today’s questions regarding what is construction? Can be answered by looking at the various activities that human beings engage in every day. People build houses, structures, automobiles, ships, tunnels, bridges, towers, parks, museums, and even political buildings.

 

Many of these activities are performed by people who are not necessarily trained professionals but just ordinary people. What is the construction? It is a question that arises all the time when one sees an automobile or a building being constructed. Construction is not just about making things; it is about the discipline of putting things together so that they work. And this goes far beyond the realm of art, engineering, architecture, surveying, etc., because it is a process that takes time, money, effort, materials, workforce, and skill.

 

In what is construction? one must think of the various ways in which men and women construct the things they use every day. One major way is through simple hand labor, such as building something from scratch by oneself. Another way is to use machines designed to do much of what hand labor does, but of course, much faster and more efficient than any person could do it.

 

The third way in which we can understand what construction is! It is by way of the wide range of products that have been built by people all over the world. We know that the entire world now knows how to construct buildings and vehicles, but very few of us know how to build our homes. Indeed, many of the most beautiful homes that have ever been built were in the style of someone who was not trained in the construction trade but just took advantage of some basic plans and tools available to them.

 

What is the construction? It is a question that is probably occupying the minds of even the greatest minds of our time, yet there is still a great deal that remains unknown about the process. We do know that nearly every building in the world today is being constructed by some machine or process, but very few people really understand the construction process as a whole! We know that construction businesses are the fastest-growing sector of our economy, yet very few people understand the basics of how a construction business works! In a world where knowledge is almost as valuable as cash, anyone interested in starting a career in the construction field must take the time to gain as much knowledge as possible!