Skanska UK has confirmed that its executive vice-president and chief financial officer, Kelly Gangotra, is to step down. In a statement, the tier one contractor said Gangotra “has decided the time is right in her career to take up a new and significant opportunity”. It added: “She will leave Skanska…
Author Archives: Lem Bingley
Procurement Bill set to reform public-sector contracts and frameworks
The government has rebooted its plans to reform public-sector procurement, with the first reading of a new Procurement Bill in the Lords last week. Many of the planned reforms are expected to have a direct impact on construction. The bill is set to regulate the way frameworks operate, formalise the…
Galliford Try chief executive on the business benefits of doing the right thing
Bill Hocking explains the firm's strategy, post-pandemic, to Lem Bingley, and gives an insight into the type of business the company is striving to be
We meet Galliford Try chief executive Bill Hocking in early April, in a freshly refurbished office that sits a short walk away from London’s Liverpool Street…
Royal Bam forecasts improved margins in Q1 trading update
Royal Bam Group, parent company of UK contractors Bam Construct and Bam Nuttall, has reported what it called “strong operational performance” in a first-quarter trading update. It revealed adjusted EBITDA earnings of €97.3m (£82.8m) in Q1 2022, before one-off charges, including restructuring costs, on revenue of €1.55bn (£1.32bn). These results…
Interview: chief inspector of buildings on the new Building Safety Act
“This is just the start,” says Peter Baker, chief inspector of buildings at the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), on the Building Safety Act’s recent Royal Assent. “The act is very complex and very comprehensive,” he explains. “But it is primarily an enabling piece of legislation […] It will have…
Lendlease backs Inspiring Women pledge
Lendlease has become the latest construction firm to adopt the Inspiring Women in Construction & Engineering Pledge. Construction News launched the pledge in June 2021 as a voluntary code of practice that companies can adopt to signal their support for women in the industry. Signatories promise to adopt a series…
Procore CEO: how today’s tech can make jobs easier for contractors
Construction’s relatively slow uptake of digital technology has been a chicken and egg problem, says Tooey Courtemanche, founder and chief executive of contech specialist Procore. Lem Bingley listens
The construction industry has long been pegged as one of the slowest adopters of digital technology. In a 2016 report on digitisation across…
In pictures: Beard replaces stone columns at historic Oxford college
Family-owned contractor Beard has released pictures of its work to replace historic stone columns at St John’s College, Oxford. Work on the Grade-I listed building began last summer, as part of a £10m restoration of the 16th-century Old Library and 17th-century Laudian Library extension, which border the college’s historic Canterbury…
Spring Statement: red diesel deserves a slow death
Tomorrow, chancellor Rishi Sunak will deliver his Spring Statement. Will it help to resolve two of the key issues weighing most heavily on construction? Here’s hoping. Both concerns in question create a kind of cognitive dissonance because they are problems caused by other problems, at a scale too awful to…
New chair for Henry Boot as founder’s great grandson retires
Henry Boot chairman Jamie Boot is to retire in May and will be replaced by current senior non-executive director Peter Mawson. The change will take place after the listed company’s annual general meeting on 26 May. Mawson has served on the Henry Boot board since October 2015. Boot will step…