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鈥楾his isn鈥檛 a normal builder鈥檚 presentation,鈥� says Graham Cash, chief executive of contractor Bam Construct UK. Cash stops talking as an animated presentation starts up on a big screen mounted on the wall of one of Bam鈥檚 site offices on the King鈥檚 Cross Central development in central London. A disembodied commentator takes over the narration. 鈥淚magine if you could build the best building in the world - where would you start?鈥� it asks. 鈥淭o build something truly groundbreaking you need to start with a very special place; a place with history and a bright future 鈥︹��

The presentation concludes about five minutes later and is, no doubt about it, pretty slick stuff. Cash, a modestly spoken man not given to hyperbole and without a hint of smugness, certainly looks pleased with it. And well he might. This is, after all, the presentation that helped Bam win the 拢300m contract to build internet giant Google鈥檚 AHMM-designed headquarters in King鈥檚 Cross, one of the most coveted contracts to be awarded in the last year. But it could also be the presentation that puts BAM firmly in the top tier of contractors able to bid and win the biggest and most prestigious jobs. So how did Bam, whose largest single contract before this was the 拢170m Laboratory of Molecular Biology for the Medical Research Council, manage to pull off such a prestigious win? And does the win really buy it a place at the top table?

Bam is certainly not the only contractor to have a slick bid team, but its Google presentation is undoubtedly impressive. For a start, it is clear that its animators studied Google鈥檚 irreverent, quirky design style closely in order to come up with something that could have been put together by the company itself. Bam鈥檚 bid was then delivered to Google in a plain white box, unadorned with any of the contractor鈥檚 usual regalia. Nestled on top of the bid documents was a tablet computer and, when the box was opened, a magnetic strip in the lid automatically started up the device, which immediately began playing the animation. All of the documents in the box could be accessed via the tablet in a maximum of three clicks. Oh, and it goes without saying that the tablet wasn鈥檛 manufactured by Apple. As Cash says, not a normal builder鈥檚 presentation.

Watch the presentation that Bam sent to Google below >>

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The outside bet

Cash acknowledges that many in the construction industry were surprised when Bam won the Google job. The 拢917.2m turnover company, owned by contracting giant Royal Dutch Bam, is no minnow, for sure, but it has not tended to compete for this size of contract, and was up against some of the biggest names in construction: Skanska, Carillion and Balfour Beatty. 鈥淚 think that people might have viewed us as the outside horse,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut the way we handled it was about putting the right team together. It wasn鈥檛 about Bam - it was about what was right for Google. That team was briefed that we wanted everything to be different, not only in terms of the presentation but in terms of the interview and everything else we did on the project.鈥�
Cash knows what it means for the firm, and says it is part of a deliberate strategy to move the company on: 鈥淚鈥檇 like to be in the league with the best not the biggest, and I think that the win does do that for us.鈥�

Such was the surprise at Bam鈥檚 win, however, that some commentators wondered whether Bam鈥檚 relationship with Argent - the development manager and erstwhile developer at King鈥檚 Cross from whom Google acquired its development plot - hadn鈥檛 played a part in the decision. After all, Bam is already building on several sites on the King鈥檚 Cross scheme and has a relationship with Argent going back 20 years. Surely that connection helped?

Cash isn鈥檛 having any of it, pointing out that both Kier and Carillion are also on a design-and-build framework on King鈥檚 Cross Central. 鈥淜ier didn鈥檛 make the shortlist and they鈥檝e worked with Argent forever,鈥� he says. 鈥淥urselves and Carillion did make the shortlist, but at the end of the day I think it was down to us and Skanska. So at a different stage a different one of the framework contractors didn鈥檛 progress. I think with Google, we just won.鈥�

The team was briefed that we wanted everything to be different, not only in terms of the presentation but in terms of the interview and everything else we did on the project

While the Google job is certainly the biggest - and most attention grabbing - of Bam鈥檚 recent wins, it is still only one of many successes that has seen the company beat the market in the last financial year. Its turnover may have dropped from 拢945.9m in 2011, but operating profit was up in 2012, from 拢9.6m to 拢13m. Given the state of the market, that counts as a success story.
Cash reckons that activity in the markets in which Bam operates has dropped by 30% since 2008. 鈥淏ut our turnover has only dropped by 15%, so we鈥檝e been able to hold a steady position,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not about turnover because I think that turnover in this market is vanity. In profit terms, I think that anybody who is doing 1% or 2% is doing well right now.鈥�

Bam鈥檚 relatively robust financial performance can be attributed to a range of factors, Cash believes. While many of the company鈥檚 competitors sought to diversify the services they offer, Bam 鈥渟tayed firm and solid behind what we did鈥�. It is also clear that Bam鈥檚 bidding strategy has held it in good stead through avoiding clients that are simply seeking the lowest bid regardless of quality.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been very careful about the company that we keep,鈥� says Cash. 鈥淲e鈥檙e sometimes economical, but on some recent projects we鈥檝e won from third or fourth place on the price ranking because the team we sent in knew the project inside out and offered an excellent service.鈥�

Keeping it local

Cash also repeatedly returns to Bam鈥檚 structure when talking about the company鈥檚 project wins and its wider financial performance. In contrast to other contractors such as Balfour Beatty and Kier, which have been cutting and rationalising their regional offices, Bam had seven regional offices going into the recession and Cash is confident that it will have seven offices when the UK market eventually throws off its woes. The regional offices are supported by sector leads in head office - or in the case of schools in the Leeds office - who bring market-specific understanding to bear on bids.

The combination of local and sector expertise, Cash says, is crucial. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you how important our regional offices have been to our bottom line,鈥� he says, adding that a consistent presence puts Bam in a strong position when bidding against contractors that open and shut offices based on the vagaries of a local economy. 鈥淚f you take the West Country, other contractors have migrated in and out and the local market knows that. We鈥檙e in for the long term. You鈥檝e still got to deliver, but it helps us when everybody starts the musical chairs: in, out and the client doesn鈥檛 know what you鈥檙e about.鈥�

Bam鈥檚 recent win on the Graphene Institute, a 拢61m research building for the University of Manchester, is a case in point. 鈥淭he Graphene building was a very tightly fought race - it was down to us and Laing O鈥橰ourke,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd if you think about what I said about us bidding for things regionally and others bidding centrally, there鈥檚 a message in that for you about that project.鈥�
Add to the Google and Graphene wins 拢226m worth of academies work from the Education Funding Agency and Cash says Bam has already secured around 拢800m of work this year, which, only six months into the year and on an annual turnover of around 拢900m, is pretty good going. Having said that, last week鈥檚 news that developer Derwent had put its 拢150m redevelopment of the former Saatchi & Saatchi offices in London鈥檚 Fitzrovia on hold, can鈥檛 have come as good news for Bam. Already engaged in a pre-construction capacity, the firm had been tipped for the job. Cash says he is unable to comment.

However, Cash is quietly confident about the future. He says his team is working on bids for the Priority School 黑洞社区 Programme and that 鈥渢here are a lot of things layered in our business in terms of what we鈥檙e looking into at any one time鈥�. However, he is circumspect, preferring to trust in his team to deliver rather than promising the Earth. 鈥淭here are still hard times to come,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 think we鈥檒l weather the storm better than most, and the last few years have shown that. But irrespective of what comes, if you鈥檝e got people who are happy and focused, that鈥檚 a pretty good recipe.鈥�