Building Relationships: The History Of Bovis 1885-2000

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Format: Hardcover
Pages: 240
Edition: First Ed
Publisher: W&N
Published: 09 Mar 2000
ISBN 10: 029782533X
ISBN 13: 9780297825333
Book Overview: When Charles William Bovis decided to go into business in 1885, he could not have foreseen that the small London building firm, which he bought from Francis Saunders, would become a global giant with 77 offices in 35 countries, managing contracts worth more than $22 billion. Or that his company would be responsible for constructing the world's tallest building in Malaysia. Peter Cooper's lucid and detailed history outlines the company's early origins and the important role that Jewish emigres played in its future, including that of Joseph Gluckstein. His descendants were destined to push the modest London firm into the major league of British construction in the first half of the twentieth century and to establish the Bovis System as a part of the national building tradition. In the process they laid the foundations of the modern company that a much later emigre, Frank Lampl, transformed into a global construction giant. Bovis enters the next millennium with a record order book. Peter Cooper's informative and lively text is enhanced by 200 photographs and illustrations from the company archive, covering the entire span of the company history.