Last updated 13 February 2023
Ardmore Construction
Ardmore was founded in the 1980s by brothers Patrick and Cormac Byrne and specialises in fixed-price design & build and two stage tender contracts valued up to £150 million. The group is based in Enfield, Middlesex, and works across the United Kingdom but with a greater focus on London and the Home Counties and turns over more than £500 million a year and employs more 400 staff directly.
Financials
Revenue increased to £434.1 million (2021: £403.6 million) at Ardmore Construction Group in the 12 months to September 2022 but pre-tax profits slumped to £1.6 million (2021: £12.6 million). At an operating level, profits also dropped to the same level of £1.6 million (2021: £12.3 million).
To view the financials for Ardmore Construction Group Ltd, visit Companies House and use Company ID 11890551.
Operations
Ardmore Construction
Ardmore, which relocated to new head offices in central London in 2018, has a tight geographic focus on London and the South East and works as a main contractor, in property development and has a manufacturing operation, Paddington Construction, which supplies joinery, architectural steel and stonemasonry, mostly for the groups own operations.
Much of Ardmore’s growth has come through taking on major projects for private clients and listed housebuilders, in particular high-rise residential, commercial and mixed-use developments. The group was able to take on projects that the likes of listed housebuilders preferred not to, eschewing the risk and handing a share of the profit margin to Ardmore, which successfully took on and built out these potentially riskier schemes.
Ardmore continues to work for housebuilders and major residential developers, such as Bellway, Lodha and Motcomb Estates. Recent major project wins in London include the £500 million West Cromwell Road in Kensington (Project ID: 18370793) and the £100 million Holland Park Gate luxury apartment development (Project ID: 06482523).
The group provides fit-out services, particularly on major schemes in London, where recent major awards include a £100 million package for the envelope and fit-out works on the Hotel Cambridge development in Mayfair (Project ID: 21254810) and a £52 million job for phase four of the Chelsea Barracks scheme (Project ID: 21102706).
Ardmore also works for registered social landlords such as A2 Dominion, Family Mosaic and Network Homes. Recent schemes include the £151 million West King Street development in Hammersmith, west London (Project ID: 02068189). The company is on a number of long-term frameworks for RSLs typically focused on the London and Home Counties areas. These include A2 Dominion’s £900 million Commercial Contractor framework (Project ID: 20360660), which runs from 2021 to 2025.
Paddington Construction
This subsidiary is based in Enfield, north London, and is a specialist in offsite manufacturing. Paddington produces bathrooms and kitchens in pods and also works on joinery, stoneware and architectural metalwork.
Glenigan Data
Ardmore’s order book for the 2022 calendar year surged to £667.9 million (2021: £465.0 million) and the group broke into the top 20 in Glenigan’s ranking of the industry’s top 100 contractors in 20th position (2021: 30).
Conclusion: Delays hit home
Ardmore’s strong recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic faltered in the latest trading period with revenue growth slowing and profitability going into reverse. An expected rise in turnover to £550 million in 2022 did not materialise with four major projects delayed. As a result, earnings came under pressure and operating margins shrank to 0.4% (2021: 3.0%)
Glenigan’s research does show that the order book still rose by 44% in 2022 but Ardmore’s focus on working on a handful of major projects makes the group more vulnerable to economic uncertainty but
The group has a tight regional focus and all the projects within the 2022 order book are located in London, where Ardmore is fourth in Glenigan’s ranking of the capital’s top 10 contractors (2021: fifth)
Ardmore works wholly on building schemes and the focus on major projects remains undimmed, which has pushed up the risk profile. In 2022, the size of the average contract award increased to £133.6 million (2021: £77.6 million), which will increase the risk profile as larger projects typically carry greater risk.
Given the focus on big projects and work predominantly based in London, trading in the black in 2020 was a significant achievement for Ardmore, which group avoided large-scale redundancies after taking £1.2 million from the government’s furlough scheme in 2020. Subsequently, the workforce has been grown with a 21% rise in 2021 and a 23% increase in the latest trading year to an average of 432 employees (2021: 351 employees). This pushed the wage bill up by 28% to £28.6 million (2021: £22.4 million).
A greater focus on outstanding retention monies had produced an improvement in cash balances but with profits slumping in 2022 but the workforce still enlarged, cash at the bank and in hand fell back to £34.6 million (2021: £42.1 million).
The state of the commercial and residential construction markets in London will be key to Ardmore’s fortunes and the strategy of taking a handful of larger projects remains risky but the order book is strong and in the longer term, a resurgence in the London property market should benefit the group.
Winning Work With Ardmore Group
Ardmore is accredited to a range of industry standards, including Achilles, CHAS, and the Considerate Constructors’ scheme. The group is also ISO 14001 and 9001:2008 registered and a member of the National House-Building Council. Ardmore has its own in-house manufacturing and fabrication facilities and a large, directly employed workforce. As a result, the group provides its own staff and equipment on a range of areas from substructures, to mechanical design and installation, envelope and fit-out.
The group has a strong focus on training and aims to employ local labour where possible and has established employment and skills programmes to deliver pre-apprenticeship schemes on large regeneration schemes for registered social landlords. These have worked successfully at Portobello Road for Catalyst, Stratford Halo for Genesis, and Heathside and Lethbridge for Family Mosaic where Ardmore achieved a local labour target of 40%.
Ardmore also works with the Supply Chain Sustainability school and a video on its recruitment strategy can be seen here.
Ardmore has established relationships with sub-contractors and design professionals from all the main discipline and does not accept unsolicited enquiries from recruitment agencies, executive search consultants, or similar organisations.
Key Ardmore procurement contacts include:
Preconstruction director – Martyn Horne, tel: 020-8344-0300
Head of commercial – Conaill Doherty, tel: 020-8344-0300
Procurement manager – Piotr Bialczak, tel: 020-8344-0300