FIS today celebrated the finishes and interiors sector with the announcement of the winners of the FIS 2024 Contractors Awards.

Members and their guests packed out the Nine Kings Suite at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London to see the winners in the 10 categories receive their prestigious awards.

Independent Awards Judges Tony Pieri and Colin Hunter, who visited all project entered said:

“As judges, we take our responsibilities very seriously as we fully understand the hard work and endeavour everyone has applied to the project they have entered for the awards process. We recognise the pride you feel in your work as that is fundamentally why you have entered your project in the first place.

“This year the competition between entries has been extremely high, with most scores achieving the same benchmark for quality of workmanship. We then decide what percentage points to apply to each entry. Our in-depth assessment of the work covers a range of factors: sustainability, design input, problem-solving, logistics, value-added initiatives and integration.

“As ever, the final judging evaluation comes down to minimal decimal point differences between those achieving or not achieving the winning standards.

“We take our responsibilities seriously – we fully understand the hard work and endeavour undertaken on every project. Once again, you
all demonstrated the incredible ability of FIS members to achieve exceptionally high standards of workmanship.

“We congratulate all of you on your professionalism and expertise. And we thank you all for the time and courtesy extended to us.”

A final award was given for the Project of the Year, which was judged by guest architect Alain Speed of PRP Architects. Alain selected the overall Project of the Year from the winning contracts across all categories.

Alain said:

“Looking through the exceptionally high standards of installation in the category winners has been a pleasure. Space Interior
Systems’s wellness spa for HVN stood out for the beautifully crafted biomorphic shapes, seamlessly blending ceilings and walls and integrating sophisticated interior planting. The project met all the challenges of setting out, achieving a high quality finish, acoustic separation, a tight programme and working within a listed building. This required close collaboration with client ISG and architect zynk Design. All the hard work is now done, and people can enjoy sensory relaxation within these luxuriant interiors.”

About the FIS Contractors Awards

The FIS Contractors Awards are held annually to encourage and promote high levels of craftsmanship and design. 

Vistry’s announcement this week raises further concerns for FIS related to procurement in the Housing Sector.  In their latest update, Vistry (whose business model has pivoted to focus on the delivery of affordable homes (mostly commissioned by public sector and housing associations). Vistry stated:

“We expect half year and full year profit to be ahead of last year and remain confident in achieving a 40% ROCE and £800m operating profit in the medium term” full report here.

FIS has written to politicians on both side of the house raising the concern that improved profits are, in no small part, a result of the hard squeeze on the supply chain.  Profit is being distributed to shareholders rather than invested in our industry and communities.  At the same time share price has been increasing and CEO Greg Fitzgerald is getting close to his bonus (which is expected to be roughly the cost of building 1,000 homes!).

The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) have this year raised “fundamental concerns” about behaviours in the house building sector and have opened a separate investigation into suspected anti-competitive behaviours of 8 housebuilders (that FIS Members can feed into here).

This intervention follows earlier engagement with government (and opposition) in the third quarter of 2023 when there was a notable step up in aggressive procurement strategies across this part of the market.  The fact remains that this programme of affordable and social housing, if commissioned correctly, has massive upside opportunities to help deliver a baseload for the housing industry that will support investment in the delivery ecosystem in terms of skills, jobs and modernisation.  This is severely limited by the procurement tactics on show here and the concern remains that fiduciary responsibility to shareholders and driven by a bonus culture is outweighing any social opportunity from house building, This presents a huge missed opportunity for any government.

Do discuss or for further details of the correspondence (for interest or should you wish to raise with your own local MP/candidates) please email: iainmcilwee@thefis.org

If you have information that you would like to raise with the Competitions and Markets Authority, please click here.

To see FIS Campaigns and the latest copy of the FIS Manifesto: A Blueprint for Better Construction click here