Music Legends go large!

Delighted to share our photobooth pics from the Bastows 2016 'Music Legends' Christmas party. As you can see, it was quite a night....

Thank you to all who attended. Special thanks too to Dom from Ace Discos for spinning the tunes, Hannah and the team from The London Lightbox for our brilliant photobooth, and to the lovely Lukin pub in Conway Street, W1 for hosting.

Our Christmas Party

On 12 December we got together at The Dog & Truck pub in E1 to celebrate the festive season together.

We had opted for a 'London Legends' theme to tie in with our love for London, and asked everyone to take inspiration from our city and dress to impress.

From Amanda the suffragette to Steph the pearly queen via Dave's Smithfield porter and Andy's Charlie Chaplin, the rich history of our city was well represented.

Tube stations got in on the action too,with Emma as our own Christmas Angel (Islington) and Andy, Nim, Frank, Archie, Marek, Dan and Liam as the Seven Sisters! 

Simply an incredible choice of outfits and yes, they all walked to the pub dressed like nuns...

Even the darker side of London was represented with Steve as Jack the Ripper, Lawrence as V and Harvey and Niki as Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett. Thankfully everyone's favourite bear Paddington (Corina) was on hand to lighten the mood again!



With darts and pool tournaments ably run by Dan with Liam's assistance, exceptional food and drink and a brilliant Chas & Dave tribute band we partied hard and did our town proud! 

Congrats to darts champ Paul Walsh and pool champ Frank Bastow, as well as the winner of the costume competition, Steph Brown.






It was fantastic to welcome so many of our Family to the party and extend the invite to our own families too.

Thank you to all who came along, and a special thank you to Jackie, David and the team at the pub for such a perfectly hosted and enjoyable night.

Three up!

We are so proud to share the news that we have made it into The Building Good Employer Guide for the third consecutive year!

Of thousands of construction companies who were assessed and reviewed by their own teams, we have made the Top 50 scoring organisations once again.

The awards look at safety, workplace wellbeing, pay and benefits, personal and professional development, training, investment in people and people policies and practice. Only companies that score well in all categories make the final list. 

The award reflects our approach and commitment to our people, and our ethos of Family. 

Thank you to all our people who took the time to complete the survey and speak to Building Magazine; it's great to get accolades but they mean so much more when they come as a result of honesty and pride in our Family.

Feet of fire...

In 2012 we took on the Night Hike...

In 2015 it was all about Maggie's Culture Crawl- 15 miles through London at night to raise money for Maggie's Cancer Care Centres. 

Our team of twelve began at Paternoster Square, in the shadow of the beautiful St Paul's Cathedral- an iconic symbol of our city and a fitting place to start our challenge.

Ready for the off, we got ourselves (non-permanent!) tattoos and our gloriously orange Maggie's T shirts, which were our key to the adventures awaiting us...

Heading to Maggie's Centre at Charing Cross Hospital in West London, we were able to take rest stops at The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (where we had to snap a selfie), the tranquil Chelsea Physic Garden, Foster & Partners architectural studio and then Brompton Cemetery after dark. 






The volunteers and staff from Maggie's and the sponsors such as Foster & Partners made sure we were all well looked after and cheered on as we passed key points on our journey. 

It was not easy, the blisters were hard earned, and we definitely worked for every penny you kind souls donated.

But we enjoyed it, knowing every step was making a difference for us and for Maggie's.




We all had our own reasons for walking, and it was encouraging and emotional to see the names of those we were keeping in our thoughts on our shirts. 

As we progressed we were able to capture a few images that summed up the night, our experience and our gorgeous city. 

The view was pretty amazing at times... the city's changing skyline made a dramatic backdrop.

 There were moments of beauty and tranquility as well as reminders of the rich architectural diversity and history of London.

Even the oddities... ever spotted this on Albert Bridge? We made sure to break step!

The walk to Maggie's led to a well deserved rest and revitalising cup of tea, before we set out to return via the V&A museum (and the greatest first aid station I've ever seen) where we rested under the stunning Dale Chihuly glass chandelier that graces the main entrance.

Then it was onwards to the Serpentine Pavilion in Hyde Park, and then to the Royal Academy where we were privileged to see the new sculpture by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei before it was opened to the public at the weekend. 

After this it was on to the finish line at Covent Garden marketplace- waiting for us was a sense of accomplishment, a medal, plus celebratory prosecco and a bacon sandwich!













Cheers Culture Crawlers!

We have to say a big THANK YOU to our

 sponsors and supporters, to the staff and volunteers from Maggie's and to our amazing Uber taxi driver Bahar, who heard us talking through our experience as he drove us safely home and pledged to donate to our efforts! 

Our JustGiving page will be open until 10th October- if you haven't pledged yet, we'd very much appreciate your support.