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Carey Group – Still building on a family foundation

editor

Like most construction businesses Carey Group wasn’t an overnight success – it grew from a humble operation started by three brothers more than half a century ago to a £402 million turnover company spanning a range of sectors through decades of toil and care.  

Let’s look back at where it all began and how Careys has grown and developed through the years since…  

Brothers John, Tom and Pat Carey. Credit: Carey Group.

Brothers John, Tom and Pat Carey first packed up a van and emigrated to London from Ireland in 1969, to start a groundworks contracting company called PJ Carey Plant Hire (Oval) Limited, which in time would become the Carey Group, one of the largest, private, family-owned construction companies in the UK. 

At the time, however, the brothers couldn’t know this, and their aspiration, back then at least, was humbler: to grow the business to around 50 operatives and deliver quality, safe work, so they and their employees could provide for their families and go home safely every day.  

In their first year of trading the three boys landed their first big project – delivering groundworks for the Chingford Hall Housing Estate in Waltham Forest, East London. The estate has since been demolished, after St. Fabian Tower’s demise in 2002 by controlled explosion – but by 1970 the Chingford Hall development already had five tower blocks. 

Their business continued to grow, and in 1988 Careys first opened what would become its long-standing head office in Wembley in London, Carey House, with a team of 60 dedicated employees. Its headquarters back then housed only a fraction of the employees and departments still there today and, more than half a century since John, Tom and Pat got shovels in the ground on that first job in East London, Careys has added a range of specialist construction companies to its initial groundworks contracting model – including civil engineering, dry lining, demolition, house building, waste removal, and plant and equipment services – and helped to construct some of the most recognisable and prestigious landmarks in the UK, including London’s Olympic Village 

Carey House team. Credit: Carey Group.

Other recent and notable projects by the contractor include at the Foster and Partners designed Bloomberg headquarters, in the City of London, where it delivered extensive drylining works on shell and core construction throughout both nine-floor buildings and rendering works to the basement and ramp areas as part of a 98-week project. 

Also in the City, at 22 Bishopsgate, a 62-storey skyscraper, the Careys team employed a self-erecting jump form system – thought to be the first of its kind to be used in the UK – whereby in-house digital modelling experts worked with civil engineers, at pre-contract stage, to develop an innovative strategy that allowed the demolition and basement construction works to take place at the same time as the building of the tower’s two concrete cores, on behalf of principal contractor Multiplex Construction.  

And at the former Bow Street Magistrates’ Court in central London, Careys served as both the principal contractor and specialist demolition contractor, to transform the historic Grade II listed building into a stylish and chic hotel.  

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Other notable projects by Careys include: 

  • Heathrow Airport Flight Connection Facility – demolition and groundworks contract for principal contractor Mace.  
  • Battersea Power Station – construction of a four-storey below ground energy centre for principal contractor Skanska. 
  • V&A Dundee – all sub and superstructure works, in addition to installation of infrastructure including underground services, drainage and hard landscaping, for principal contractor BAM Construct. 
  • Tottenham Hotspur FC – paving, planters, street furniture, drainage and security features for principal contractor Mace. 
22 Bishopsgate. Credit: Carey Group.

Today, the Carey Group remains a family-owned construction business under the leadership of group CEO Jason Carey, operating across the UK in a range of sectors, with annual revenue of more than £402 million. 

In its most recent financial statement the contracting business – which includes fit-out company and subsidiary BDL – had secured 80 per cent of the order book for FY2024 and a pipeline of more than £350 million. 

The group is focused on targeted and measured growth, margin improvement through “disciplined contract take-on and a considered approach to project management”, supported by an investment in digital transformation and plant and fleet renewal, as part of a three-year plan. 

“We have come a long way […] and now deliver an extensive range of engineering, build and construction services for our long-term valued clients,” Careys says. 

“We may be a different organisation than the one formed in 1969 but our culture and values haven’t changed.  

“Everything we do begins with the words on our group banner – ‘we care’. 

Carey Group CEO, Jason Carey. Credit: Carey Group.

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If you have a tip or story idea that fits with our publication, please contact the news editor rory@wavenews.co.uk

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