NEWS  

December, 2006

Bovey Construction A Sector Leader in Training

Neil Turner and Colin JacksonNeil at the London gala event with former hurdling world champion, Colin Jackson

Only one construction firm in the UK won a National Training Award this year and that was Bovey Construction, a small specialist building firm in Ashburton, Devon. The high quality of its work speaks for itself, but the firm has also demonstrated that training emphatically pays. Every pound it spent on its award-winning training has generated an additional £10 in profits. This contrasts dramatically with an industry where inadequate training could be costing employers at least £1,700 a year.

Neil Turner, managing director, of Bovey Construction, received his trophy from Colin Jackson, the former world champion hurdler, at this year’s awards ceremony for the national winners at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, Bayswater on 14 December.

Speaking at the event, Mr Turner said: “We didn’t design our programme to win an award. What we wanted was to improve our business performance by equipping our site managers with top-quality management skills. We’ve done it, and they’re terrific. It was pure fluke that led to our submitting an entry, and we didn’t dream we would be shortlisted, let alone be a national winner up there with national companies.”
As a result of its award-winning training programme, it has achieved:

  • profitability up from 2.8% to 7.94%;
  • gross margins now at 25%, up from 22%;
  • overheads down from 18.2% to 17%;
  • staff turnover down from 67% to 25%
  • absenteeism down from 2.9 to 2.1
  • snagging lists downs to 5-10 compared with a national figure of 40-60;
  • a 90% success rate in meeting deadlines;
  • MD site visits down from 3-5 a week to one;
  • winning a quality award, the Built in Quality Award in 2004.
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