Not only has the last 12 months seen LNC Property Developments Ltd marking its fifth anniversary, but 2022 also gave the Chesterfield-based company even more to celebrate after it secured an LABC Award for its work on The Belmont, a premium care home in Worcester.
“Receiving the award is a great honour, particularly as we pride ourselves on the quality of the work we deliver,” explains Lee Collingham, Managing Director. “We partner with some really strong sub-contractors and as a team we put our heart and soul into every job. For this specific project we knew it was particularly special and the specifications were very high. The end result was fantastic and it’s great that this has been recognised.
“To have received the award on the back of all our hard work was brilliant and is testament to the effort that everyone put in, from the site and project managers through to the operatives onsite. It was a hard job entailing a 14-month programme that was impacted by the second wave of Covid. There were also the challenges regarding rising costs and shortages of materials. To have overcome these issues to produce such a high-quality building is a huge credit to everybody.”
In terms of what the project entailed, The Belmont is a 74-bed premium care home that involved the demolition of a previous building prior to the commencement of a 14-month construction period.
“It was a traditional brickwork building with block and beam floors and a standard roof truss,” outlines Mr Collingham. “What set it apart particularly was the fact that it is a self-funding care home, so has higher specifications than is usually seen. The finishes were therefore much higher.
“In terms of the key to its success, it was the people that we had around us that were integral. Everyone bought into the project, which helped us to overcome the challenges, even when times were hard. This includes not only the sub-contractors but also the merchants and suppliers who never once let us down. Their reliability was crucial.”
This ‘can-do’ attitude has become a feature of LNC Property Development’s approach since Mr Collingham used his ten-plus years’ experience of working in the care home industry to create the company in 2017. After five solid years of trading, the business now has eight direct employees including project managers, site managers and office staff. It also utilises regular sub-contracted staff that have played a major role in its growth, as it spreads its wings ever wider.
“We’re based in Chesterfield and as a rule we operate within 100 miles of the town. Thanks to our central location, we’re able to operate across a large area of the country covering Worcestershire, Shropshire, Lancashire, Manchester, all of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire.
“We’re a smallish company – certainly not a tier one contractor – but we are very proactive, and this puts us ahead of many of our competitors. Construction is notorious for throwing curveballs, but we are able to react to these accordingly. We don’t have a long chain of command so we’re able to make quick decisions and move on. Timber, concrete and steel prices did rise considerably, so we had to manage that and procurement was key. This stems back to having strong relationships with our suppliers.”
Since its completion The Belmont has helped LNC gain serious traction with other clients impressed by the quality of the end product. As a result, it has received a significant number of enquiries. “We hadn’t been struggling for work anyway due to our reputation, so we’ve been able to make the most of the opportunities currently within the marketplace, which is currently very buoyant,” says Mr Collingham. “We’re so busy that we’re having to turn tenders down because we already have such a strong order book for 2023. It’s all about getting the right balance and not taking too much on. We know what our level is and the focus going forward is making sure we partner the right people. We want to work with individuals that are looking to build lasting relationships.
“We are happy with the project pipeline we have in place and continue to be selective about the work we take on. We want to do things the right way and that starts with me. I run the business in a very ‘hands on’ manner and many of the jobs that we look at now, rather than going to tender, we’re able to negotiate. Again, this is all about the strength of the relationships we’re able to build, whether it’s with our clients or our excellent supply chain.”
As the LABC Award demonstrates, LNC Property must be doing something right and it is now looking to build on the success in order to maintain momentum.
“As we move into 2023, we want to keep progressing. However, we don’t want to grow too quickly and end up overstretching ourselves. For the next 12 months we’d like to have six schemes across the new build care sector. We remain purely focused on care homes and whilst we have toyed with the idea of branching into the hotel sector, care homes are where our specialism lies. It’s what we know, and we have developed an excellent model that can be easily applied to other projects moving forward. We would be capable of diversifying into the likes of housing, retail and hospitality, but care is our speciality. It’s not only the building elements, as we can also carry out facilities maintenance work. With the orders we have coming in within the care home sector it would be foolish to move into other areas and risk diluting our offering.”
This sound business sense is sure to serve LNC Property Development well and is likely to generate further growth, in addition to increasing the possibility of attracting even more award recognition.