In Conversation With: Adrian Rooney of Bardsley Construction

DESPITE the public sector squeeze, Bardsley Construction’s Yorkshire regional manager Adrian Rooney believes there are still opportunities out there. Ian Briggs met him.

IT’S fair to say Adrian Rooney is a glass half-full type of character.

And, as he readily admits, you have to be when commuting on the M62 every day as Mr Rooney does to get to Bardsley Construction’s Leeds office from his Stockport home.

As well as the bright outlook on his daily drive, Mr Rooney is upbeat about the opportunities for Bardsley Construction, the Manchester-based business.

Mr Rooney was tasked with opening Bardsley’s Yorkshire office 18 months ago and is happy with the progress he and his small team has made to date.

Bardsley improved sales by 12.9% to £64.8m in the year to December 31 2010, compared with an annualised figure of £57.4m for the previous 12 months. It also converted a pre-tax loss of £1.9m in its prior year into a profit of £1.5m.

From its Leeds office, Bardsley has won work including being one of the preferred contractors for Bradford University’s four year works construction framework.

The firm is involved in works valued at up to £3m and the projects involve a mix of refurbishment and new build.

Bardsley, which employs 200 staff and is currently active across 10 sites, was also appointed to the Yorbuild construction framework for the West Yorkshire region. The framework has a total budget of about £1.3bn over four years.

The business is undertaking new build, refurbishment and design and build works for local authorities and public sector bodies such as Leeds, Kirklees, Calderdale and Bradford councils and is on site on a scheme in Dewsbury.

Unlike many businesses connected to the property industry, Bardsley is not making a quick retreat from public sector work as budgets are sliced from the top.

“We do work with some private sector clients but we’ve not had the need to work solely with private sector businesses,” Mr Rooney says.

“The work in the public sector is still out there and we’ve highlighted a strategy to get those opportunities.”

Mr Rooney says despite the long timeframe involved in going through the public sector procurement process it’s worth the effort and Bardsley is not short of opportunities to get involved, although the company has missed out on a number of bids because the company has been undercut by competitors.

“We’re committed on delivering quality projects on time and within projects,” he says.

One way that Bardsley is endeavouring to progress schemes that have been hit by present trading conditions and a lack of public sector cash is through its Genesis funding model.

Mr Rooney says there is a great deal of interest in the model and he is expecting to be able to announce more details on the scheme and progress on a number of Yorkshire schemes in the coming weeks.

Bardsley is more than 45 years old and Mr Rooney points to the company’s recent healthy trading figures as a reflection of the positive way it cares for its staff, many of whom have worked for the business for many years in an industry notorious for the fluid movement of foremen, surveyors and other site workers between employers.

“The construction industry can be a ruthless place to work. You can get people who change jobs when times are good or bad.

“I’ve worked at Bardsley for 15 years since I left university as a quantity surveyor and that’s because I’m proud of Bardsley as other staff also are.”

Mr Rooney said a recent major refinancing and restructuring of the company, which has seen it split its property and development arms, will not affect the Yorkshire office of the business.