Atkins Asia Pacific win Sponsors Award and the most international final in prospect

The first of the MERIT 2015 prizes, the winner of the Sponsors Award, has been decided.
Congratulations to Atkins Asia Pacific.
With a great final effort from all their teams, they surged into first place in this last round overtaking Atkins India. The Sponsors Award will be presented at the Final Dinner, and this is the first time the award has gone to Hong Kong.

The six finalists have also been decided and the top six teams held on.
Mott MacDonald's 'Strike while the iron is Mott' remain in first place and even stretch their lead over second place. Mott Mac has won two MERIT Championships and three Sponsors Awards and will arrive in the final with confidence. The Mott Mac team is based in Sheffield.
Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing' moved up from third place to second. Atkins Asia Pacific has been in finals in recent years but have yet to win a Championship. Last year MTR were the first from Hong Kong to produce a MERIT Champion. Atkins Asia Pacific are keen to keep the Championship in Hong Kong and winning their first Sponsor Award will fill them with great confidence.
Atkins India's 'Singularity' from Bengaluru are now in third but only 91 points behind 'Amazing' with their colleagues 'Ubiquitous' from Gurgaon in fourth a further 60 points back. Atkins India has also been in recent finals and like their colleagues from Asia Pacific have yet to win a Championship. Atkins won a Championship in 2007 , the winner was a UK team from Wessex.
New to the finals and seeking their first Championship is Interserve with their team 'Beagle 2' from Birmingham in fifth place. The last construction company to win MERIT was Costain in 2011. Interserve could well be the next.
The final finalist is Arup's 'Arupians take NYC'. Arup are the most successful MERIT sponsor with three Championships and three Sponsors Awards. So 'Arupians take NYC' have a proud record to defend. 'Arupians take NYC' are based in Arup's New York, Miami, San Francisco, and Brazil offices.

With two teams from India, two teams from the UK, one team from Hong Kong and one team from the USA this is the most international MERIT Final ever.

There is a spread of some 20% between first and sixth with eight rounds in the final in a more competitive environment with decisions taken under the pressure of time constraints every team in the final can win. Over the years we've experienced the winner starting the final in sixth place and the team in first place at this stage frequently is not being there at the end. All we can promise is the final will be competitive with the high motivation of all six finalists.

AECOM, EMHighway Services, AURECON and Hyder narrowly missed the top six we hope they are not too disappointed having put in a fine performance We trust all the other teams who didn't make the final enjoyed the MERIT 2015 competition and the training experience in company, business and financial management. The jockeying for position went on till the end displaying a commitment from all teams.

Preliminary results, subject to change.

One round to go, the tension is rising

The top five all held their places, Mott MacDonald' 'Strike while the iron is Mott' is still in first followed by Atkins India's 'Singularity', Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing', Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' and Interserve's 'Beagle 2'. The change in the top six is that Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' come in at sixth replacing Hyder's 'Alpha Engineers' who slip to ninth. This is the first time since the seventh round that an Arup team have been in the top six. Then it was 'Arup infrastructure London Group II' who are now in tenth place.

Examining the percentage improvements we see 12% around the top level with 2% around the bottom. The difference gives the range of relative movement that we see. This would suggest that the top three are reasonably safe. Of course they could do something daft and reduce their points score and let others overtake them. The rest are more easily catchable so the final six aren't yet settled.

AECOM's '3038 Construction' have risen four places to seventh, Aurecon's 'Go Big' have risen seven places to eighth, Aurecon's 'CONSTRUCTIONS' up five to eleventh and AECOM's 'AECOM and get some' up nine places to fifteenth. These movements represent momentum and similar gains in the next round (the final round of the Early Years) would see them in the top six.

You can feel the tension in both the top teams defending their position and the chasers still chasing. The positions are likely to change but it's impossible to predict. Experience suggests that the chasers will take the biggest risks in their pursuit of a top place.

Preliminary results, subject to change.

Time for inspirational decisions

The top five remain in the top five but Mott MacDonald's 'Strike while the iron is Mott' jump over Atkins India's 'Singularity' to claim top spot. 'Singularity' take second place. Mott Mac have been MERIT Champions twice before and seem to be making a push to add to that. Atkins India are highly motivated looking for their first Championship having been in the final several times.

Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing', Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' and Interserve's 'Beagle 2' all retain positions 3,4 and 5. As I type this I just remembered that Beagle 2 was the Mars probe that crash landed, hopefully history won't repeat itself!

The newcomer to the top six is Hyder Consulting's 'Alpha Engineers' rising four places from tenth. From memory Hyder haven't been in recent finals so a new face might be appearing. Atkins India's 'Endeavour' have dropped out of the top six into 8th place. They join a very competitive group just outside the top six lead by Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' with teams from AECOM, Mott Mac, Cavendish Nuclear, EM Highways, Aurecon and CB &I all well within striking distance in the next two rounds. We do expect some movement. There always is.

Further down a big mover that caught the eye was Fluor's 'Fantastic Fluor' who moved up 21 places.

In the Sponsor Award league table the top three are now Atkins India, Atkins Asia Pacific and AECOM with Mott MacDonald now fourth followed by Arup, EM Highway Services, Aurecon, Interserve, Jacobs, Donaldson Associates, Fluor, Atkins UK and Bechtel. The Sponsors Award league table tends to be more stable as it is aggregating the performance of several teams.

One thing to keep an eye on is the market conditions. If the spend on marketing in the right sectors isn't adequate it will result in fewer jobs to bid for. If the market is tightening this could be significant. This is just one factor all the others need controlling as well head office staffing, estimating effort, bids, project manager selection, project staffing, company capital, borrowings, investments, dividends, retained profits. They all matter, no one said a director's job was easy. Enjoy the challenge.

Two rounds to go at this stage some successful decisions get described as heroic and inspirational other less successful ones as simply foolhardy. Good luck.

Preliminary results, subject to change.

The Sponsor's award goes to the Company who has sponsored a minimum of 3 of the most successful teams.
(Average Total Rating of the respective Teams)

Atkins India and Atkins Asia Pacific tighten their grip

Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Amazing' and Atkins India's 'Ubiquitous' have swapped places in positions 3 and 4, but the others in the top 5 places remain where they were, with Atkins India's 'Singularity' holding onto to first pace, Mott MacDonald's 'Strike while the iron is Mott' remaining in second place and Interserve's 'Beagle 2' remaining fifth. 'AECOMplete shambles' slip three places from 6th to 9th to be replaced in 6th place by Atkins India's 'Endeavour' up one place. Amazingly this gives us three Atkins India and one Atkins Asia Pacific in the top six. Confirming the strength of the Atkins presence is the Sponsors Award league table which has in first place Atkins India and in second place Atkins Asia Pacific.

On the move are Arup's 'Arupians take NYC' up from 12th to 7th and only 45 points outside the top six. Should they make the final it will be the first time for a team from the USA. Also Arup's 'COMAP(Cardiff Office Multidisciplinary Arup People)' are up from 15th to 8th and only 97 points off the top six (No prizes for a snappy team name.) It looks like Arup are making a serious push to defend the success they've enjoyed in recent years. Arup lie third in the Sponsors league table a prize they have won twice before.

With the average movement this period being 12.5% and the top half of the table still tightly bunched it is too early to say who will be in the final. There were big movements from Mott MacDonald's 'Team Loco, Tracking success, Signalling failure EST. 2K15' (another snappy team name!) as well as Atkins India's 'The Hexaguns' and AURECON's 'CONSTRUCTICONS'. AURECON have featured in two finals in the recent past and with a final push may well do so again.

Over thirty teams had gains in excess of 15% so the top six are not yet home and clear. The psychology is interesting the leading teams tend to get a) twitchy and b) cautious this gives opportunities for those in the chasing pack with flair and courage to catch them.

If the team's strategy hasn't been reviewed this is probably the last opportunity to do so. It's time for a serious review of the strategy you've been following to determine what changes in the next three rounds will yield the biggest gains. It's time to take some decisions that earlier you might have considered as risky. This is when leadership and disciplined decision making should show its value.

The Sponsors Award league table is a tight affair the top three Atkins India, Atkins Asia Pacific and Arup are closely followed by Mott MacDonald, AECOM, AURECON, EM Highway Services and Interserve all above 3,000 points. It is important for all teams no matter where they are ranked in the main league table to improve their position as this will contribute to the ranking in the Sponsors Award.

This competition is reaching the exciting stage.

Preliminary results, subject to change.

Top six change and big movements elsewhere

Two new comers to the top six; 'Beagle 2' from Interserve come in at 5th place up from 11th and 'AECOMplete Shambles' from AECOM come in at 6th up from 8th. Losing out are 'Arup Infrastructure London Group II' down from 3rd to 8th and 'Construction Brilliant Innovation ' of CB&I down from 6th to 10th. The other four staying in the top six places have shuffled their places 'Singularity' of Atkins India remains 1st, 'Strike while the iron is Mott' from Mott Mac is up to 2nd from 5th 'Ubiquitous' of Atkins India is up to 3rd from 4th and 'Amazing' of Atkins Asia Pacific is down to 4th from 2nd. With the Atkins India and Atkins Asia Pacific having three in the top six the Atkins family is well represented and maintain their recent good record of getting teams to the final.

From memory Interserve and AECOM haven't had a team in the final in recent years so you can see the reason for their motivation. Arup who are currently the best performing MERIT sponsor with 3 Championships and three Sponsors Awards have their highest team at 8th so they still seem intent on defending their record. AURECON who have had three teams into the final have their highest placed team at 16 so we may well see an AURECON finalist.

The game is still on, there are still big movements see 'Savants' of Atkins India, 'AECOM and get some', 'The Brains to Pick' from WSP and 'Chicken DALfrezi from Donaldson Associates as examples. There are some 16 teams with movements of 20 or more places. A couple more surges of that scale and the top order will be challenged.

The ratio of turnover to company capital is an important indicator at a level of 9 times the company capital the questions start to be raised as to whether your company have enough assets to support its work load. But it also indicates that the company capital is working hard. If the ratio is much lower say 5 it indicates that the company capital is not working hard and your Finance Director need to consider how to respond. Grow the company's turnover, invest the capital outside the company or reduce the capital. It is not only the construction side of estimating and competing projects that determine a successful company. The financial side is equally important.

Four more rounds plenty of time.

More Ups and Downs

Five of the top six remain there. 'Amazing' of Atkins Asia Pacific who were first two periods ago and last period slipped to 11th bounced straight back to 2nd. The shock of slipping probably produced a lot of late nights modelling their response. Atkins Asia Pacific has a great record in MERIT and have had teams in the final several times over recent years but they haven't yet produced a Champion and their eye is on the big prize. 'Singularity' of Atkins India climb from 3rd to 1st whilst their colleagues 'Ubiquitous' of Atkins India slip from 2nd to 4th. Atkins India also have a great record and have had teams in the final too and are keen to produce the first India Champion colleagues. Arup's 'Arup Infrastructure Group II' move up one to 3rd splitting the two Atkins India teams. The Arup team has started us thinking about a prize for the slickest team name! Mott MacDonald's 'Strike whilst the iron is Mott' are down from 1st to 5th. CB&I's 'Construction Brilliant Innovation' are down one at 6th and the former 6th place 'Team 7' of Subsea 7 slip out of the top six to 9th.

The big movements are below the top six see Aurecon's 'CONSTRUCTICONS' and 'CAPITAlized' of Capita Property & Infrastructure as two examples of major movements and with a good number of teams moving more than 20 places there is still a great churning going on and the top six are by no means safe . It becomes increasingly difficult to consolidate in the leading positions, nervousness creeps in and decisions tend to become cautious resulting in more adventurous teams catching and overtaking.

The average improvement this time was 16%

There are many decisions to get right and one is the project manager. A project manager whose experience is well suited to the project will produce a more efficient project with lower costs. A project manager whose experience is not well suited to the project will manage the project less effectively. This can be exaggerated if the project is far from Head Office where there may be less direct contact. So the well experienced project managers should be on the distant projects and the less experienced closer to home.