Hall Construction

Source: Construction Digital

Date :31/05/2007 16:09:03

Hall Construction reaps benefits of sustainable growth in a stretched industry.

Hall Construction Group Ltd is a privately owned Construction Group based in Kingston Upon Hull, capable of procuring buildings anywhere within a 70 mile radius of Hull up to a value of £6 million. The group encompasses six divisions, of which Hall Construction is the largest.

Written by James Hurley & Produced by Dave Alexander

The construction division works in the education, health, commercial, industrial, retail, leisure, housing and community sectors, specialising in both new build and refurbishment projects by applying its in house expertise and partnering experience regardless of the chosen procurement route. Hall Construction’s Commercial Director, Neil Symmonds, says that the outlook of the company is informed by its origins as a family business.

The Group’s history stretches as far back as the 1860s, when Hugh Hall, the present Chairman’s Great Great Grandfather started building houses in the Holderness area of East Yorkshire. This has enabled the company to put down roots and build up an extremely strong reputation in the Hull and East Riding area.

Sustainable growth

“We’re in a reasonably fortunate position where our name tends to sell us as a company in our location, but we realise we are only as good as our last project,” says Symmonds. “This is our 120th year of trading activity and we would like to think most people would list us as a company that is automatically thought of when a project of up to £6 million in value requires delivering. In terms of quality, we’re accredited with ISO, which is a framework for customer satisfaction and continual improvement. We have internal auditors in the construction division and we also get audited every six months externally by our accreditation body. We continually strive to improve the quality not only of the building product but also of the service that we provide.” In addition to ISO the company is also a recognised Invstor in People.

Symmonds identifies Hall Construction as a conservative, family owned business that concentrates on construction contracts up to £6 million in value. This approach has worked well for the group in recent years. “The construction division I manage has significantly increased its turnover,” says Symmonds. “This has been driven by adopting Government guidelines on Rethinking Construction and the Egan Report. By fine tuning our method of operation we have won a number of strategic frameworks with Local and Public Authorities and various private clients.” Frameworks allow us to concentrate on delivering value for money and over the last few years schemes have been awarded on quality and not lowest price. We find this method of operation to be beneficial to both parties as everyone sets out knowing the costs and what quality will be delivered.

As part of this strategy, Symmonds says that the company sets itself realistic targets in terms of growth and budget control. “We had a three year business plan generated at board level last year,” he says. “It was bought into by the whole management team. We had a series of workshops with a facilitator to ensure that everyone was on side. There’s no point in the directors starting off with a goal and no one else supporting them. We’ve been achieving our aim by working with regular clients and also new clients when they emerge.”

Managing what is essentially a medium sized company has brought both challenges and rewards for Symmonds, who has a background of working with larger national contractors. “I joined Hall in 2001. Prior to that I was working with Taylor Woodrow, Balfour Beatty, Tarmac, Wimpy and latterly Carillion, as part of the Tarmac-Wimpy asset swap that took place in 1996. I’ve got a history of working with large contractors in Yorkshire and the North East, predominantly on the building side, and dealing with contracts from half a million to £15 million. I’ve worked in both on-site and off-site management, and have had various job titles through the course of my career.

“Personally, I find it very enlightening to work the way we do at Hall’s. We are able to respond and make decisions very quickly and we’re very much masters of our own destiny. Whereas working for the larger contractors, if for example the Yorkshire region doesn’t perform, they’ve got their fingers crossed that the South East region will bail them out. We haven’t got that. We live or die by our own performance. Some might find that a problem, but I view it as quite invigorating.”

Industry trends

This background has certainly assisted Symmonds in his current capacity, which often finds him dealing with his former employers. “We have the chance not only to work with existing clients but also to work underneath some of the larger contractors. We’re currently working in Hull and Bridlington with Barrett Homes and we’ve done a significant number of schemes with Carillion. Bigger contractors get larger framework arrangements because some clients believe a larger management style and structure is best. Whilst we do not necessarily agree, ,we can sometimes slot underneath the larger Contractor and actually deliver the works. I can see that being a trend of the industry.

“That’s an opportunity and a threat. The threat is that if they don’t want us we’re excluded from being on certain lists. But someone has got to do the work and the larger contractors tend not to employ anybody at site level and they’re quite often stretched across large geographical areas. So I see that as a big opportunity for us.” This is especially true as employment laws change.

Symmonds says that he is comfortable dealing with the larger companies because his experiences mean that he can understand the restrictions and bureaucracy that they are subject to. “We have a flat structure and very little bureaucracy at Halls. There’s myself and the Managing Director, the Board and from there we’re straight to some very strong and highly experienced contracts managers, site managers and surveyors. If any changes need to be made, we can do them on a turnaround basis. When I’m dealing with the bigger contractors I always appreciate that they can’t do that and are hampered by red tape.”

Whilst times are good at Hall, Symmonds acknowledges that the construction industry is stretched. “There’s a lot in the press about the skills shortage but we have a very small staff turnover .That brings enormous benefits, especially from a safety perspective because we’ve got some very experienced people however we continually need to bring younger staff in underneath or alongside them. It’s nice to have that benefit of young enthusiasm and older, wiser heads looking over their shoulders. Companies can benefit from both sides and we certainly have. But I don’t think construction sells itself well to school leavers and that’s why there is a skills shortage.”

In terms of its own young staff, Hall Construction can offer them a phenomenal amount of responsibility and training. “We offer a great opportunity for them to get involved in a very hands-on sense. We often have surveyors in their early twenties responsible for sub-contractor and main-contractor accounts, as well as doing valuations of profit and loss. I think at that stage they’re reaping the rewards of working for a small company. Add in the fact that we have three staff members taking degrees and several others at College it’s a win-win situation.”

As for the future, Hall Group continues to be involved in partnered projects funded by the government spending money in the public sector on schools, hospitals, roads and community centres. “If Gordon Brown has to tighten his belt, things might change. On the flipside of that, there’s an awful lot of investment going into Hull at the moment. Hull is probably ten years behind the likes of Leeds and Manchester. There’s a tremendous amount of regeneration and development either started or about to start in the town and we could be in for five years of transformation in Hull. This would be great for Hull and even better for the Hall Construction Group- bring it on!”