Shepherd Building Group

Shepherd Building Group

Type	Private
Industry	Construction
Predecessor	F. Shepherd & Son
Founded	1890 (1890)
Founder	Frederick Shepherd
Headquarters	York , England
Area served	United Kingdom
Revenue	c. £300m (2017)
Operating income	£14m (2017)
Owner	Shepherd Family
Number of employees	c. 1,900
Divisions	Construction and engineering, manufacturing, property
Website	www.shepherd-group.com/index.html

The Shepherd Building Group Ltd. (trading name Shepherd Group) was one of the largest privately owned construction groups in the UK, but restructured in 2015 to focus on its Portakabin portable buildings businesses.

The Shepherd Group's history can be traced to 1890 when Frederick Shepherd set up a successful building business in York. Growth, through innovation by several generations of the Shepherd family, by acquisition and through geographical expansion, led to the formation of Shepherd Building Group in 1962.

History[]

Early history[]

In 1890, at the age of 35, joiner Frederick Shepherd set up his own business, which rapidly achieved success in speculative house building in York.^[1] He was later joined by two sons, William who was the elder, and Frederick Welton, who had trained as a bricklayer. Around 1900, work was being undertaken outside York and a recession in the market for new houses led to a diversification into general contracting jobs. When William Shepherd emigrated to America in 1910 the business became known as F. Shepherd and Son, and it was incorporated as a private company in 1924.^[1]

The founding Frederick Shepherd died in 1930. His son, Frederick Welton, was a driving force in the company and had been instrumental in developing the firm's main premises, at Blue Bridge Lane, beside the River Ouse, which remained the Shepherd head office premises until 1995. By the late 1930s the company with a workforce of around 700, had established a major presence throughout Yorkshire and North East England.^[2]

When World War II ended, the firm took advantage of opportunities to expand its contracting operations, both by opening new offices and by acquiring existing local companies in new areas. The strategy was successful and the Shepherd company continued to expand under the direction of four of Frederick Welton's sons, Peter (later Sir Peter), Donald, Michael and Colin. The company became Shepherd Construction in 1968 and other operating companies were founded as the business expanded.^[1]

Shepherd Group[]

In 1962 the structure of the business was reorganised when the new holding company, Shepherd Group Ltd, was formed. Then, in the late 1970s, the Shepherd Group became one of the 500 largest companies in the UK. This was achieved without raising public capital and the Group remain an unquoted company. It became one of the largest wholly family-owned private companies in the UK.^[3]

In 2009, the group employed 3,200 people at its head office in York, a national network of regional offices, and in 75 hire centres.^[4] Its construction arm was handling projects for the public and private sectors, including leisure, commercial, industrial, housing, health, education, retail and research laboratories.^[5] The Group's operations were then arranged in three divisions:

• Shepherd Group Built Environment (Shepherd Construction, Shepherd FM, Shepherd Homes, Shepherd Aligned and SES)
• Portakabin Group (Portakabin, Allspace, Yorkon, Foremans, Konstructa, Portaloo brands)
• Shepherd Group Engineering (Portasilo and Portastor)^[6][7]

Disposal of built environment businesses[]

After March 2015 rumours of a takeover of most of the Shepherd Built Environment division by Wates,^[8][9][10] in May 2015 it was confirmed that Wates would take over Shepherd Engineering Services (SES), Shepherd Facilities Management and various contracts held by its loss-making Shepherd Construction arm (Wates refused to take on Shepherd’s problematic Colindale mixed residential and retail development), with some 1,200 staff transferring to Wates in September 2015.^[11][12] The Wates deal was concluded on 1 October 2015,^[13][14] being valued at £9.8m, with Shepherd booking a £2.8m profit after taking account of costs for the sale.^[15]

In a parallel deal in May 2015, Shepherd Homes, employing 60 people, was acquired by Galliford Try's Linden Homes subsidiary.^[16][17]

Reports said the deals would allow Shepherd to focus on developing its Portakabin-related businesses,^[11] which made an operating profit of £38.9m on turnover of £408.7m for the 18-month period up to 31 December 2015.^[17] In September 2018, the group reported a £14m pre-tax profit, on revenues of nearly £300m, in 2017, buoyed by growth from the Portakabin modular and portable building business, which reported a £51m profit.^[18] However, financial provisions for the Colindale development continued to hamper Shepherd Construction's financial performance, with the company reporting losses of £31.5m, mainly due to extra provisions to complete the retail and high-rise residential project.^[18]

Shepherd Group accounts filed in September 2021 primarily related to the Portakabin business, but showed previous Shepherd Construction obligations were still incurring significant costs. On 2020 revenues of £348m, the group recorded a £49m profit, with the Portakabin arm increased profit by 27% to £81m, but the group recorded a £31m loss arising from its Colindale project and additional provisions on other completed contracts (including cladding design and other safety issues).^[19]

Major projects[]

Sky Plaza built by Shepherd Building Group

Shepherd Construction undertook schemes throughout the UK mainland. Its operations were controlled from offices in Birmingham, Leeds and York. Major projects included:

• Hunslet Grange Flats (commonly known as the Leek Street Flats), Leeds, completed 1968, demolished 1983^[20]
• Bishop Auckland Hospital, completed in 2002^[21]
• Littlewoods Call Centre, Liverpool, completed in 2005^[22]
• City Square development, Liverpool, completed in 2006^[23]
• City Point development, Leeds, completed in 2006^[24]
• Morrisons Headquarters, Bradford, completed in 2006^[25]
• Expansion of Castle Hill Hospital, Cottingham, completed in 2008^[26]
• Sky Plaza, Leeds, completed in 2009^[27]
• Trinity Walk, Wakefield, completed in 2011^[28]

Controversies[]

Shepherd Engineering Services was revealed as a subscriber to the UK's Consulting Association, exposed in 2009 for operating an illegal construction industry blacklist, and was among 14 issued with enforcement notices by the UK Information Commissioner's Office.^[29]

References[]