By CRL Chairman, Tony Rimoldi
According to the well-known saying, a week is a long time in politics. So, for our business to still be going strong after 70 years is nothing short of phenomenal.
As we commemorate our 70th anniversary. I’ve given a lot of thought to the reasons as to why we have been so successful, and kept going for so long. Simply put, seven decades after our founding, we remain a leader in our field because we employ the best people in the business. Our employees are our greatest investment, and it has paid us back handsomely over the years.
Keeping staff motivated is key to creating a positive and productive workplace. We’ve achieved this by providing employees, from office staff to site engineers, with a training plan upon joining the company. This opens up a career path and promotion opportunities, a strategy that helps us retain our most talented employees’ experience and expertise.
Our approach to staff well-being also includes acknowledging their lives outside of work. Where appropriate, we support training or activities that are not directly related to CRL business but are important to the individual. This is important to cultivate a healthy work-life balance.
Too much of anything can have negative impacts. Work is important, but if we want employees to perform to the best of their ability day in and day out, there is great value in encouraging their pursuit of beneficial outside interests.
Engineering Pioneers
The repair and rehabilitation of concrete structures is our core business. From day one, our ethos has been to deliver a professional service for clients. They need to know that we understand their problems and how to solve them.
We’ve achieved this through the robust and wide-ranging experience we’ve gained over 70 years, establishing our reputation as a pioneering multi-disciplined specialist contractor.
The strong partnerships that our all-round abilities have enabled us to develop have fuelled our decades-long development. We currently enjoy a £65m turnover and employ nearly 400 people across the UK and Australia. We deliver projects ranging from £5,000 to £15 million across the highways, water, rail, marine, nuclear, utilities, and built environment sectors.
Bringing Innovations to Market
Staying abreast of concrete repair techniques is vital to gaining and retaining business, but initiating new standards and trends is how specialists earn their name. Such is the case with CRL. We were early adopters of the cathodic protection process, initiating its widespread use on concrete reinforcement projects across the UK.
We also developed carbon fibre strengthening in reinforced concrete structures. When CRL was selected to reinforce an existing roof at London’s King's College Hospital to support new floor loadings, it was the first commercial use of carbon fibre in Europe. That was in the mid-1980s. We also introduced corrosion inhibitors to the market, forging our status as pacesetters in the field of concrete repair and rehabilitation.
I think it's fair to say that we have worked on every type of reinforced concrete structure in the UK. National Highways is currently our major client, but we have worked on bridges, tunnels, highways and structures throughout the land. Our projects have included (to name but a few):
-
- All current operational UK nuclear power stations
- The Channel Island ports and harbour structures
- The Tay Bridge in Dundee
- The BT Tower in London
- The Thames Barrier basements
- The Kyle of Tongue Bridge (Scotland’s northernmost roadway)
- The Plymouth Harbour in Devonport
- The Melbourne Metro Tunnels
However, with versatility being another of our core strengths, we’ve also delivered projects that are slightly out of the ordinary – but just as iconic. Our repair of the Penguin pond at London Zoo, for example, where we repaired an intersecting concrete slope, highlights the incredible length and breadth of our engineering service delivery. And for good measure, I’m told the penguins were very impressed with our work.
Future Focus
Over the years, our principles haven’t changed in the way we run the business. Our financial affairs, Health and Safety, HR management, and our sales and marketing are all managed in-house. This helps us maintain a supportive, connected environment.
In terms of the future, we’ll continue to seek growth, but not just for the sake of it. I believe we have the best reputation of anybody in our UK sector. Hence, we’re looking to build on those firm foundations, but at a pace that suits us and our clients.
In the coming years, sustainability is very much on our agenda, with a focus on achieving net-zero operations by 2045. Our carbon reduction programme is progressing well, and we are on course to achieve our target.
Our brilliant staff are pivotal to our future ambitions. Their energy and commitment are embedded deep in our culture. That’s why 70 years from now, I’m convinced CRL will still be viewed as the vanguard of concrete refurbishment and asset maintenance.
Contact Us