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See below the excellent feedback from attendees at the event and
the coverage of the debates in Building magazine and register your
interested now so that you can be notified of dates for 2009.
Provisional date for Building awards 21st April
A very successful inaugural forum for Business leaders of the construction
industry:
"A really good day, well timed and very interesting speakers.
Also plenty of
opportunities for networking."
Viv Packer, Ruston WHEB
"The event went very well. I particularly liked the chat show‚
style forum, it allowed people to contribute and the direction of
the conversation to center around the issues that mattered to those
in the room."
Joanne Prior, EC Harris
"Thoughtful presentations - some were outstanding."
Cal Bailey, Director, NG Bailey
"Interesting insight into thinking about the present and the
future."
Bill Price, Director, WSP UK
Coverage of the Business Leaders Forum 2008
debate in Building Magazine Industry attacks Lords' immigration
report
2008 Issue 13
By Stuart Macdonald, Tom Bill
Construction industry leaders have rounded on a House of Lords committee
that found there was little evidence that immigration had benefited
the UK
Speaking at Building's inaugural Business Leaders Forum in London,
Murray Coleman, chief executive of Bovis Lend Lease, said he greeted
the findings of the House of Lords' economic affairs committee with
"disbelief".
He said: "To conclude that immigration has a neutral effect
on UK industry - which includes construction - is something I struggle
to understand. The real risk is that we will discourage the unskilled
people that we need to enter the UK industry."
The government maintains that immigration contributes an estimated
£6bn each year to the UK economy.
Elsewhere in his speech, Coleman predicted that the recent flurry
of mergers and acquisitions would "continue over the next 24
months, particularly if the credit crunch continues."
Pascal Minault, chair of Bouygues UK, agreed and said the UK contracting
market would follow the French trend and consolidate into handful
of huge players. France is dominated by three large companies -
Vinci, Bouygues and Eiffage - which turn over £17.8bn, £13.1bn
and £8.7bn respectively.
Minault said: "Below the big three you have companies with
turnovers of about *1bn (£788m) but there‚s no room
for national mid-sized contractors. In the regions you have local
champions that survive because owners don't want to sell up."
Also at the forum, former MP Michael Portillo sounded a warning
note about the progress of high-profile public projects during the
current downturn.
He said it was inevitable that major infrastructure projects, including
Crossrail, would be delayed because the government current borrowing
of £40bn could not be extended.
Francis Ives, chairman of Cyril Sweett, which has made three acquisitions
in the past two weeks, was cautious about the involvement of private
equity cash in the industry.
He said the company had considered raising money through private
equity as an alternative to flotation on the stock exchange last
year. "Private equity is like a big black bear. As long as
you feed it, it‚s okay. If not, it will eat you."
See photos from the event at: www.building.co.uk/blf08
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