57 | Greater London Enterprise Awards 2021 Millcroft is one of the leading scaffolding and construction suppliers in London and the South East. Where there are complex, challenging scaffolding requirements, Millcroft can provide access solutions as they have expertise in the rail infrastructure, conservation & heritage, utility sectors, as well as industrial, commercial, and residential. Millcroft is based in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and was founded by Roy Jones, 49 years ago. It remains to this day a family operated business. Roy Jones is Millcroft’s Group Managing Director, and his sons Billy and Sam Jones are Directors. All three are involved with day-to-day operations, visiting sites to ensure the highest quality, safety and client service are maintained. Millcroft is proud to be shaping the infrastructure of the city and its surroundings. Most of its work is in London, and many projects are located centrally on challenging confined sites. However, London is the hub of the country’s infrastructure. Millcroft has carved out expertise in rail projects, including critical works for HS2, at Euston, Crossrail at Paddington, and TfL at Whitechapel. “We have a complete commitment to safety and delivery and continue to invest in our staff and operations to make sure this is always the case,” says Billy. “Many of our clients are from repeat business, including Transport for London, who we began working with more than 40 years ago. They trust us to work with them in a highly disciplined way, with exceptional compliance to all necessary standards, a problem-solving attitude and to delivering on the programme, to budget and engineering requirements every time.” Millcroft is committed to developing talent through coaching and mentoring culture, setting goals that challenge individuals to keep improving and driving success. As a long-established company, Millcroft recognises the need for change and embraces it across business processes, training, health & safety, and strategy to continue to grow and be the best at what they do. From the outset of any project and client relationship, Millcroft takes time to interrogate the brief. Billy explains, “Technical discussion and specification are thorough, and our clients have the utmost confidence in our expertise and ability to deliver. There is no scale of project or level of complexity that is beyond us, although in terms of Specialist Scaffolding & Construction Contractor of the Year 2021 staff numbers and turnover, we are smaller than some of our main competitors.” Millcroft’s management team combine years of experience with a forward-thinking and professional approach. “We are committed to the highest standards across our business: from training our staff, the rigorous integration of health & safety, the set-up of our head office and yard, to our continued investment in fleet and materials. We strive for excellence in every area. The management group is supported by a team of qualified designers, 3D CAD technicians, estimators and engineers who can provide innovative solutions to each project and react swiftly to changes without compromising the programme.” Millcroft has survived and thrived throughout three recessions and the recent pandemic under the stewardship of Roy Jones and his sons. Most leadership team members have worked for the company for decades and, in that time, experienced many industry changes. “However,” continues Billy, “we have had to keep moving, innovating, becoming more professional, to fuel our business growth.” Regarding the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, the industry suffered from significant hikes in material costs and the export of labour and skills. Billy states, “We are addressing the latter by continuing to invest in our people and by bringing in new people - notably via the Government’s Kickstart scheme. We have already taken on and inducted six recruits and will recruit six more in 2022. All Kickstarters have spent time in our scaffolding yard and mentored in office-based roles that will see them become trainee estimators and quantity surveyors. It’s important to our business, our sector, and the broader construction industry to invest in the next generation and bridge the existing skills shortage. We also work with the Construction Youth Trust to introduce scaffolding as an attractive career option for young people.” Despite the challenges of the pandemic, Millcroft has had an incredible year. Billy explains, “We’ve been nominated for multiple industry awards and have won major new contracts – most recently a 10-year project for the central section of HS2, which firmly places us as one of the top scaffolding access companies in the country for infrastructure projects.” Billy concludes: “Millcroft aims to keep improving and aiming for the sky across all business operating areas with a valuable portfolio of attractive, prestigious, commercially successful projects in the sectors we specialise. Also, supporting the local and broader community and economy; inspiring and encouraging the next generation of scaffolders and continuing to train, invest in and appreciate our people – providing safety, well-being, pride and prosperity for them and their families.” Company: Millcroft Services Name: Billy Jones Email:
[email protected] Web Address: millcroft.co.uk Telephone: +44(0)20 8305 1988 Aug21312 Millcroft Services