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Wilson James selected Mid City Place, the Kohn Pedersen Fox-designed office development in central London, to show off its abilities – as well it might. Thanks to the construction logistics firm, the project was built at a rate of 8000 ft2 of office space a week on a congested site in the worst weather for 300 years and with only two-thirds of the on-site workforce of its comparable Christ Church Court development. Just-in-time production ensured a tidy, efficient site and on-site safety training permitted a remarkable 675,000 man hours to be worked without an accident. Applying these methods to all its projects, Wilson James is really ahead of the game and is earning the sort of margins that most subcontractors can only dream of. A real leader in its field and a clear winner.

SECOND
Billington Structures

More than 50% of Billington's business comes from just nine partnered clients, and it is the preferred structural steel specialist for a remarkable roll-call of blue-chip main contractors including Kier, Balfour Beatty and Bovis Lend Lease. 2001 was an excellent year for the firm, securing its largest-ever contract and meeting its sales target two months early. It is a tribute to the experience Billington brings to its projects that it describes its work on the award-winning Magna Centre in Rotherham as "typical" – for a Billington project, that is.

THIRD
Hills Electrical and Mechanical

Hills devoted 2001 to improving its already excellent customer service. More than 78% of its work is partnered, but the M&E engineer extends the partnering ethos to all its projects. It has abandoned the sales rep approach and instead makes use of dedicated teams that work with clients nationally, agreeing KPIs that are measured on a quarterly basis. This is the secret behind the fact that more than 87% of the projects Hills works on are for previous clients.

This type of firm is going to be crucial to the successful delivery of projects in the future

FOURTH
Shepherd Engineering Services

When Shepherd was reassessed for Investors in People status in 2000, the assessor commented: "There is no doubt that the company is moving towards becoming 'world class'." And this building services engineer is certainly world class in its treatment of its people – training is constantly discussed and improved with employees. This is why Shepherd keeps its staff for an average of 10 years and why productivity per employee went up 22% last year.