News ...................

Mivan, the international specialist construction company, was named joint winner of the 2004 British Construction Firm of the Year at a top UK building awards ceremony in London today [Thursday 18 November 2004].

This is the second successive year that Mivan has won the British Consultants & Construction Bureau (BCCB) International Expertise Award. In a Northern Ireland double, today’s award was shared with another local firm, Lagan International. Mivan won the award for the turnkey construction of apartments in 26 towns throughout Romania. This project formed part of a $120 million social housing and water infrastructure contract, delivered by the Mivan-Kier Joint Venture. Mivan won the top BCCB award last year for work on Disney’s Mission: SPACE in Orlando, Florida. Commenting on today’s award, Mivan CEO Dr. Ivan McCabrey said: “Mivan is delighted to have won this award for the second consecutive year. Managing and completing the Romanian contract proved a major challenge and involved complex logistics and overcoming difficult local infrastructure. “This award recognises Mivan’s successful Joint Venture with Kier Construction, but the real winners are the Romanian Government and its people who now have good public housing and an increased and improved clean water supply.” Until today’s joint win with Lagan International, Mivan was the only Northern Ireland Company to have been voted British Construction Firm of the Year. Previous winners include UK construction giants Taylor Woodrow and Arup. Today’s awards, which recognise international construction expertise, were presented at the annual ceremony in London’s Whitehall Place by BCCB President, HRH The Duke of Gloucester. Mivan’s award-winning public housing project replaced sub-standard accommodation with high-quality apartments. In some of the 26 towns, Mivan created complete neighbourhoods where previously there had been no public housing at all. The contract also provided drinking water to 120 villages through 64 separate schemes in 6 counties. Before the Mivan – Kier Joint Venture arrived, less than 15 per cent of villages had a water supply. The combined water and housing contract was originally awarded to the Mivan - Kier Joint Venture in December 1998 by the Romanian Ministry for Transport, Construction & Tourism (MTCT). « Go Back