Wates Group

Wates Group Ltd is one of the largest family owned construction, property services and development companies in the United Kingdom.

Bradley House and Maydew House on Abbeyfield Estate, Rotherhithe – completed by Wates in 1967

Wates Group Ltd
TypePrivate company[1]
Industry
Founded1897[2]
HeadquartersLeatherhead, Surrey, UK
Key people
  • Tim Wates (Chairman)[3][4]
  • Eoghan O’Lionaird, (CEO)[5]
RevenueIncrease £1.52 billion (2021)[1]
Increase £29.1 million (2021)[1]
Number of employees
Increase 3,810 (2021)[1]
Websitewww.wates.co.uk

Wates Giving, the firm's charitable foundation, has donated over £10 million since 2008.[6]

History

Edward Wates established his eponymous business in 1897 as a Streatham housebuilder. In the 1920s and 1930s it expanded into speculative residential schemes and general contracting; moving to London Road, Mitcham and then Norbury.[2][7]

Concrete fuel barges manufactured for military service by Wates[8]

Up to the outbreak of World War II, Wates was building about 2,000 dwellings per annum. In the run up to hostilities it took on substantial military contracts, and applied precast concrete construction to Mulberry harbours; barges; air raid shelters, and trench linings. Post war, the firm applied the same techniques to, high and low rise, system built housing, completing over 60,000 units.[2][7]

Wates purchased property maintenance businesses Linbrook Services Ltd and the Purchase Group Ltd, in 2011 and 2014, for £40.8 and £13.6 million respectively.[9][10]

In 2015, Wates acquired the construction; facility management, and engineering services businesses of Shepherd Building Group for £9.8 million. Twelve hundred staff transferred to Wates in September 2015.[11][12]

Three hundred redundancies were announced in May 2020. Wates blamed this loss of 8% of its workforce on consequences of the COVID-19 Pandemic then in July 2020, announced a focus on public sector and housing contracts.[13][14]

Projects

Notable past projects include:

Wates' Leeds University car park under construction, 2015[15]

Controversies

Carbon monoxide

In 2017, Wates Group was fined £640,000 plus £21,000 costs following a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. The firm and its subcontractor had inadequately planned replacement of boiler cowls on a 13 storey block of flats. The mistake resulted in a live flue being blocked and carbon monoxide entering dwellings.[20][21]

Glass fatality

A banksman was fatally crushed at Wates' 20 Eastbourne Mews site during June 2015 when a glass walling unit fell on him. Westminster Coroner's Court was critical of deficiencies in the lifting plans and method statements in use.[22]

Site delays

In 2013, an Adjudicator determined Wates should pay a brickwork subcontractor compensation for delays at a site in Tower Hamlets. Wates did not accept the decision but High Court Judge Edwards-Stuart ordered it to pay £283,467 plus interest. Judgement confirmed the Adjudicator acted within their jurisdiction and there had been no remaining dispute between the parties on the sum due.[23]

Fatal fall

In September 2004, Wates Construction entered a guilty plea to a charge of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and was fined £150,000 plus £14,769 costs. A subcontractor fell through a skylight at the Royal Artillery Museum, landing 11 metres below, on a concrete floor. The victim died of his injuries four days later. Before the June 2000 incident, Wates had agreed with subcontractors that more protection was required around the skylight but did not suspend construction.[24]

Salisbury roof

In 1997, Wates built a retail warehouse in Salisbury for Waitrose under a design–build contract. The defective roof collapsed in 2002; claims were made against Wates, and they in turn issued proceedings against their subcontract designer. It emerged Wates had deviated from the original drawings and allegations against inadequate design, were in fact allegations concerned with workmanship. Wates agreed to pay costs to the designer, but only on a standard basis, not the potentially more expensive indemnity basis. Judge Coulson found Wates should have realised their action against the designer had no merit and abandoned it sooner. Wates was ordered to pay costs on an indemnity basis for that latter part of the case.[25]

Domain name disputes

In October 2015, Wate recovered registration of domain name wates-construction.co.uk from Nominet. It had been abusively registered by a third party.[26] In December 2018, Wates recovered registration of domain name watesconstruction.co.uk from Nominet. It had also been abusively registered by a third party.[27]

Political donations

Wates has been a major donor to the UK Conservative Party. From 2007 to 2017, Wates Group Services Ltd gave £430,000 to the party, including a £50,000 donation in February 2017.[28]

Awards

References
  1. "Annual Accounts and Reports 2021" (PDF). Wates Group Limited. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  2. "history". wates.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  3. Delahunty, Stephen (4 January 2023). "Wates Group announces new chair". Inside Housing. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  4. O'Beirne, Sarah (9 May 2023). "Tim Wates becomes Chairman of the Wates Group". FMJ Facilities Management Journal. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  5. Rogers, Dave (1 February 2023). "Wates brings in outsider to become new chief executive". Building Magazine. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  6. "Wates Giving". Wates. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  7. "Wates Ltd". Emanuel School at War. Archived from the original on 13 May 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  8. Heatherson, Liam (28 November 2020). "Rainham Marsh Concrete Barges". Beyond the Point. Archived from the original on 5 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  9. Wates Group Ltd Group Financial Statements 2011, Companies House, 2012
  10. Wates Group Ltd Group Financial Statements 2014, Companies House, 2015
  11. Prior, Grant (1 October 2015). "Buyout sees 1200 Shepherd staff join Wates". Construction Enquirer. Archived from the original on 27 January 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  12. Morby, Aaron (24 June 2016). "Shepherd Group suffers £74m hit from sold building arm". Construction Enquirer. Archived from the original on 25 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  13. Marshall, Jordan (20 May 2020). "Wates announces mass redundancies". Building. Archived from the original on 26 May 2020. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  14. McCulloch, Chloe (21 July 2020). "Wates rejigs to focus on public sector and housing work". Building. Archived from the original on 21 July 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  15. Kilgannon, Laurence (22 January 2016). "£9.5m Leeds Uni multi-storey completes". Insider Media. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  16. "Keevil". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  17. "Dulwich Estate". Dulwich Estate. Archived from the original on 8 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  18. "Silence is Golden at Doncaster Civic Centre - Accordial". accordial.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  19. "Wates completes historic V&A museum extension (30 June 2017)". Wates plc. Wates. Archived from the original on 25 October 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  20. "Details for Case No.4474802". HSE. February 2002. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  21. Nelson, Greg (23 October 2017). "Wates fined £640,000 after blocking live flue". Nationaltradesmen.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 June 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  22. Dhaliwal, Chani (3 March 2017). "Inquest Finds Lessons To Be Learned From Death Of Construction Worker Killed By Falling Wall Unit". Irwin Mitchell. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  23. "Roe Brickwork Ltd v Wates Construction Ltd [2013] EWHC 3417 (TCC) (11 November 2013)". www.bailii.org. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  24. "Wates fined after fatal fall". Building. 8 September 2004. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  25. "Wates Construction Ltd. v HGP Greentree Allchurch Evans Ltd. [2005] EWHC 2174 (TCC) (10 October 2005)". Bailii. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  26. "Wates Group Ltd v Mr Huw Davies (Summary Decision _Transfer) [2015] DRS 16557 (22 October 2015)". www.bailii.org. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  27. "Wates Group Services Ltd v Andrew Davis (Summary Decision _Transfer) [2018] DRS 20671 (05 December 2018)". www.bailii.org. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  28. "Tories boosted by construction donations". The Construction Index. 25 August 2017. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  29. "Wates scoops Construction News Contractor of the Year Award 2017 'major contractor of year'". 14 July 2017. Archived from the original on 25 October 2018. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  30. "Wates wins 'major contractor of year' double". The Business Desk. 23 June 2010. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
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