TANGLED UP IN TAPE

摘要

Once upon a time, national contractors used to avoid projects below thern￡200m level. They were fiddly, and if the client was inexperienced, the hassle might be more than the job was worth. In any case, that wasn't what they were about. The smaller jobs belonged to regional firms that were familiar with power brokers in the council and chamber of commerce and might well play the odd round of golf with the local businessmen and bank managers. Some contractors, such as Kier and Morgan Sindall, had strong regional roots, but that picture was reasonably accurate.