South East: Construction company re-names

One of the largest construction and property companies operating in the South East of England is set to re-name itself. From October 6 HBG Construction will be known as BAM Construction, after its European parent company, Royal BAM Group.

The company has numerous projects across the region, predominantly in the health, education, commercial and retail markets mainly in Hampshire, Kent, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire and Sussex.

In Hampshire, one of the early UK projects to be completed after the name changes to BAM Construction will be Hampshire County Council’s new HQ, Ashburton Court, in Winchester. It has delivered a range of education buildings for Hampshire County Council, many under its contractor framework agreement, such as the Costello College of Technology in Basingstoke. HBG’s health sector clients in the area include Southampton General Hospital for whom it built the Cardiothoracic and Oncology Units and it is building the Gosport War Memorial Hospital. It has also been appointed by Portsmouth PCT to construct St Mary’s Community Healthcare Hospital and recently completed a new Marks & Spencer store in Hedge End.

In Kent, the company completed Bouverie Place Shopping Centre including an ASDA store in Folkestone last year, and is currently building a major Tesco store in Orpington. For North West Kent College BAM has two education projects – one at Gravesend is well under way and work at Dartford will start soon. It is hopeful of securing the contract to build the £30million Bluewater Events Venue.

There are a range of major education projects in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, including Cressex Community School, Bucks New University, High Wycombe, and West Hertfordshire College at Watford.

HBG Properties will be re-named BAM Properties. In the south east it is currently developing a prominent 180,000 sq ft business park in the Thames Valley called Glory Park. The first phase of this speculative development comprising 64,000 sq ft in three buildings is due for completion at the end of the year and will provide prime office space in a parkland setting just off junction 3 of the M40. HBG Properties also has prominent development site on the Chiswick High Road in West London which has secured planning consent for a new 80,000 sq ft headquarters office development.

In Oxford the company is well-known for its current NHS Procure21 projects to re-develop the John Radcliffe Hospital – including new Geratology and Cardiac facilities. It is also building an extensive redevelopment of new galleries for the Ashmolean Museum, and has engaged itself with the community extensively, touring schools around its site and hosting an art competition for local schools advertising the museum which has featured on the side of local buses.

In East Sussex, HBG is soon to complete the new Crawley Library, and in recent years the company, which is acknowledged as one of the UK’s leading education contractors, has delivered Ifield Community College, Oriel High School and Desmond Anderson Primary School in Crawley.

Three of Crawley’s secondary schools receive services from BAM FM – the company’s re-named facilities management business. These are part of a 30-year PFI contract and include cleaning, catering, grounds and building maintenance, helpdesk, energy, leisure and health and safety management. It is also delivering a new partnership facility to the Thomas Bennett Community College. BAM FM employs over 600 staff across the UK and is active in the education, healthcare law & order and commercial property sectors. The company won a RoSPA Gold Award for occupational safety earlier this year, and is an accredited Investor in People.

In Reading, HBG will complete the 210-bedroom four-star International Hilton Hotel early next year, for Prupim. It also built two six-storey offices at Forbury Square for developer Argent Group creating quality public open space in the tradition of Reading’s historic centre. Last year HBG completed a major new mixed use scheme featuring a Sainsbury’s store in Maidenhead.

In Essex, HBG won healthcare contractor of the year for its work on the highly regarded Essex Cardiothoracic Centre in Basildon.

Other current projects include the impressive £70m Sainsbury’s mixed use development for Abbeygate Developments at Milton Keynes, a forthcoming special needs school called Stanley Park for the London Borough of Sutton, and the company is preferred contractor for the prized £150m plus Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) for the Medical Research Council in Cambridge. Since 2006 it has been part of the South East Centre of Excellence (SECE) framework covering 74 local authorities, and Crawley Library, Stanley Park School and Cressex Community School are projects won under this framework.

Last year BAM Construction in the South East alone provided work for around 1200 people (including sub-contractors), and in the commercial, health and education fields it is an acknowledged market leader. It won a RoSPA gold medal in 2007 after six Gold awards in succession. It has a self-built HQ in St Albans, which is also home to its multi-disciplinary architectural practice, to be re-named BAM Design.

Nigel Comben, Director of BAM Construction South East, said: "Being known as BAM will be more memorable for our clients and their customers and it emphasises that we are part of a successful European enterprise. We have formed some strong and lasting partnerships with our clients – we have a strong order book and a good reputation for quality work delivered considerately, which is why around 50 per cent of our work is repeat business from returning clients. People will continue to spot our distinctive green and orange colours on our site hoardings and cranes but the name will change from Monday."