'In wishing all of our customers, partners and suppliers a very happy 2014, we at TClarke right around the country can, I hope, look forward to a year in which we emerge from this long running recession in great condition and ready to grab opportunities in an expanding economy.

'The latest industry figures, released last week, show that construction as a whole is now recovering properly. Given that weve had to tune our growth plans over the last five or six years to a flat or falling market with very difficult trading conditions, I am very pleased to reflect on our development in that time.

Strategic actions have set us up for growth.

'TClarke has not stood still. Our expansion into new geographic areas, opening new offices in Aberdeen, Plymouth and Cardiff, has worked very well for us. So has our development into new markets - like transportation, facilties management and mission critical - with many associated new skills - like building information modelling. These growth and diversification plans have been carried out with our usual steady approach - building capability and real skills within our teams. But equally (and Mark Clarks team in Cardiff are a great example of this), weve shown that we can ally this soundness with real speed of action and rapid growth.

Our systems have been integrated.

'Behind the scenes, the group has also worked very hard to integrate and rationalise our back office systems and processes nationwide. As well as making us efficient, this also means that in 2014 we are truly capable of offering the whole TClarke Building Services package from any of our offices around the land. This organisational improvement is going to be incredibly valuable in allowing us to take new opportunities in the next years. Indeed, 2013 was the year in which TClarkes regional teams truly launched collaborative project working - with real success on some large scale and high quality projects. This is also going to be of major significance as we go forward.

Weve kept investing in engineering quality.

'One more key point to highlight is the fact that despite all the pressures of tough trading conditions, sustained over many years, we have kept on investing in training and apprenticeships and in directly employed staff. Just before Christmas I personally spent quite a lot of time talking to some of our young apprentices (including some award winners!). I started at TClarke as an apprentice. Im very pleased that our commitment to young people has been something weve been able to retain and push forward. Our success over the last 130 years has been built on the work and quality of our people; I am not just proud to say that the organisation has stayed loyal to its people and real jobs - I'm also a firm believer in the business advantages we can offer because of that continued two-way commitment.

Collaboration, hard work and willingness to improve will mark our approach.

'There will be challenges as well as opportunities in 2014 - we know that. Our markets will be more competitive than ever. Demand will be better but no one is forecasting exceptional levels of growth in construction. TClarke may be a long established business - but we are not resting on our reputation. Our industry is changing, new skills and new sectors are emerging all the time. Our customers are rightly pushing for more and more efficiency - we need to match their ambitions. And to do that, we need to stay focused on quality, innovation and value in what we do. We will continue to learn, we will keep working hard to listen to our customers, to bring them new ideas and to collaborate with them in new ways that deliver value for their projects and their customers.

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