The Carey Group – 50 years of growth, innovation and excellence

Keeping our promises, taking care of our people, doing everything in our power to satisfy our clients and consistently delivering high-quality work. From our very first project in 1969 – delivering groundworks for the Chingford Hall Housing Estate – to the massive, multi-faceted projects that form part of our portfolio today, we have never deviated from these original, fundamental principles.

Our insistence on running a business that is firmly rooted in robust, caring family values, has helped Careys to grow from strength to strength over the past 50 years. We have expanded, from our relatively humble beginnings, to become one of the largest, private, family-owned companies in the UK, posting turnover of more than £570m and employing over 4,000 people.

Along the way we have added a group of specialist construction companies and helped to create some of the nation’s most recognisable and prestigious landmarks, such as London’s Olympic Village. And, we are just getting started.

An integrated model that offers a full spectrum of construction services and solutions

Over the years, several highly skilled and experienced specialist construction companies have become part of the Carey Group, each bringing with them their own particular knowledge, expertise and capabilities. For this reason, we are able to proficiently provide an integrated model that enables us to offer a wide range of services, including:

• Civil engineering – creating projects that enhance the built and natural environments, communities and infrastructure of the UK and Ireland
• Dry lining – offering commercial and residential dry lining of exceptional standards
• Demolition, dismantling and deconstruction – specialising in safe, sustainable demolition, enabling and remediation projects
• Digital and construction engineering– using cutting-edge technology to quickly, safely and cost-effectively take projects from concept to reality
• Development and house building – acquiring and investing in prime land and utilising our expertise to create property developments
• Removal of hazardous waste – relying on the experience of highly trained experts to provide safe, compliant and high-quality decontamination solutions
• Resource recovery – producing, brokering and exporting refuse derived fuel, doing what we can to help facilitate almost 100% diversion from landfill
• Plant and equipment – supporting the Carey Group’s delivery of services by procuring, maintaining and managing our assets, which include more than 2,000 items of the latest, most efficient and innovative specialist equipment and machinery

Due to our integrated model, the Carey Group can give our clients a set of complete, end-to-end construction solutions. Having one, single company perform a number of specialist construction services, in a coordinated and collaborated fashion, can lead to marked improvements in efficiency, cost-effectiveness and health and safety – especially on the largest and most complex of projects.

Our integrated model allows us to specifically tailor our services to offer specific solutions for each contract and situation. We are also able to eliminate many of the pitfalls and challenges that can arise, due to excessive third-party participation on site, in order to deliver work that routinely matches up to the high levels of quality that we demand and that our clients deserve.

A sampling of Careys’ exceptional projects

As we celebrate our 50^th year in business, the Carey Group continues to add to our track record of helping to create some of the UK’s most impressive and iconic buildings. Here are just a few of the projects that we have been contributing to over the past 18 months:

V&A Museum Dundee – On this project to construct the northern outpost of London’s legendary Victoria and Albert Museum – located on the River Tay in Dundee – we carried out all sub and superstructure works. We also installed the infrastructure – including underground services, drainage and hard landscaping – for this stunning museum, which forms the key element of Dundee’s £1-billion waterfront regeneration project.

Lostock Power Station – As part of this ambitious venture to transform a coal-fired power plant in Northwich, Cheshire into an energy-efficient, eco-friendly energy from waste (EfW) facility, we are currently carrying out an extensive enabling package of works – which demonstrates the efficacy of our integrated model. This new EfW station will generate enough energy to power approximately 125,000 homes per year by cleanly converting residual waste into energy. Part of our responsibilities on the Lostock project include: removing asbestos from over 20 structures, handling the demolition of 27 buildings, remediating the existing pipe bridges and grounds, and constructing a variety of structures, such as a water purification plant, three-storey office block and three-storey client accommodations.

All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC)/Wimbledon – We have been appointed principal contractor by the AELTC – which runs the Wimbledon tennis championships – on a 66-week project to deliver 16 new championship-quality grass tennis courts and three acrylic courts at their Community Sports Ground in Raynes Park, South West London. This in addition to an extensive package of works which we have recently completed at the Wimbledon grounds, home of the iconic Centre Court and site of the world-famous annual championships.

22 Bishopsgate – The soaring 62-storey skyscraper at 22 Bishopsgate in the City of London will be the second-tallest in the UK and completely redefine London’s skyline. On this project, we employed a self-erecting jump form system – the first of its kind to be used in the UK – to construct the tower’s two concrete cores. Showcasing the added dimensions that Careys’ integrated model offers clients, our in-house team of digital modelling experts worked with our civil engineers, at pre-contract stage, to develop an innovative strategy that allowed the demolition and basement construction works to take place at the same time as the building of the cores. We also reached a significant achievement on this project – pouring 58,000m³ of concrete.

Ford Dagenham– On the project to demolish and remediate the former Ford Dagenham plant in east London, in preparation for residential development, we acted as principal contractor. Illustrating our characteristic, innovative approach and commitment to sustainable solutions, we deployed our own, bespoke aggregate and soil engineering plant, worth over £1.5m. This plant helped us to remediate and recycle close to 98% of the recovered materials from this vast site, which had a demolition boundary of approximately 20 hectares (the equivalent of 28 football pitches). Additionally, in order to protect against flooding from the nearby River Thames, we raised the ground level 1.3m, using 500,000m² of engineered fill and approximately 100,000m³ of clay to infill the deep basements.

Bow Street Magistrates Court – We served as both the principal contractor and specialist demolition contractor on this project to transform the former Bow Street Magistrates Court, in central London, into a chic hotel. Our combined responsibilities on this historic, Grade II listed building included performing enabling works, installing drainage, constructing a new basement and ensuring the safe removal of asbestos from all areas of the site, including the former courtrooms, loft spaces, basement store, redundant basement plant rooms and roof. In addition, we carried out a soft strip, created new structural openings, installed new steelwork and carried out the partial demolition of various structural and non-structural elements.

Bloomberg Headquarters– As part of the project to create Bloomberg’s landmark European head office, situated in the City of London, we delivered extensive drylining works. Designed by Foster and Partners, this unique, highly sustainable development was awarded RIBA’s Sterling Prize in October 2018. It features an exterior clad in 9,000 tonnes of Derbyshire sandstone and consists of two separate buildings linked by bridges. Additionally, it provides approximately 1.1 million square feet of sustainable office space. As part of this 98-week project, we delivered dry lining works on offices of shell and core construction throughout both of the nine-floor buildings, and completed rendering works to the basement and ramp areas.

A bright future ahead – looking forward to the next 50 years

Even though the Carey Group has experienced exponential growth and success over the course of recent history, we believe that this is just the beginning of what we can accomplish. As we embark upon the sixth decade at Careys, we’re confident that great things lie ahead.

Together with the leadership team, a new generation of the Carey family has begun to assume more responsibility for leading the company into the future, along with implementing our strategy and vision. Together, our leadership and every member of our teams across the Group, are committed to increasing and improving our capabilities, whilst always continuing to offer the professionalism and high level of quality that help to define the Carey Way.

No matter how broad our horizons might grow, over the years and decades to come, we will always remain grounded in the principles and values that lie at the heart of our success and which enable us to consistently and safely deliver works of the highest standards. Only by continuing to follow the Carey Way, in all that we do, will we be able to attain the goals that we have set for ourselves and the company for the next 50 years, and beyond.