The 10 biggest construction stories of the decade

As the decade draws to a close, Construction Manager looks back on what has been a momentous 10 years for the industry, through the 10 biggest stories during the period.

1) The Grenfell Tower disaster: 72 people lost their lives in a huge fire on 14 June 2017 at Grenfell Tower in London. It was quickly established that aluminium composite (ACM) cladding and inadequate fire stopping were to blame for the rapid spread of the blaze. The first phase of a public inquiry into the disaster, which examined the events of 14 June and the response of emergency services has now concluded, with the second phase looking at the role played by a 2016 refurbishment of the building set to start next year. The fire also prompted the launch of Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review of Building Regulations and fire safety, which made seven key recommendations.

2) The collapse of Carillion: Giant contractor Carillion sent shockwaves through the industry when it called in administrators in January 2018, leaving a trail of debt, at one point estimated to be as high £2bn, owed to its supply chain. Many of the company’s contracts were sold on to other firms, with around 13,500 jobs saved. However, there were around 2,800 redundancies. The last of Carillion’s 278 contracts were transferred to new providers in August 2018.

3) Edinburgh schools quality scandal: In 2016, serious structural failings were found at two primary and two secondary schools, among 17 built by Miller Construction under Edinburgh’s £360m “PPP1” deal. The news came to light after a wall at Oxgangs Primary school in the city collapsed. The incident was one of the catalysts for the setting up of the CIOB’s Construction Quality Commission.

4) Rok enters administration: Exeter-based social housing repair, maintenance and new build contractor Rok fell into administration unexpectedly in November 2010, as it struggled with the fallout from the recession. In August that year, the company, which employed nearly 4,000 people, reported a £3.8m loss for the first half the year. The poor financial results came just a week after the group said it had uncovered “serious failings” in financial and operational control. Its administration followed that of fellow social housing firm Connaught 10 weeks before, which led to 1,400 redundancies.

5) Beginning of the BIM revolution: In 2011, the government’s construction advisor Paul Morrell announced that building information modelling (BIM) would be made compulsory on all public projects within five years. Since then, construction’s digital revolution has been gathering pace, with BIM used widely across the industry, along with increasing use of automation, robotics and AI.

6) 2012 Olympics delivered on time and below budget: The construction industry was able to bask in the reflected glory of the London 2012 Olympics after the project was delivered on time and £500m below its £9.3bn budget.

7) Balfour Beatty battles financial strife: Leo Quinn left his role as chief executive of QinetiQ in 2014 to try to steady the Balfour Beatty ship after the company issued three profit warnings in five months and appointed KPMG to review all of the contracts in its Construction Services UK portfolio. The company emerged from the turbulent period, posting revenue of £7.8bn and a £123m pre-tax profit in its last full year results.

8) Modern slavery in construction exposed: The CIOB revealed the prevalence of human rights abuses, including modern slavery in the construction industry and produced a toolkit to help organisations become more socially responsible with the publication of its report Modern Slavery: The Dark Side of Construction, in 2015.

9) Crossrail delayed: Crossrail was originally scheduled to open in 2018, but in August of that year, it dropped the bombshell that the programme was delayed by nearly a year. By March 2019, new chief executive Mark Wild said that trains would run on the central part of the line at some point in 2020. But in November, it was announced that Crossrail was delayed until 2021 and needed another £400m-£650m, taking its budget as high as £18.25bn.

10) The Shard becomes European Union’s tallest building: The Shard, built by Mace and designed by Renzo Piano, became the European Union’s tallest building at 309.6m when it was completed in November 2012. The project involved a tight 38-month timescale and included the first-ever use of top-down construction for a core, as well as what was the UK’s largest-ever concrete pour.