AN IMPROVING SAFETY PICTURE

Where else to start than health and safety? Safety will always be the largest single risk we carry. After maintaining a good health and safety record in 2024, I was pleased to see us improve in 2025. A significant reason for this was the launch of our ‘control of high energy hazards’ campaign. Teams have embraced the campaign’s clear safety messages and taken real action to make our sites safer.

We’ve also seen some exciting progress with human detection system (HDS) technology deployed on our plant. I recognise the roll-out has not been without frustrations, but hard work and perseverance to make it effective will undoubtedly make our sites safer places to work. Employees: stick with it. Coupling new technology like HDS with improved controls for high energy hazards is taking us to a place where zero injuries will be a reality.

LOOKING AFTER THE MONEY

Just as we’ve raised the bar on safety, our financial results also tell a positive story: it was a really good year. We delivered over £600m of revenue for the first time in our history and were delighted to reflect our strong performance with the payment of a 10% employee bonus.

A POSITIVE WORKPLACE

In our autumn board meeting we received the results of our latest employee engagement survey. It was a genuine pleasure to see such positive feedback. As well as highlighting the good stuff that we will keep on doing, the results also drew attention to things for us to work on: we will now focus on these to improve our workplace. Thank you to every colleague that took time to complete the survey – it really does help.

"STRONG FOUNDATIONS IN SAFETY, MONEY AND PEOPLE - ALONGSIDE ANOTHER EXCELLENT YEAR OF ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE, SOME FANTASTIC COMMUNITY OUTREACH AND STRONGER THAN EVER SUPPLY CHAIN RELATIONSHIPS - MEAN WE HAVE EVERYTHING WE NEED TO REMAIN A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS."

The broadening of the Mott MacDonald employee ownership model to staff across the Group was another major milestone. We are truly lucky to be part of an employee-owned enterprise on this scale; the model is another example of the benefit of being part of the global Mott MacDonald organisation.

NOTHING WITHOUT OUR CLIENTS

Strong foundations in safety, money and people – alongside another excellent year of environmental performance, some fantastic community outreach and stronger than ever supply chain relationships - mean we have everything we need to remain a sustainable business. But we don’t have any business without our clients.

We’re nothing without our clients. Against a challenging backdrop in the water market - and construction sector as a whole - it is vital we provide the best possible service. In 2025, we continued to seek regular formal feedback from many of our clients. The feedback we are getting is improving, and it’s no coincidence that the more attention we pay to it, the better service we provide.

One of the challenges we know our clients are up against is affordability. This is an area where we can really stand out. I know our project teams are paying close attention to this challenge and looking to provide great value all the time. How? By innovating. By utilising our growing suite of standard products. And by shortening construction sequences – after all, time is money. This is an area where I want us to do more in 2026 and beyond.

Focusing on client needs is working well as customers new and old want to work with us. I was delighted when Scottish Water named us a preferred bidder for their transformational new enterprise, and the efforts of the team delivering our first battery energy storage scheme in the North East have helped us go on to secure another project in this emerging sector.

2026+

Wins like this mean the forward order book is looking really solid, and whilst we must watch for over-trading, we have successfully navigated periods of growth in the past and will do so again today. Some change will also be inevitable, but being adaptable is healthy and a real opportunity. And opportunity for our growing workforce is vitally important right now. We welcomed another 140 ‘early careers’ employees into the business last year, many of whom I know are eager to get on. With such exciting, long-term frameworks to deliver, there’s nowhere better for them to be right now.

I’ll close with a reminder that construction remains the biggest team game in the world. Only when we work in great teams can we be truly effective, so keep working together on site and keep using our fantastic office spaces. They’re as vibrant and happy as I can remember in a long time, so please get together in person as often as you can.

A BIG THANK YOU TO EVERYONE. EXCITING TIMES AHEAD.