Type Division Area served Global Headquarters Sydney, Australia Parent organization Lendlease | Founder C. W. Bovis Key people Steve McCann (CEO) Number of employees 10,000 | |
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Industry Project management
Construction Services Construction and project management Founded 1885, London, United Kingdom | ||
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.
Contents
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. It changed hands in 1908 when it was acquired by Samuel Joseph and his cousin, Sidney Gluckstein.
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.”
During World War II, Bovis built the munitions factory at Swynnerton and worked on Mulberry harbour units. 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.
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.
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.
From 1985 the company was led by Sir Frank Lampl, who changed it from a British concern into an international contractor. Bovis Homes was demerged in 1997, and floated on the London Stock Exchange.
The company was bought by Lend Lease Corporation in 1999, at which time it became Bovis Lend Lease.
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. As of June 2011, two out of the three individuals charged in the associated manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide case have been acquitted.
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.
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.
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.
Major projects
Major projects involving Lend Lease Project Management & Construction and its antecedents have included: