Bovis Construction

Bovis Construction

Industry	Project management Construction
Founded	1885
Founder	Charles William Bovis
Headquarters	London , United Kingdom
Area served	Global
Services	Construction and project management
Parent	Lendlease Group

Bovis Construction (formerly C. W. Bovis & Co.) was a major British construction business. It was acquired by Lendlease in 1999.

History

The Lloyd's Building in London, which was completed in 1986.

C. W. Bovis & Co was founded by Charles William Bovis in London in 1885. ^[1] It changed hands in 1908 when it was acquired by Samuel Joseph and his cousin, Sidney Gluckstein. ^[2]

Bovis was one of the few construction companies to go public in the 1920s, during which time it developed an extensive retail clientele, by far the most important and long lasting of which was Marks & Spencer. Central to the relationship with Marks was the pioneering Bovis System contract, designed to bring the interests of the contractor and client together: “the Bovis System pays the builder the prime cost of the work plus an agreed fee to cover overheads and profit. The client receives any savings during construction instead of the contractor.” ^[3]

During World War II, Bovis built the munitions factory at Swynnerton and worked on Mulberry harbour units. ^[3] At the end of hostilities, Bovis resumed work for the private sector and in the early 1950s, the company moved into housing. Following the acquisition of Frank Sanderson's business in 1967, Bovis Homes expanded rapidly and became one of the largest housebuilders by the early 1970s. ^[4]

Frank Sanderson was to change radically the future of Bovis. He was appointed Managing Director of Bovis Holdings in January 1970, and Chairman and Chief Executive in August 1972. After a number of housing acquisitions, Sanderson attempted to obtain control of P&O by means of a reverse takeover. An initial agreement was followed by a boardroom and shareholder revolt at P&O and at the end of 1972 the merger failed. There was boardroom dissension, too, at Bovis and Sanderson was forced out in September 1973. ^[4]

One of Sanderson’s acquisitions, in 1971, had been Twentieth Century Banking, and two years later the secondary banking crisis created a run on deposits at the Bovis banking subsidiary. The crisis came to a head in December 1973 when National Westminster Bank refused to provide the necessary funds. A rescue of Bovis was inevitable and, ironically, the rescuer proved to be P&O: in March 1974 Bovis became a subsidiary of P&O. ^[3]

From 1985 the company was led by Sir Frank Lampl, who changed it from a British concern into an international contractor. ^[5] It acquired McDevitt & Street, a US contractor, in September 1990. ^[6] Bovis Homes was demerged in 1997, and floated on the London Stock Exchange. ^[7]

The company was bought by Lendlease in 1999, at which time it became Bovis Lend Lease. ^[8]

Major projects

Major projects involving Bovis Construction have included:

• the Queen Elizabeth II Centre completed in 1986 ^[9]
• the Lloyd's building in London also completed in 1986 ^[10]
• the Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield completed in 1990 ^[11]
• Disneyland Paris completed in 1992 ^[12]
• the Trafford Shopping Centre in Manchester completed in 1998 ^[11]
• the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent completed in 1999 ^[11]

References

1. BIW Technologies Archived January 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
2. The Antagoniser’s Agoniser Archived 2009-05-25 at the Wayback Machine London Review of books, 19 July 2001
3. Cooper,Peter Building Relationships The History of Bovis (2000) Cassell, ISBN   0-297-82533-X
4. Wellings, Fred: Dictionary of British Housebuilders (2006) Troubador. ISBN   978-0-9552965-0-5.
5. End of 30-year era as Sir Frank Lampl retires Building, 2001
6. "Bovis buys McDevitt & Street and adds £480M to work in hand". Construction News. 21 September 1990. Archived from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
7. Company Prospectus November 1997
8. P&O turns back to the sea with plan to float Bovis Archived 2016-04-14 at the Wayback Machine The Guardian, 24 March 1999
9. "United Kingdom". Arcadis. Archived from the original on 2020-10-13. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
10. "Richard Rogers Partnership" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 6, 2009.
11. Bovis' reputation is cornering the shopping market Archived 2016-01-23 at the Wayback Machine Contract Journal, 17 September 1997
12. Outdoor Theatre: A spectacle in Progress Archived 2012-05-04 at the Wayback Machine Daily Press, 11 May 2005

Further reading

• Building Relationships, The History of Bovis 1885-2000, Peter Cooper, Cassell & Co (2000) ISBN   978-0-297-82533-3