Family-owned construction firm Beard has unveiled details of the most successful trading period in its 133-year history, with turnover rising by 10 percent and approaching £200m in 2024.
In the full year to 31 December 2024, the company turned over £198m, with pre-tax profits reaching £5.2million.
The strong performance was underpinned by the completion of 43 projects from its offices in Bristol, Guildford, Oxford, Southampton and Swindon.
It also saw a successful year for Beard’s newest office in Southampton, which opened in January 2024, and successfully achieved its targets by turning over £4.8million.
Finance director, Fraser Johns, said: “Having laid the foundations in 2023, we worked hard to continue this momentum into 2024 and are pleased to once again to report strong results.
“We’ve delivered projects for our customers across all our specialist sectors, including education, leisure and commercial. It was also an outstanding year for our special projects teams.
“While it’s been a more favourable trading environment from that of recent years, a continued focus on the basics of building construction has been a key driver.
“We start 2025 with a healthy pipeline of work, supporting our ambitions for further business improvement and growth.”
Investing in people has continued to be a core focus for Beard, with new and enhanced training programmes developed and delivered. This included EmpowerHer, a bespoke training course to support women in construction.
Beard also formalised its approach to supporting communities, with social value coordinators appointed in each region to support the firm’s charitable, developmental, and sustainability ambitions. With match funding from The Beard Charitable Foundation, colleagues raised more than £100,000 for 14 different charities and good causes in 2024.
During 2024, Beard was also amongst the first cohort to be awarded the Fair Payment Code bronze award, which replaced the Prompt Payment Code in December 2024, demonstrating its commitment to supporting supply chain partners.
At the heart of this is Beard’s work for its customers across the south of England. Project highlights from 2024 included:
- Starting a £14.6m renovation at Pusey Lane and 19-21 St John’s Street for St John’s College in Oxford.
- Starting to build the new £12m care facility for Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, Farnham.
- Starting construction of the £9.7m African Forest for Bristol Zoo.
- Starting a £6.7m renovation of Hilsea Lido in Portsmouth to bring it back to life.
- Completing a £16m flagship Porsche dealership for Dick Lovett centre in Newport, Wales.
- Completing a £12m new STEM building for Richmond-upon-Thames College.
Fraser added: “This wouldn’t have been possible without our skilled and supportive supply chain who help us to deliver prompt and faultless work for our customers, and our project partners, who trust us with their visions.
“A huge thank you must also go to all our Beard colleagues who are dedicated to delivering the very best on every project, as well as continually developing themselves and staying true to Beard’s values. It’s a collective success for us all.”
