Wates

Wates has joined the handful of UK contractors that turn over more than £2bn, after reporting a 17.6 per cent increase in revenue to £2.1bn. The Surrey-headquartered company also posted a 43 per cent increase in pre-tax profit, from £33.7m to £44.9m, for the year to 31 December 2023. Its…

Wates has formally appointed a new managing director of its construction business. Steffan Battle has held the role in an interim capacity since October 2023, taking over from Mark Tant, who left the business after nine years in the post. Now Battle has been appointed to the job on a…

Wates has landed the £70m conversion of a Grade II-listed building in central London into a life-sciences hub. The contractor has been appointed by clients Oxford Properties and Pioneer to work on the eight-storey Victoria House in Bloomsbury Square. The 1930s building has a number of unique heritage features behind…

Wates Construction managing director Mark Tant has left the firm after five years at the helm. His role will be taken over on an interim basis by Steffan Battle, former group head of pre-construction, who has been with Wates for almost 30 years. Wates did not comment on the reason…

ISG was the biggest contractor by spend for the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the latest financial year, Construction News can reveal. CN obtained data on the MoJ’s spending in 2022/23 under the Freedom of Information Act. The spend includes that by HM Courts & Tribunals Service and HM Prison…

Royal Bam topped the monthly contractors’ league table in July for the first time since 2020, after it was chosen to build converter stations at each end of a £2bn undersea cable between Scotland and England. The firm was awarded £500m for its share of work on Eastern Green Link…

Housing secretary Michael Gove has doubled down on the government’s commitment to require second staircases in high-rise residential schemes – lowering the proposed threshold from 30 metres to 18 metres. In recent months, a number of contractors have halted work on developments over worries arising from a government consultation to…

Wates once again has a female board member, after appointing a finance expert as a non-executive director. Chartered accountant Rachel Addison (pictured) will chair Wates’ group audit committee, overseeing financial reporting, processes and regulatory compliance. Addison is already a non-executive director of a handful of other companies, including housing developer…

Big names such as Kier, Wates and Morgan Sindall have secured spots on an £800m public sector building framework. Bam Construction, Bowmer & Kirkland, Brims Construction, Caddick Construction, Equans, Sir Robert McAlpine, Robertson and Tilbury Douglas are also among the 24 contractors – out of 34 proposed firms – to…

Wates has appointed former Balfour Beatty project director Matt Johnson as regional director for its construction business in the Midlands. Johnson brings more than 20 years’ experience within the construction industry, most recently as operations director for Wates in the Midlands. Before he joined Wates in 2022, he worked as…