Building firm Wates eyes more work in MPs’ Westminster exodus

Building firm Wates has a contract which involves the overhaul of the Palace of Westminster’s fire safety systems

AP Photo/Caroline Spiezio

Russell Lynch19 March 2018

Privately-owned building firm Wates is aiming to land more work at the Mother of Parliaments when MPs decamp for a multi-billion pound overhaul of the Westminster estate, acting boss David Allen said on Monday.

The company, now owned by the fourth generation of the multi-millionaire Wates family, has already won work including a refurbishment of the House of Lords’ Millbank House as well as a contract which involves the overhaul of the Palace of Westminster’s fire safety systems.

MPs last month voted to leave Westminster for the major Restoration and Renewal Programme, a temporary exodus likely to happen in the mid-2020s.

Allen said: “We are continuing to talk to the programme team there and we would love to be involved in some of the wider works that are going on.

“It will require very careful choreography by the team there and we will support them in any way we can.”

Allen has stepped into the breach following the departure of previous boss Andrew Davies to run Carillion last year, although the company failed before he could take up the position.

Wates reported a record order book of £5.1 billion, although pre-tax profit for last year only rose 1% to £35.7 million as it invested in IT.