Most construction companies do not follow our model of direct employment, preferring subcontractors, agency staff and the self employed. There is without doubt a cost implication to our approach because of the Tax and National Insurance system. We believe we offset the cost disadvantage through higher quality, greater productivity and reduced waste, but we have to work hard to be more efficient than our competitors in the industry. This is not a problem with our workers who are highly skilled and motivated by the opportunity to use their skills in a supportive environment.

We ensure all our employees are kept well informed about company progress and objectives through monthly staff meetings at various levels, and by quarterly all employee gatherings, where company objectives, workload and other issues are discussed and addressed.

We ensure everyone is involved in celebrating individual success through annual awards and recognition of training achievements, and of team successes through opening events at most of our projects. Opening events are primarily for the employees and subcontractors who have worked on the site, not local dignitaries.

Everyone shares in the company's financial success through the company profit share scheme that distributes 25% of company profits equally among all employees.

A lot of what we do in this area relates to ownership. We would like our clients and architects to adopt some of this approach by continuing to recognise the contribution of all the team after the project has finished. By not mentioning the constructor or other consultants on completed schemes, the message is given that it does not matter who built it and that is not the best way to secure an improvement in standards.