The public鈥檚 opinion of construction took a hammering in 2009 with the Office of Fair Trading鈥檚 allegations of tender malpractice against 110 firms

The watchdog fined 103 of those firms 拢129.5m in September, with the average fine 1.14% of their global turnover. Six, including Balfour Beatty subsidiary Mansell, were found guilty of paying or receiving 鈥渃ompensation payments鈥�, where firms pay each other to enter a cover price. While the industry said the fines were overly harsh, and some, including Kier, are appealing, the public bayed for blood. A post on building.co.uk asked: 鈥淲hy do construction companies not understand their own basic lack of morality?鈥�

Then, in a matter of weeks, it was the turn of the Serious Fraud Office. Bridge builder Mabey & Johnson was fined 拢6.6m after pleading guilty to breaching UN sanctions in Iraq and bribing officials in Jamaica and Ghana, while Amec agreed to pay a 拢5m penalty after receiving $9m in 鈥渋rregular payments鈥� on a project in South Korea. Balfour Beatty was stung for 拢2.25m after 鈥渇inancial irregularities鈥� at one of its subsidiaries on a project in Egypt.

Closer to home, in March the Information Commissioner鈥檚 Office cracked the case of Ian Kerr, a private detective who operated a blacklist of 3,213 workers. Some of the industry鈥檚 biggest companies paid Kerr for information allowing them to vet staff for trade union activity, a practice Lord Mandelson described as 鈥渄espicable鈥�.

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Review 2009