The Prime Minister has joined Balfour Beatty for its announcement of a record £1 billion spend with small business in 2014.
The spend, which will be the largest ever by a UK construction company, was announced by Nicholas Pollard, Balfour Beatty’s UK construction Chief Executive Officer, accompanied by David Cameron and alongside local small business partners at Balfour Beatty’s Westminster student accommodation project for Urbanest.
The £1 billion spend represents a 33% increase on Balfour Beatty’s 2013 small business spend and will drive consistent UK wide growth as the economy recovers, also supporting the Government’s goal of 25% of central Government spend going to small and medium sized businesses by 2015.
Balfour Beatty’s UK construction business is the largest in the UK with over 8,000 active supply chain partners, over 75% of which are small and medium sized businesses, working on over 1,000 live projects across the UK at any one time. Balfour Beatty’s own UK workforce amounts to over 20,000 and through its UK supply chain the business provides work and training for people from all educational backgrounds. The £1 billion spend will contribute to supporting around 200,000 jobs within smaller businesses, 50,000 more than in 2013.
The Prime Minister, said: “Giving businesses the confidence to invest and create jobs is a key part of our long term economic plan. Balfour Beatty’s commitment to spend a record £1bn on small and medium sized businesses this year is very welcome evidence that this plan is working - supporting thousands of jobs within small and medium businesses, which will give hard-working people economic security for the future.”
Nicholas Pollard, Chief Executive Officer, Balfour Beatty Construction Services UK, said: “We are delighted the Prime Minister could be with us today to celebrate our £1 billion spend with small businesses this year, 98% of which are British companies. Small businesses create local jobs and apprenticeships and they are the innovators, engineers and exporters of the future. We are committed to supporting them so that we can build a better Britain together; leaving a lasting legacy in the communities we touch across the UK.”
Jonathan Howard, Director at Robert West, a small business providing temporary works and scaffolding, based in London Bridge and working on the Westminster student accommodation project, said; “We have seen that Balfour Beatty is committed to close and collaborative relationships with locally-based small businesses like ourselves. The stability of our relationship with Balfour Beatty allows us to thrive and progress as a business and we welcome additional investment being targeted at smaller businesses like ours. We certainly support Balfour Beatty’s commitment to increasing spending with small and growing businesses like ours.”
Balfour Beatty’s ‘Sustainability Blueprint’ commits it to position sustainability at the heart of its business strategy. The Blueprint includes ambitious targets on the employment of local supply chain members, with performance monitored on every project against specific criteria, which sets Balfour Beatty apart from its rivals. The company is the only UK contractor to have its supply chain spend independently audited to confirm spend with small and medium sized businesses and women-owned business.
The commitment supports Balfour Beatty’s other supply chain initiatives and achievements such as the Supply Chain Sustainability School; its achievement of the Supplier Diversity Europe accreditation; becoming one of the first FTSE companies to sign up to the Government’s Great Business Exchange and its pledges to support smaller businesses; its first rank out of 500 global companies for its Supplier Code of Conduct by the Red Flag Group; and the launch of its voluntary supply chain finance scheme.
