Lend Lease Project Management & Construction

Lend Lease Project Management & Construction
(trading as Lend Lease)

Type	Division
Industry	Project management Construction
Founded	1885 as Bovis (London) Acquired by Lend Lease Corporation in 1999
Founder	C. W. Bovis
Headquarters	London, United Kingdom
Area served	Global
Key people	Steve McCann (CEO)
Services	Construction and project management
Number of employees	10,000 (approx)
Parent	Lend Lease Group
Divisions	Retail, Commercial, Residential, Telecommunications, Infrastructure, Multi-Sites
Website	www.lendlease.com

Lend Lease Project Management & Construction (formerly Bovis Lend Lease, trading as Lend Lease) is the international project management and construction division of Lend Lease Group.

History

1885 to 2000

The origins of Lend Lease Project Management & Construction date back to the establishment of C. W. Bovis & Co 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] Bovis Homes was demerged in 1997, and floated on the London Stock Exchange.^[6]

The company was bought by Lend Lease Corporation in 1999, at which time it became Bovis Lend Lease.^[7]

2000 to present

In 2008, the company and a subcontractor abatement firm, the John Galt Corporation, were charged with numerous OSHA safety violations after a fire broke out and killed two firefighters at the Deutsche Bank Building, a Manhattan skyscraper being demolished in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The violations included an employee (Safety Manager) of "Lend Lease's Project Management & Construction Business" filling out a safety check list that identified a stand-pipe as being present and functional - when it was actually disconnected in a hard to see spot. The firemen consulted the check list, thought they had a good system and proceeded up into the building to fight the fire. Only when they reached the dangerous area that was on fire, did they realize the system did not have any water pressure, and they died trying to retreat amid the confusion.^[8] As of June 2011, two out of the three individuals charged in the associated manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide case have been acquitted.^[9]

On 17 February 2011 Lend Lease announced wider ranging changes to its group of brands. This announcement resulted in the retirement of the Bovis Lend Lease, Delfin Lend Lease, Vivas Lend Lease, Catalyst Lend Lease, Retirement by Design and Lend Lease Primelife brands and the instatement of Lend Lease as the primary and only brand across the business' operation's globally. Under the rebrand and internal structural changes, the company was re-identified as Lend Lease Project Management & Construction, and was no longer a separate entity, but "a strategic business unit of the Lend Lease Group".

In 2012, Lend Lease agreed to pay $56 million in fines and restitution after admitting that the company had routinely over-billed clients and evaded government rules regarding the hiring of women and minority-owned firms. For a ten-year time span ending in 2009, the company along with others devised a scheme to defraud federal, state and local government contracting agencies as well as private clients. The fine is the largest in the city's history.^[10]

On 29 October 2012 the long boom of a Lend Lease construction crane atop the 1,004 foot high One57 snapped during Hurricane Sandy forcing the evacuation of several buildings in Midtown Manhattan.^[11]

Operations

The company has managed construction projects worldwide, including retail developments and airport terminals. Lend Lease's Project Management & Construction Business has a significant presence in Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. Key sector expertise includes commercial, retail, residential, government, industrial and pharmaceutical.

As a major contractor in the UK, Lend Lease Project Management & Construction is a contractor member of Build UK.^[12]

Major projects

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

Major projects involving Lend Lease Project Management & Construction and its antecedents have included:

• the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre completed in 1986^[13]
• the Lloyd's Building in London also completed in 1986^[14]
• the Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield completed in 1990^[15]
• Disneyland Paris completed in 1992^[16]
• the Trafford Shopping Centre in Manchester completed in 1998^[15]
• the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent completed in 1999,^[15]
• the refurbishment of Glasgow Central Station completed in 2000^[17]
• the National Museum of Australia completed in 2001^[18]
• the Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois completed in 2001^[19]
• Endeavour House completed 2003^[20]
• the Scottish Parliament Building completed in 2004^[21]
• the Chapelfield Shopping Centre in Norwich completed in 2005^[22]
• Bridgewater Place in Leeds completed in 2006^[23]
• the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago completed in 2009^[24]
• the Broadgate Tower and 201 Bishopsgate in London completed in 2009^[25]
• the Burnley and Nelson sections of the Lancashire BSF project, competed 2010^[26]
• the Trump SoHo in New York completed in 2010^[27]
• the refurbishment of the BBC Headquarters in London due to be completed in 2011^[28]
• the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum in New York also due to be completed in 2011.^[29]

References

1. BIW Technologies Archived January 5, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
2. The Antagoniser’s Agoniser 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. Company Prospectus November 1997
7. P&O turns back to the sea with plan to float Bovis The Guardian, 24 March 1999
8. William K. Rashbaum; Charles V. Bagli (20 February 2008). "Bank Tower Contractors Accused of 44 Violations". The New York Times. Retrieved September 12, 2011.
9. Shayna Jacobs (June 29, 2011). "Second Deutsche Bank Foreman Not Guilty in Deadly Blaze". DNAinfo.Com (Manhattan Local News). Retrieved September 12, 2011.
10. William K. Rashbaum (24 April 2012). "Company Admits It Bilked Clients on Big Projects". The New York Times. Retrieved April 25, 2012.
11. "Crane-Arm Snaps In Tower Mishap". WallStreet Journal. 29 October 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
12. Contractor members Build UK website. Accessed: 1 September 2015.
13. John Taylor & Sons, Page 100
14. Richard Rogers Partnership
15. Bovis' reputation is cornering the shopping market Contract Journal, 17 September 1997
16. Outdoor Theatre: A spectacle in Progress Daily Press, 11 May 2005
17. Dome wins construction world 'Oscar' Daily Telegraph, 19 June 2001
18. National Museum of Australia
19. "Construction Partner Profiles". Chicagoland Speedway. Retrieved 28 November 2010.
20. "Endeavour House". Building.co.uk. 2004.
21. Peter Fraser (2004-09-15). "Some key dates in the history of the Holyrood Project" (PDF). Holyrood Inquiry. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
22. "Chapelfield Norwich wins BCSC Gold Award". BDP. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
23. "Building - 734 - Bridgewater Place - Leeds". SKYSCRAPERNEWS.COM. Retrieved 2008-08-02.
24. Conklin, Mike (2005-05-11). "Outdoor theater: A spectacle in progress". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
25. "Broadgate". British Land. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
26. Bovis Lend Lease Project brochure Accessed 2011
27. Trump SoHo finally topped out New York Observer, 10 November 2008
28. Bovis to revamp BBC headquarters Daily Telegraph, 18 December 2002
29. "Bovis Lend Lease to construct World Trade Centre memorial". Sydney Morning Herald. March 14, 2006. Retrieved 2008-04-08.

Further reading

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