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Not content with growing to five times its size in 2003 and making six times as much profit at £1.8m, logistics company Elliott Thomas has pushed itself even further in the past 12 months. It launched a separate hoist operation called Taylor’s Hoists as it had seen a gap in the market. In just its first six months of operation the new business had turned over half a million pounds and had forward orders worth a further £2m. All this in addition to having no accidents to report to the Health and Safety Executive in 2004/05; and setting itself a target of recycling 70% of all construction waste across all its projects each year. It is little surprise then that it has raked in contracts this year from BAA at Terminal 5, at Manchester and Edinburgh Airports, and at Oxford Castle (below).

Elliott Thomas is providing logistics management and support on the site of the new Oxford Castle development

Runners-up

Cantillon

Ask most demolition firms what projects they love and the responses will be varied – what is unlikely to feature though, are tight, large-scale projects in the City of London. This, however, is precisely what Cantillon thrives on. Its 12-month project to demolish seven City buildings up to 20-storeys high typifies its approach. It delivered the project on time, on budget and with no accidents to report to the Health and Safety Executive. Add to that overhauled training and plant investment programmes and Cantillon is hard to knock down.

Coleman & Company

Demolition projects are usually hard enough without the client asking for only the top half of the building to be knocked down and the rest left untouched. Yet this is precisely what Coleman & Company had to do for client Land Securities in Corby, Northamptonshire. The fact that it managed it will come as no surprise when we reveal that Coleman ploughs back as much as possible of its rocketing profit – £2.8m last year – into staff training and the latest equipment.