Morgan Sindall Construction adds to parent company results

Morgan Sindall Construction, which has regional offices and sites across the UK, has contributed to annual results released today (25 February 2021) by parent company Morgan Sindall Group plc, the construction and regeneration group.

Morgan Sindall Group demonstrated resilience in the face of the COVID pandemic, delivering an adjusted operating profit of £68.5 million (FY 2019: £93.1 million) on revenue of £3.0 billion (FY 2019: £3.1 billion). The Group reported a secured order book of £8.3 billion, up 9% year-on-year. With a strengthened balance sheet and net cash of £333 million (FY 2019: £193 million), the Group has ended 2020 with real momentum. It now expects profit to be materially ahead of its previous expectations and slightly ahead of that delivered in 2019.

For the full results, please visit the Morgan Sindall Group website.

Pat Boyle, managing director for Morgan Sindall Construction, said: “2020 has been an incredibly challenging year, but I am proud of the way that our teams have come together to safely get through the pandemic. Heading into 2021, our pipeline and order book are strong, and we look forward to returning to normality.”

Education remains an important sector for the business, during 2020 we have continued to utilise our extensive experience to deliver exceptional experiences and facilities for customers and students.

In Scotland, work began in March on the £15.1 million Renton multi-use campus, which consists of Renton Primary School, a language and communication unit, and the Riverside Early Learning and Childcare Centre. Completion of the project is due spring 2022.

In the East of England, the team was awarded the £14.6 million expansion and refurbishment of Cromwell Community College in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, which completed in January 2020. In October, the team was also named preferred bidder and awarded a pre-construction services agreement (PCSA) for phase 1 of the £36 million Alconbury Education Hub project, in Alconbury Weald, Cambridgeshire. This includes a secondary school, sixth form, and special needs school, all set to open September 2023/24.

The team in the South was awarded the contract to build St Mark’s, a brand-new all-through school in Southampton via the Pagabo major works framework. The project will complete in autumn 2022.

In the Midlands, work began on transforming the former Rugby Radio Station into the brand new, £39 million Houlton School, serving the new Houlton estate on the edge of Rugby. Completion is due for the start of the 2021/22 school year. The team also handed over the £5.3 million Spencer Highfields Academy in Derby two weeks early in September 2020 – this nine-month build via the Scape Regional Construction Framework used offsite construction methods to significantly reduce the construction programme.

The London and Home Counties business was awarded a number of key new schools, including the £29 million Glebe Farm all through school in Wavendon, Milton Keynes. Awarded via the Pagabo framework, the project is currently on site. Hujjat School in Harrow is the first Muslim multi-faith free school in the area. Awarded via the DfE framework, this is a refurbishment and upgrade of a 1930s building. Also in the region, work completed on the expansion and refurbishment of two neighbouring schools in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, procured via the Southern Construction Framework (SCF), the £10.2 million Vandyke Upper School and the £6.5 million Gilbert Inglefield Academy.

In Wales, work continued on the £27 million Cefn Saeson Comprehensive School project in Neath. The new building is due to hand over May 2021, with final completion including the demolition of old school in early 2022.

The team in the North West is working closely with the University of Salford, starting work on the £65 million Science, Engineering and Environmental (SEE) Building in June 2020, having been named preferred bidder in 2018. The team was also named preferred bidder on another project for the university in October 2020 - the Robotics Innovation Centre, with work set to begin in early 2021.

The Thames Valley team’s first award on the University of Oxford’s capital works framework is the £15 million project to expand, renovate and reconfigure the Grade II listed Radcliffe Science Library, creating a new home for Reuben College. Awarded July 2020, this project is due to complete in time for the new academic year in 2021.

In the healthcare sector, work has started on a new mixed patient clinical services and medical education facility for the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, awarded through the SCF. In addition, the £3.3 million South Molton Medical Centre in Devon was successfully handed over in August 2020.

Other completions across the country in 2020 include the £6.3 million Market Rasen Leisure Centre in June, and the Vita Student Nottingham project; a £24 million student accommodation in the city centre. This is the third student accommodation scheme we have completed for Vita after Birmingham and Southampton.

In Brighton, the team proudly handed over two residential projects for Brighton & Hove City Council. Buckley Close was delivered under the New Homes for Neighbourhood scheme and consisted of 12 apartments in three blocks built on the site of former garages in Hangleton. The £8 million Selsfield Drive apartment building was delivered five weeks early in October.

Morgan Sindall Construction retained and won places on a number of national and regional frameworks, including the Pagabo Major Works Framework. Announced January 2020, we have been awarded places on all lots and regions. Announced in February 2020, we bid on and won two lots of the University of Birmingham Capital Estates Framework – projects between £2.5 million-£10 million, and projects over £10 million.

In Yorkshire, we were appointed to the YORbuild Major Works Contractors Framework in May 2020 to both lots of the framework, with Lot 1 designed for projects of £10 million to £30 million and Lot 2 for projects of over £30 million. We were retained as a tier 1 contractor on the hub South West Scotland framework. Also in Scotland, it was announced that we won a place on all three lots of the University of Glasgow Capital Estates Framework: over £3 million; between £250,000-£3 million; and those below £250,000.