Haymills opts not to chase Olympic glory

Haymills has firmly set out its alternative-Olympic stall by unveiling a shrewd winning strategy for the capital while other contractors fight tooth and nail to work on the 2012 Games.

The strategy will see Haymills target contracts in the £5m to £35m region - with a gestation period of two years - in its strongest areas of commercial office, residential, education and health. In addition, Haymills is looking to branch into the new sector of hotel refurbishment - expected to boom in the run up to the Olympics as visitor numbers in the capital soar.

The firm already has a £250m forward order book and is looking at a further £300m in opportunities to be built over the next three to five years - overlapping the Olympic surge.

"We decided straight after the Olympic announcement that we wouldn't be going for any Olympic contracts," said Haymills' London business unit director Jason Smith, who told CJ the firm hasn't attended any Olympic industry days to assess opportunities.

"Since the company's key focus is to build long-term relationships, this in itself defined our approach to the Olympic question. We also viewed risk and resource, alongside value versus effort - and it confirmed the fact that we would concentrate on construction activity outside of Olympic circles."

"Instead, we choose to build long-term relationships with clients that want to be involved in partnerships, not in something that is going to be a flash in the pan. We could have doubled the size of our company if we had gone for Olympic projects, but what happens after the Olympics are finished?"

Smith added that by Haymills taking this focused approach, the firm would stand a much better chance of winning tender opportunities with less competition in its chosen markets.

Haymills also seems to have prepared for the issues of skill levels and product supply pre-2012.

"We have very close links with labour agencies and we are targeting skilled labour in Eastern Europe and Africa," Smith added. "We are also targeting accession countries looking to join the EU, such as Serbia, Montenegro and Latvia.

"We are also looking to these countries for the supply of materials and building products, such as high-quality joinery and windows, while the bigger boys are still plucking products from the more familiar countries of China and India. We found that these supplies were not as controllable."