After a period of intensive trialling the Birmingham City University / Horizon Campus Enginuity 2025 Competition is underway, with a competitive field of teams all battling for supremacy against their peers.

And so to the action, and all the teams made good starts, with the early pacesetters after 40% growth being "Yamama", but they cannot rest on their laurels with the chasing pack not far behind, led by the "Apex Team" in second, with "LARIS Construction PVT (LTD)" in 3rd. It is early days, and there are sure to be plenty of twists ahead as the journey through the Early Years unfolds.

The early signs are that the competition will be very competitive, with all the teams improving their overall position in period 5. However, this was not unexpected. After being formed at the beginning of period 1, overhead costs were incurred whilst the companies were being established, without any profits being generated. The companies were now in a position to generate profits against a more stable overhead base, and this was reflected in improved operating profits. Of course, growth will be impossible without an effective strategy, and all the management teams have had time to think about this carefully, and come up with a set of objectives to deliver business success for their stakeholders.

2024 proved to be another turbulent year for the UK. Politically there was a change of government in July with the first Labour government since 2010, and Prime Minister Kier Starmer promising a 5-year plan of growth. In the economy growth figures were better than expected with GDP growth of around 1%, helped by the Cost Of Living crisis easing as inflation fell, and the Bank of England were able to cut the base rate from 5.25% to 4.75% between August and November, and the green shoots of recovery are expected to continue in 2025 with projected GDP growth of 1.6%, but continuing conflicts around the world add some uncertainty to these projections.

Further afield global real GDP grew by around 3.2 percent in 2024, and is expected to continue at this rate during 2025. India remains the strongest performer among major emerging economies, with robust growth driven by domestic reforms and foreign investment. However geopolitical factors, including changes in tariffs and industrial policies in the United States when President Trump takes office in January 2025 could alter global forecasts with the potential for trade wars, and continued conflict in the Middle East and Russia's war in Ukraine could trigger broader inflationary pressures.

League table at the end of period 5

After the impressive growth figures posted in period 5, not unexpectedly period 6 proved to be a much tougher quarter. This was largely driven by the companies being unable to win as much work as they had previously, with the corresponding reduction in forward workload and margin KPIs.

However, encouragingly over 50% of the teams were able to post positive growth figures, including "QCC (Qatar Construction Company)", whose 8% improvement enabled them to climb 6 places up the table and into 4th place, and just one point adrift of "Prime Edge". At the top of the table "Yamama" just held onto top spot with 1,469 pts, but they are now only 6 points clear of the "Apex Team".

The most impressive performance in the round, and best positional gain came from "Three Stars", whose impressive 10% growth enabled them to climb away from the bottom of the table, and into mid table. With so many teams bunched together in the top half of the table there are sure to further surpises in the next round.

With KPI points hard earned it will become increasingly important that the management teams look very carefully at every aspect of their business for potential improvements, and those that are most successful in doing so should prosper the most. Two areas that the teams need particular attention are Marketing strategy and Procurement (rival bidders), which are discussed in more detail below.

Marketing is possibly the area of the business that requires the most thought, as there are numerous strategies that could be adopted. The market trend can only be gauged for one year ahead, and not always accurately, and as marketing departments are expanded, the choices of where to direct the marketing effort are wide ranging, by sector, country and job size. The task is not an easy one, but has a major impact upon procurement options, and the future work undertaken, and ultimately on the long term prosperity of the company.

Another important consideration is that rival bidders do not necessarily stick with the same bidding strategy, and as time goes by they can change their strategy according to market conditions. This makes it imperative that teams keep a close eye on the margins rival bidders are applying, and how they may be changing. Evaluating these strategies could make the key difference between success in securing work, or not. To complicate matters even further there may be UNKNOWN rival bidders, and the only clues to these may be in the ENGINUITY NEWS NETWORK (ENN) for the period.

League table at the end of period 6
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 6

As previous leaders "Yamama" slipped back after losing out on a key bid, the team that had been close on their heels, "Apex Team", took full advantage to storm into the lead with 1,565 pts after impressive 7% growth, but although they have opened up a 78 point gap to the chasing pack, led by the "QCC (Qatar Construction Company)" in second who maintained their upward trend, it is not yet a winning lead, and it is all still to play for in the final round.

In a period of mixed results, "Neobuilt" matched the new leaders in posting the joint best performance in the quarter, 7% growth to climb 4 places to 4th, and the largest positional gain was made by "GCC Builders" with 6% growth that enabled them to move well away from the foot of the table.

With just one round to go each team will be looking to finish strongly, and every decision will count in the final reckoning.

IEWP = SUCCESS

A leading industry think tank have come up with a simple formula for running a successful construction business.

1. IDENTIFY new work
2. EXPAND the infrastructure (capital base) of the company to take on more work
3. WIN new work through competitive bidding
4. PROFITABLY PROGRESS of the jobs won

Another essential part of running a successful business is being able to form an effective Risk Management Strategy to keep the business as profitable as possible. This can take a number of forms, firstly by building sensible risk contingencies into the original bids based upon the likelihood and cost of the risks occurring. Secondly, and just as importantly is mitigating the affects of any risks that strike through targeted investment into risk management companies, using a BIM model if available, and employing the most suitable project managers to jobs in progress. However, even when these mitigating actions are taken, risk can still be costly to job and company profits, and during period 7 problems with structural defects affected the construction of a new health spa for the client, Orlando Adventure World, in the United States, with an estimated risk cost of around 280k before mitigation.

League table at the end of period 7
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 7

"I Came, I Saw, I Conquered". Way back in history, Julius Caesar's sent those famous words in a message back to the Roman Senate in recognition of an overwhelming victory. And so it was for the "Apex Team", who deservedly became the Birmingham City University / Horizon Campus Enginuity 2025 Competition Champions with a highly impressive finishing score of 1,643 pts, and a convincing margin of victory of 62 points. Ultimately their success owed much to them demonstrating one of the guiding principles in running a successful business, consistency, having led the competition for 3 of the 4 rounds.

Behind the Champions the leaders from period 5, "Yamama" moved up 3 places to become this year's Runners Up. "Neobuilt" climbed one place to finish 3rd, and 15% growth, the best in the round, enabled "Action Construction" to surge 8 places up the table to finish 4th.

In the final analysis all the teams finished with stronger, more sustainable companies than when they took over in period 5, a testament to the skill and application shown by the management teams in what was a roller coaster of a journey through 4 simulated quarters of management.

League table at the end of period 8
Improvements, or otherwise, during period 8