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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.
Click here to see the League table For Period 12
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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.
Click here to see the League table For Period 11
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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.
Click here to see the League table For Period 10