Desperate to do most of their work overseas, will UK construction companies be able to hang on to a valued British brand?

What does the world associate with Britain? Last Friday it was bunting, ornate carriages and the class system. But normally, British construction firms say, it鈥檚 quality, reliability, and trust that spring to mind when they bid for work abroad. Yet with more and more firms doing the majority of their work overseas, how can they cling on to a national brand that most claim to value?

EC Harris is pushing to get three quarters of its business from overseas. 57% of Cyril Sweett鈥檚 order book is international. Five years ago, 60% of Mott MacDonald鈥檚 business came from the UK; that figure has now slumped to 33%.

Ten years ago, if you just had an office in Dubai, it was easy simply to staff it with expats and recreate the culture of central London in the middle of the Gulf, just with more air conditioning. Yet as expansion increasingly depends on acquisition of local companies, particularly in China, due to impenetrable markets and language barriers, making sure your clients get the same service in Manchester and Guangzhou is getting harder.

Significantly, EC Harris is planning to immediately rebrand its latest Chinese acquisition, MB Project Management. The 30-strong outfit was also jointly founded by a British expat. 鈥淭hey will have senior expat managers look over it,鈥� says Dominic James of consultants鈥� organisation British Expertise, who concedes that introducing your 鈥榗ulture鈥� into an acquisition is 鈥渄ifficult鈥�, but has been done the other way around. 鈥淗onda and Nissan have come in and brought in a Japanese culture to the UK,鈥� he says.

But why not go the whole hog and dispense with 鈥楤ritishness鈥� altogether, becoming 鈥榞lobal鈥� instead? The end result of losing the British tag could indeed be a woolly brand. Still, will a London HQ be of any relevance to clients in emerging economies be of any relevance in 20 years time, particularly as countries like China close the quality gap with the West?

鈥淚n 20 years I think they will be very proud to be British with HQs in Britain,鈥� thinks James. 鈥淏ritishness means quality, reliability, and trustworthiness.鈥� Er, what about BP? 鈥淭here are very few examples of British companies making a mess of things,鈥� James argues. For now, many UK consultants are happy to put out the red, white and blue bunting when they bid for work abroad. But if most of your staff and work is outside Britain, will clients be convinced?

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