 | |
| Company type | Private company[1] |
|---|---|
| Industry | Construction[1] |
| Founded | 1890; 135 years ago (1890) inYork[2] |
| Founder | Frederick Shepherd[2] |
| Headquarters | York[1] |
Area served |
|
Key people | Dan Ibbetson(CEO)[3] |
| Products | |
| Revenue | |
| Owner | Shepherd Family[1] |
Number of employees | |
| Website | www |
Shepherd Building Group Ltd is a family owned business, based inYork, that manufactures, leases and sellsmodular buildings in the UK and Europe. Its brands include Portakabin and Portaloo.[4][5][6][7][8][9][1]
The company was one of the largest privately ownedbuilding contractors in the UK, but sold that business toWates Group in 2015.[10]
In 1890, 35 year oldjoiner Frederick Shepherd started the business inYork. His younger son Frederick Welton Shepherd joined and expanded the firm known, from 1910, as F Shepherd and Son. They diversified from house building to general contracting, andincorporated, in 1924, as F Shepherd and Son Ltd. By the late 1930s there was a workforce of 700 that operated throughoutYorkshire, and also the North East of England.[2][11][12][13]
The firm undertook extensive work at military sites up to, and during, theSecond World War. Post conflict contracts were predominantlypublic sector, often incorporating prefabricated concrete panel systems developed byCLASP,Wates, and Yorkshire Development Group.[14]
In 1962, F Shepherd and Son Ltd reorganised under Shepherd Group Ltd, and land was purchased atHuntington. Initially it was used for manufacturing, but in 1995 the headquarters moved there from Blue Bridge Lane, near theRiver Ouse.[11][15][14] The old headquarters site became aMecca Bingo hall before that too was demolished[16] to make way for the construction of Frederick House student accommodation in 2022.[17]
By 1968, the group employed 6,788 staff. That fell to 3,587 in 1971, and by 2009 there were 3,200.[14]
Shepherd Group was amain contractor for leisure, commercial, industrial, residential, healthcare, education, retail, and research buildings. The construction division also included companies engaged inmechanical and electrical services,facility management andhousebuilding.[2][11][18]
In 1951 Donald Shepherd, grandson of the founder, developed a bulkcement silo, for use inprecast concrete construction, as an alternative topaper sacks. They were sold to other contractors, initially manufactured fromplywood. He changed the construction to metal in 1953, and diverted joinery shop capacity released to the production of portable, prefabricated site huts. He conceived the need for easily portable site shelters on a windswept construction site atCatterick Garrison. Initially the huts were for the firm's own sites, but from 1961 they were sold to other contractors. He called the silos and cabinsPortasilo andPortakabin.[14][4]
Donald Shepherd continued product development in 1966 with thePortabluportable toilet, soon rebrandedPortaloo.[14]
By 1967 the prefabricated buildings were being used outside of construction, asoffices,classrooms, and evenoperating theatres.[14][4]
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Shepherd Group introducedprefabricated,relocatable buildings under theYorkon brand in 1980. By 1987 they outsold the portable cabins. A heavily insulatedPullman variant earned subsidiary Portakabin Ltd aQueens Award for Technological Achievement in 1992.[19][14][4]
By 2009 there were two semi-autonomous, manufactured product divisions of Shepherd Group, distinct from the original contracting, and building service division:[14][2]
They were supported by 75 hire centres. The cabins could be found as far afield as Antarctica and Libya.[2][4]
The Portakabin division was consistently profitable. By 2015 the others were not, and directors chose to sell or close them.[1]
In January 2015, 80 redundancies were announced at Shepherd Group's silo and modular products division.[20] It was closed in 2019, and the Portasilo and Portastor products discontinued.[1]
In May 2015,Galliford Try's Linden Homes subsidiary purchased Shepherd Homes, affecting 60 employees.[21][22]
Later in 2015,Wates Group purchased Shepherd Group'smechanical and electrical services andfacilities management businesses, and some of the Shepherd Construction contracts, for £9.8 million. It did not acquire Shepherd's loss makingColindale mixed use development, or take over liability for past contracts. Twelve hundred Shepherd Construction staff transferred to Wates Group.[23][10]
Shepherd Group accounts for 2020 show ongoing costs of £29.3 million in that year, and £19.7 million in the prior, arising from Colindale and other legacy construction contracts.[1]
Shepherd Construction wasmain contractor for buildings including:
In July 2021, Shepherd Group subsidiaries asked theHigh Court of Ireland for aNorwich Pharmacal order to requireGoogle to disclose any identity information it held relating to agmail address. The address had been used to suggest Portakabin products did not comply with Irish building standards; were of poor quality, and that named managers were incompetent and dishonest. The claims were derogatory, damaging and untrue. The Court ordered Google to provide Shepherd Group with the requested information.[30]
In August 2017, Shepherd Group was served aHealth and Safety Executive Improvement Notice because of hand tools causing excessivehand arm vibration at their York site. It complied with the Notice by February 2018.[31]
In June 2016, Shepherd Group recovered registration ofdomain nameportalooservices.co.uk fromNominet. It had beenabusively registered by a third party.[32]
In September 2017, Shepherd Group recovered registration of domain nameportaloohirebirmingham.co.uk from Nominet. It had been abusively registered by a third party.[33]
Shepherd Construction Group subsidiary Shepherd Engineering Services subscribed to theConsulting Association's illegal employmentblacklist. In 2009, it was one of 14 firms issued with enforcement notices by theInformation Commissioner's Office.[34]
In 2008 Shepherd contracted withWilliam Hare Group to provide structural steelwork[28] forBrendan Flood's[35]Trinity Walkshopping centre development inWakefield. Shepherd subsequently sought, under apay when paid clause, to withhold payment in the sum of £996,683.35 because the ultimate client had gone intoadministration. In 2009Mr Justice Coulson of theTechnology and Construction Court ruled against the payment being withheld.[28] That judgement was upheld at theCourt of Appeal in 2010. Shepherd had used an obsolete form of words in their contract with William Hare.[36][28]
Shepherd went on to purchase the part built shopping centre, withAREA Property Partners, in order to complete it.[35]
