Throughout 2024 as we celebrate 60 years of McPhillips, we’ve looked at a few developments within our industry and at McPhillips across the last six decades.
In 1964 when McPhillips’s began, core work centred on building roads and waste water infrastructure for local house building businesses. This type of work is still a key element of the business model today.
During the late 1980s, McPhillips undertook their first building project, the current Head Office, workshop and depot in Hortonwood, Telford. The success of this project was enough to persuade the management team that if McPhillips could construct a quality building for themselves, they could do it for anyone.
McPhillips Headquarters in Telford
A ‘can do’ attitude and entrepreneurial spirit saw McPhillips introduce a new buildings department. One of the earliest projects undertaken by this new department was the construction of an industrial unit for Corbett’s Galvanising then situated in the Black Country.
Between 1990 and 2000, McPhillips’s portfolio of building projects was a small collection of mainly industrial units. Even after securing several specialist buildings projects, the business found it hard to shake off the market perception of McPhillips as a civil engineering contractor.
For current Managing Director Paul Inions, the job of changing perceptions is ongoing: “Even today, in some quarters we’re still perceived as a civil engineering contractor. We are continuously breaking down barriers. However, over the last 10 years, we’ve made real progress in changing the course of conversations, by the sheer quality of the buildings we have constructed.”
Buildings such as Wyre Forest Emergency Services Hub; McPhillips delivered this new build fire station complete with state-of-the-art rescue training facilities for Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. The hub was built on a brownfield site off the A451 Stourport Road in Kidderminster. Additionally, a newly redeveloped fire station in Telford has recently been handed over to Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Wyre Forest Emergency Services Hub
McPhillips are building a strong reputation as specialists in building projects for the not for profit sector. Heart of Africa is an exciting development currently in progress at Chester Zoo. Across approximately 12 acres of existing land, McPhillips are helping the zoo to create a range of different habitats from savannah to bush land. Within the scope of works McPhillips are also constructing 14 supporting buildings together with ‘The Reserve’ on a further 8 acres to provide overnight accommodation, restaurant and bar facilities.
During a successful relationship with Dogs Trust spanning 15 years several building projects have been delivered across the Midlands, Wales and North of England. The company were principal contractors for the redevelopment of Dogs Trust’s Rehoming Centre near Darlington. This project comprised six new buildings with a further four being refurbished. Elsewhere Cardiff rehoming centre was developed on 8 acres of brownfield site in Cardiff Docks and consisted of 4 principal buildings.
Dog’s Trust Rehoming Centre, Darlington
In addition to winning building contracts under traditional procurement methods, McPhillips recognised the potential of design / build contracts. Since the first steps into design and build undertaken by McPhillips in 1990 building contracts of all description are now commonplace at McPhillips.
McPhillips were principal design and build contractors on behalf of Harper Adams University Veterinary School. The building spanned 2400m2 of internal floor area over two storeys. Other work included construction of a 155m site access road, infilling an existing below-ground 50,000 litre slurry tank and construction of a new 111 space car park.
Harper Adams University Veterinary School
Sapphire Court in Bromsgrove is another example of how McPhillips provide a single source solution. Principal contractor for the design and build of 11 new light industrial buildings, 19 individual units were delivered, ranging from between 93m2 (1,000ft2) to 650m2 (7000ft2). External works included landscaping, car parking, concrete yards and new electric gates.
Sapphire Court development, Bromsgrove
McPhillips’ craftsmanship and sustainability credentials has not gone unrecognised. A BREEAM award, Constructing Excellence’s Project of the Year and a Green Apple Gold Award provide proof, if it were needed, that the decision to move into specialist building projects has paid off for McPhillips.
This success is mixture of expertise, experience and sheer determination. The fact that McPhillips are not tied to a single sector is also an important point for Paul Inions: “When you work across the sectors that we service, you can’t help but learn new methods which are transferable between each discipline. Our regular briefing meetings allow us to share ideas and experiences, this has definitely benefitted our buildings team.
“Our team has delivered projects with the highest BREEAM post construction rating worldwide. We continually strive to remain at the cutting edge of high quality, sustainable buildings, constructed using environmentally low impact methods.”
If you have a building project in mind, contact our building department on: 01952 670440 or email: mcphillips@mcphillips.co.uk
Back
