Turnover at the privately owned building group rose 12% to 拢255.8m. Chief executive Colin Enticknap said: 鈥淥ur maintenance and management operations have been steady, but we have seen strong growth in construction, particularly in the leisure and industrial markets, and a sustained commercial market in London and the South-east.鈥� In a year that saw the retirement of chairman Sir Ian Dixon and his replacement by Sir Michael Latham, the London-based company achieved a 32.6% return on shareholders鈥� funds. Staff numbers rose 55 to 1141. These were mainly trainees, of which half are graduates. Notable completions included Europe鈥檚 largest social housing project at Blackbird Leys in Oxford, a 拢30m scheme built over two years, and a swimming pool and leisure centre in Cambridge.
General contracting contributed 拢135m to group turnover, with housing adding 拢85m, maintenance 拢20m and management 拢15m. Enticknapp said the firm had experienced an increase in competition in the final quarter of 1998, but had been encouraged by the market so far this year.
The strong growth was, he added, 鈥渂ecause of the strength of our existing client base rather than the tendered market, and we see increasingly good prospects for partnering and negotiated work鈥�.
Long-standing Willmott Dixon clients include David Lloyd Leisure, Ealing Family Housing Association, Circle 33 housing association and Hilton Hotels.
Willmott Dixon has recently invested heavily in its innovations team, which is investigating standardisation and prefabrication for the social housing market. 鈥淲e realise this is not a new idea, but think a lot more can be done in this field in the UK which seems to have been undermined by earlier bad experiences,鈥� said Enticknapp.
