Period 6

MERIT 2014 - Period 6

Excitement and movement abound

An exciting round with lots of movement in both directions. MTR's two teams Professional Passionate Engineers and Synergy continue to hold the top two places and are now equal on points but their lead over the rest is much reduced. Arup's AgRUP of MEN +1 are up to third only 9 points behind. This renews the battle from last year when an Arup team overtook MTR in the last round.

Atkins Asia Pacific's Prevail, Aurecon's Invictus and Mott Mac's Motts of Steel have all advanced to 4th, 5th and 6th. The competition is close with less than 10% separating the top ten and only 10% between position 6 and 39, this is pretty crowded.

Those slipping are Vic Roads, Aurecon's The AureConquerors, Amey's Don't BLAmey and Atkins India's Sigma. A big percentage improvement came from TaylorWoodrow/BAM Nuttal's Victoria's conVINCIng BAMbinos who improved by 38% and moved from position 60 to 41. Looks like they now know what they're doing and may well move up and compete for the top six. Hewson Consulting Engineers' Hewson Graduates improved by 33% and moved to 26th, another team on the move. I think Hewson are new to MERIT and are now starting to threaten for the top places. AECOM's AECOMmanders moving from 22nd to 13th lead the AECOM teams which also hold 15th place as well. They look to be lurking just outside the top six.

How do you summarise that? Dynamic might be the best adjective with lots of movement and changing places with teams moving in both directions. Those improving by more than 30% made the big gains. Lots to play for and the top six will be feeling the pressure. It isn't that easy to defend your place as caution creeps into to your thinking and the more adventurous can overtake. As ever courage in decisions is required. A key factor to watch is how well you are using your company capital, have you got the biggest turnover you can have for the capital in the company? If not it means the capital isn't working as hard as it should.

Looking forward to the next round there will be big changes again, it's all to play for, good luck!

Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a zero score have requested late submission)

Period 7

MERIT 2014 - Period 7

Rollercoaster ride

Period 7 of MERIT 2014 continues to see lots of ups and downs in the top positions. While MTR's 'Professional Passionate Engineers' hold onto to top spot, 'Prevail' from Atkins Asia Pacific have swapped with MTR's 'Synergy' into second place, only 5 points behind, and Arup's AgRUP of MEN hold on tight to their third place.

With 5th and 6th now occupied by 'Motts of Steel' and 'Buckingham Palace', and 'MOTTS YPE 2014' also inside the top 10 with a a big 40% improvement, Mott MacDonald are starting to show their intent on taking the MERIT Sponsor's award, and regaining the MERIT most successful sponsors position which they lost to Arup last year.

Others on the move were Aurecon's LVG Construction up 10 places but Aurecon's 'Conquerors' went the other way down 7 places. Hewson's 'Don't Stress Prestress' were up 6 places whereas Hewson Graduates were down 12. There were lots of other moves up and down so there is still all to play for with 5 rounds remaining.

All these ups and downs illustrate that huge gains can be made with the right and usually courageous decisions. How courageous will you be next period?

Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a zero score have requested late submission)

Period 8

MERIT 2014 - Period 8

It's still all to play for

The top six remain the same with Arup's 'AgRUP of MEN' and Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Prevail' swapping places as the new order of places 2 and 3. MTR's 'Professional Passionate Engineers' keep top spot and stretch their lead to 32 points from 5, still not a significant gap. MTR's 'Synergy' and MottMac's 'Motts of Steel' and 'Buckingham Palace' hold positions 4, 5 and 6. MottMac are putting in a strong challenge this year. But these top places are not secure only ONE point is keeping Aurecon's 'Invictus' out of the top six. Aurecon have past form as three of their teams have made the final in the past. Also hovering are Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Awesome' , Atkins' 'Methodical Chaos', Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's 'UTM-TEAM', Victoria Roads' 'Vic Roads-MNW' Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Metis', Arup's 'it's all Ova now', MottMac's 'Ronald Mott MacDonald', Aurecon's 'The Aureconquerors' and OST's 'OST Construction Management' all just a smidgen behind the top six. And there are a host of others just two smidgens adrift of the top places.

The largest percentage improvement was McAdam Design's 'The MacAdam Six' with 27% the lowest percentage increase was 2% that is a relative change of 25% which if repeated would bring the top 56 teams into contention for a top six place in ONE round and there are FOUR round to go. These last four rounds will probably see a tightening of the market, jobs more difficult to acquire, falling margins, difficulty in recruiingt the top project managers so the percentage movements in the performance scores is likely to be more variable. For the 'anoraks' amongst us the standard deviation of the improvement % was 5% in Period 8 we'll measure this to see if the performances indeed start to widen. The biggest upwards movement this time was Vinci Construction's 'Da Vinci Code' moving 19 places. There were of course teams going the other's going the other way with 26 places being the biggest drop.

It's still all to play for. Analysis, interpretation, wisdom and courage or confidence will play their part. Good luck.

Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a zero score have requested late submission)

Period 9

MERIT 2014 - Period 9

Still Game On

With three Periods to go the big change in the top six is that Vic Roads' 'MNW' move up to 5th displacing MottMac's 'Buckingham Palace' who slip from 6th to 8th. MTR's 'PPE' consolidate in top position only 67 points ahead of Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Prevail' who move up to 2nd from 3rd swapping places with Arup's 'AgRUP of MEN' in 3rd but there is only two points between them. MTR's 'Synergy' hold their 4th place. Last year we had two MTR teams in the final and they travelled to Loughborough to take part coming second and third. Could we see two MTR teams again? MottMac's 'Motts of Steel' slip from 5th to 6th. At this point there are three Hong Kong teams, two UK teams and one Australian team in the top six. Still outside the top six but threatening are Aurecon's 'Invictus' but only 37 points behind, a further 8 points back are MottMac's 'Buckingham Palace' so although slipped from Period 8 are by no means out of it.

The average of the % improvement was 11% so to make a relative movement teams had to do better than this. The big movers upwards were: Arup's 'It's all Ova now' up 4 places to 9th; Atkins' India's 'Sigma' up 7 to 13th on top of a rise of 5 places in Period 8 they look to be on a roll; URS's 'endeavoURS' up 8 to 14th; Arup's 'YAP up 7 to 19th; Atkins' 'The Resistors' up 5 places to 22nd; and the biggest gain of Period 9 is Atkins India's 'QUIXOTIC DESIGN INC' up 21 places to 26th. Both of the Atkins India's teams did well this Period so we may well see one in the Final matching their performance last year. They could, of course, do better and get both into the Final. Inevitably some teams moved in the other direction but they could turnround they just need to analyse the decisions that have shaped their performance and review their strategy.

With three periods to go and movements as big as 21 places it's still game on. The top six aren't secure yet. The standard deviation of the % performance improvement was 5% same as last period. We're expecting a greater variation in the performance figures as teams take more risky decisions in the run in, this could produce bigger movements than those that we've seen. Good luck to every team.

Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a zero score have requested late submission)

Period 10

MERIT 2014 - Period 10

The calm before the storm

The top four have consolidated their position with MTR's 'Professional Passionate Engineers' and Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Prevail' holding onto places 1 and 2, MTR's 'Synergy' have leapfrogged Arup's 'AgRUP of MEN' into 3rd . This means that the first three places are held by teams from Hong Kong. Aurecon's 'Invictus' climb two places to 5th and are back into the top six. Vic Roads' 'MNW' slip one to 6th only 70 points ahead of Mott Mac's 'Buckingham Palace'. The other high ranking Mott Mac team 'Motts of Steel' slipped from 6th to 13th now 233 points off position 6th. However the average performance improvement was 9% and recovery is very possible in one of the two rounds left.

Of the top six only Vic Roads are new to MERIT and all the others have had teams in MERIT finals. Arups are the only previously winning sponsor in the top six. Mott Mac lurking in 7th are also previous winners.

Overall 36 teams improved their position with the biggest movers being Atkins' 'Astron' and Amey's 'Pace' both moving up 13 places.

The standard deviation of the percentage improvement increased from 5% to 6% indicating greater variability, normally this increases in the last rounds as some decisions become a little wild as teams try to depose the leaders who are sitting there wondering how to defend their position Two rounds to go, there will be greater movement.

Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a zero score have requested late submission)

Period 11

MERIT 2014 - Period 11

The Final Hurdle

The top four retain their places in the same order MTR's 'Professional Passionate Engineers'; Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Prevail'; MTR's 'Synergy' and Arup's 'AgRUP of MEN' all consolidating with percentage improvements above the average of 10%. Then it becomes more turbulent with Aurecon's 'Invictus' slipping from 5th to 9th and Vic Roads' 'MNW' slipping from 6th to 7th. 'MNW' are still well placed only 37 points behind 6th place, as are 'Invictus' only 111 behind 6th place. Replacing them in 5th and 6th are Mott MacDonald's 'Buckingham Palace' and Arup's 'It's all Ova now' both with a rise of two places. Also well placed are Mott Mac's 'Motts of Steel'; Atkins Asia Pacific's 'Awesome' and 'Metis'; Atkins' 'Methodical Chaos'; Atkins India's 'Sigma'; Aurecon's 'The Aureconquerors' and Mott Mac's 'Ronald Mott MacDonald' where a differential improvement of 10% could propel them into the top six.

The top six are wondering how to defend their position, no time to take risky decisions. The chasers will be more inclined to take risks and this could produce big movements downwards if they get them wrong, and upwards if they get them right.

We get just as excited wanting to know who will be the finalists. The top three are looking solid but they could make errors of judgement and open the door. The other three places are less clear. There is one round to go where the right analysis, the right conclusions, the right judgement of risks and the right decisions will determine the finalists. Teams much further down unlikely now to make the final will be playing for pride to see how high up the final order they can finish. Good luck to all.

Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a zero score have requested late submission)

Period 12

MERIT 2014 - Period 12

End of the Early Years

Preliminary results, subject to change. (Teams with a zero score have requested late submission)

Period 14

MERIT 2014 - Period 14

Period 15

MERIT 2014 - Period 15

Period 16

MERIT 2014 - Period 16

Period 17

MERIT 2014 - Period 17

Period 18

MERIT 2014 - Period 18

Period 19

MERIT 2014 - Period 19

Period 20

MERIT 2014 - Period 20