A strong order book has given civil engineering, plant, transport and waste group MJ Church a buoyant start to 2017 following a busy 2016.
The Marshfield-based group, which also operates from two sites in Chippenham, has grown to a £50m turnover business employing around 450 people.
It said, as a diverse group, it expected positives and negatives from Brexit but was well positioned to continue to expand.
The group’s contracting division, which operates in the civil engineering sector, has grown in recent years by picking up major contracts including a £15m project with Balfour Beatty to convert a strip of the M3 in Surrey to a ‘smart motorway’ with variable speed limits to smooth traffic flow, improve journey times and reduce congestion, which completes this spring.
It also secured a £3m conversion of a quarry in Devon for residential development and major works for Chippenham-based Wavin Group.
Contracts gained for this year include a £4m park and ride scheme at junction 23 on the M5 to serve Hinkley Point, £3m capacity improvements to junction 16 of the M4 at Swindon for Hochtief, a £2m railway cutting stabilisation project at Horfield Cutting in Bristol with Vinci Construction, and the development of Lockleaze Sports Facility for Bristol City Council.
It will also work on a £5.5m contract for developer Habitat First Group to transform a quarry near Barnstaple into an eco-holiday village and nature reserve.
Managing director Steve Blower said: “The civil engineering sector has held up well for us in recent years. With the government’s focus on infrastructure, particularly to support the housing planned by 2020, we see a good pipeline of projects coming forward.”
However, he said a lack of skills remained a big issue for the sector. The firm had been striving to ensure it had a strong and well-skilled workforce and is working with partners to ensure it invested in its future workforce.
“Our Civil Engineering Academy in partnership with Wiltshire College has eight students studying for a BTEC Level 3 and Extended Diploma; we are now conducting interviews for the September intake and are getting a good deal more interest from young people as an alternative course to A levels,” he said.
Meanwhile the group’s waste management business has seen a real change in the past couple of years and now operates five transfer station in the Bristol, Bath and Swindon region.
Waste collections are increasing in all areas from event waste management through to commercial and domestic waste services.
Construction and demolition waste management is also growing with major contracts with the region’s main construction companies and new partnership with Aspire Defence in the Salisbury area.
Diverting waste from landfill has been a major development for the company with more than 700 tonnes a week of non-recyclable waste being sent to ‘waste-to-energy’ plants in Devon and Avonmouth. Some 10,500 homes were powered by RDF (refuse-derived fuel) energy last year using MJ Church waste.
The group has also continued investment in its transport and plant business – a 25-unit deal was completed for new MAN Tipper Euro 6 trucks, six new Caterpillar D6 dozers, 10 Bell B30E articulated dump trucks and 2 Mercedes AROCS low loaders along with a two-year deal with Toyota for more than 60 Hilux vehicles, typically used by site teams, and further deals with Ford on vans for site and fleet support.
Director Tom Church said the group was now well positioned for the future.
But he added: “We are mindful of the uncertainly around Brexit and the economic environment, particularly as a diverse business we see both positive and negative impacts on the business.
“Last year we invested in new systems and technology for the group, putting in new IT systems and moving to new practices on waste management to ensure we are on track for our aspiration of continued excellent customer service and significant growth in the next five years.”
Pictured: MJ Church working on the M3 ‘smart motorway’ project
