flair type public limited company traded as lse kie industry construction civil engineering support services property management founded 1928 headquarters tempsford hall sandy bedfordshire key people phil white chairman haydn mursell ceo revenue 3 351.2 million 2015 1 operating income 103.7 million 2015 1 net income 29.5 million 2015 1 number of employees 17 931 2015 1 website www.kier.co.uk kier group plc is a construction services and property group active in building and civil engineering support services public and private housebuilding land development and the private finance initiative pfi . it is a constituent of the ftse 250 index . it is the fourth largest uk construction contractor behind balfour beatty carillion and laing o rourke . 2 contents 1 history 2 operations 3 major projects 4 controversies 5 references 6 external links history edit the company was founded by jorgen lotz and olaf kier danish engineers under the name lotz & kier in 1928 and it was based in stoke on trent . 3 a few years later lotz withdrew from the company but olaf kier retained a semblance of his identity by including lotz s initials in the organisation s new name j.l. kier & co ltd which remained the company s principal title for over four decades . by the late 1930s kier had moved their head office to belgravia in westminster and thereby became neighbours to many of britain s leading construction engineering consultants and contractors who had formed a substantial coterie in westminster for professionals and businessmen engaged in civil engineering . their immediate neighbours were marples ridgeway builders of hammersmith flyover and edmund nuttall builders of both mersey road tunnels . during the first thirty five years of its existence kier became identified with certain civil engineering specialisms such as contiguous cylindrical reinforced concrete grain silos and cement silos using continuously sliding formwork ; commencing with those at barking in 1929 followed by grain silos at northampton peterborough melksham gloucester and witham ; and cement silos at norwich cambridge trinidad and in india . 4 such specialist work was part of a pattern that quickly developed in the company s operations during that period namely the undertaking of innovative state of the art civil engineering techniques at the forefront of modern technology . other elements within this pattern were hyperbolic natural draft cooling towers mostly around 300 ft high 5 monolithic concrete chimneys sometimes over 400 ft high 6 complete power station structures 7 and coastal works such as tanker berths docks and harbours . 8 corner detail of highpoint i showing balcony profiles . in the same period only this time in the building sector kier were in the vanguard of new reinforced concrete systems for use as framework for tall buildings . their most famous contribution in this field was an eight storey avant garde development of apartment blocks named highpoint located in highgate village north london . they were responsible for the reinforced concrete and general building . 9 when this project was completed in 1935 it became widely renowned as the finest example of this form of construction for residential purposes . when le corbusier himself visited highpoint in 1935 he said this beautiful building ... . at highgate is an achievement of the first rank . 10 and american critic henry russell hitchcock called it one of the finest if not absolutely the finest middle class housing projects in the world . 10 in 1970 this reputation gained official recognition when both highpoint blocks were classified grade i within the historic buildings listing programme . 11 while olaf kier remained at the helm of the organisation he had firstly projected plans then active plans for family succession within the group s top management but unfortunately these did not achieve fruition . his son by his first marriage was killed in a riding accident in 1945 . then during the 1950s olaf introduced his nephew mogens kier into the firm s management structure but this did not lead to his assuming principal position in the organisation . olaf died in an accident in 1986 aged 87 ; and mogens died in 2003 . 12 j.l. kier & co ltd remained a private company until 1963 when it obtained a listing on the london stock exchange and became a public company . its offer for shares was many times oversubscribed . the kier family retained a significant majority of the holding . in 1973 kier merged with w. & c. french to form french kier but within the french division there were heavy losses on fixed price motorway contracts and land development . a long serving kier engineer john mott was appointed chief executive in order to revive the group s fortunes . following an abortive bid for abbey in 1985 french kier itself was the subject of a hotly contested bid by beazer which eventually succeeded in january 1986 . 13 five years later 1991 hanson plc bought beazer plc 14 and made an early decision to dispose of the beazer contracting arm . the contracting business was disposed of the following year via a management buyout in which hanson retained ten per cent of the equity . 15 in 1993 kier decided to re enter the housing market with the 30m acquisition of twigden homes . this was followed by the southern division of miller homes in 1996 ; bellwinch in 1998 and allison homes in 2001 . by 2004 kier housing sales were over 1 000 units a year . 13 a listing on the london stock exchange was obtained in 1996 . 16 in 2009 mivan kier kier s romanian joint venture with the northern irish group mivan which invested in real estate projects in bucharest requested bankruptcy protection due to debts of 20 million . 17 18 in 2013 kier acquired the services firm may gurney for 221 million . 19 in june 2015 kier completed its acquisition of mouchel a business which included both an infrastructure services division and a business services division for 265 million . 20 operations edit the company has four divisions kier construction kier services kier residential and kier property these are further split into smaller companies . 21 major projects edit projects involving the company have included highpoint i completed in 1935 22 the north terminal at gatwick airport completed in 1988 23 the lesotho highlands water project completed in 1998 24 hairmyres hospital completed in 2001 25 high speed 1 completed in 2007 26 the castlepoint shopping centre in bournemouth in 2003 27 the uk supreme court in london completed in 2009 28 and snowhill phase 2 in birmingham completed in 2009 . 29 controversies edit kier was revealed as a subscriber to the uk s consulting association exposed in 2009 for operating an illegal construction industry blacklist and was among 14 issued with enforcement notices by the uk information commissioner s office . 30 subsequently kier was among eight businesses involved in the 2014 launch of the construction workers compensation scheme 31 condemned as a pr stunt by the gmb union and described by the scottish affairs select committee as an an act of bad faith . 32 references edit a b c d annual report 2015 pdf . kier group . retrieved 28 march 2016 . may gurney joins kier group construction index 8 july 2013 ove arup masterbuilder of the 20th century by peter jones page 54 . retrieved 2008 12 02 . pps 28 & 29 kier corporate blue book 1955 edtn pps 17 19 kier corporate blue book 1955 edtn p 16 kier corporate blue book 1955 edtn pps 11 14 kier corporate blue book 1955 edtn pps 3 7 kier corporate blue book 1955 edtn pps 44 & 45 kier corporate blue book 1955 edtn a b highpoint one . openlearn . retrieved 22 march 2015 . buildings of historic or architectural interest . millbanksystems.com . retrieved 22 march 2015 . kierlink a b wellings fred dictionary of british housebuilders 2006 troubador . isbn 978 0 9552965 0 5 jonathan p. hicks 1991 09 17 . company news ; hanson to buy beazer in 609 million deal . the new york times . retrieved 2008 08 18 . buy out yes . sell out no . contract journal . 1994 04 07 . retrieved 2008 08 18 . kier group london stock exchange mivan kier jv declares insolvency bucharest business review august 9 2009 v nd avans de locuin evenimentul zilei september 8 2009 kier completes 221m deal for may gurney the courier paton elizabeth 2015 04 28 . kier confirms mouchel takeover . financial times . issn 0307 1766 . retrieved 2015 11 25 . organisational structure . kier group plc. retrieved 2015 01 27 . highpoint i . engineering timelines . gatwick airport north terminal development pdf . entech . nicholas hildyard 2002 07 10 . the lesotho highland water development project what went wrong the companies . the corner house . retrieved 2008 08 18 . pfi data sheet hairmyres hospital pdf . government of scotland . retrieved 2008 08 18 . ctrl contract 103 . world tunnelling . 2001 05 01 . castelpoint who will pay . daily echo . 25 august 2006 . retrieved 22 august 2012 . kier given go ahead on supreme court . contract journal . 2007 04 04 . snowhill builder holding steady despite the crunch . birmingham post . 2008 05 16 . retrieved 2008 08 18 . construction blacklist . ico . ico . retrieved 7 september 2015 . construction blacklist compensation scheme opens . bbc news business . bbc . 4 july 2014 . retrieved 7 september 2015 . scottish affairs seventh report blacklisting in employment final report . www.parliament.uk . scottish affairs select committee . retrieved 7 september 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to kier group . official site property sales yahoo profile v t e construction industry of the united kingdom construction economy of the united kingdom companies consultancies and support services amec amey arcadis architecture firms arup atkins faithful gould buro happold capita ch2m cundall davis langdon elliott wood expedition engineering flint & neill gifford hoare lea interserve mace mitie mott macdonald mouchel rps scott wilson sweett group wsp housebuilders current barratt bellway berkeley bloor boot bovis countryside properties crest nicholson keepmoat lend lease mccarthy & stone miller muir persimmon redrow taylor wimpey united house defunct ashtons beazer broseley bryant homes comben homes george wimpey ideal homes mclean homes taylor woodrow westbury william leech wilson bowden integrated construction balfour beatty bam nuttall carillion cleveland bridge & engineering clugston costain galliford try gleeson interserve kier laing o rourke lend lease linford mace morgan sindall shepherd sir robert mcalpine volkerfitzpatrick wates willmott dixon suppliers current aggregate industries artex ashtead brogan cemex uk hanson london brick hss hire jewson kingspan kingspan off site mero schmidlin pilkington rmd kwikform sig speedy hire tarmac tarmac building products tata steel europe travis perkins wolseley defunct blue circle industries redland rmc group tarmac group government and regulatory bodies department for communities and local government department for business innovation and skills health & safety executive local planning authority planning inspectorate chief construction adviser to uk government industry bodies british constructional steelwork association bsria build uk ciob civil engineering contractors association construction clients group construction industry council ciria citb constructing excellence electrical safety council federation of master builders hbf institution of civil engineers institution of structural engineers national access and scaffolding confederation national federation of builders national federation of demolition contractors national house building council refined bitumen association royal institution of chartered surveyors scottish building federation select electrical contractors association of scotland society of construction arbitrators specialist engineering contractors group strategic forum for construction sustainability association for environment conscious building breeam code for sustainable homes ecohomes energy efficiency in british housing good homes alliance uk green building council other british construction industry awards building building regulations in the united kingdom building regulations