1. The Company 2. Products and Projects 3. Who, where, how much? 4. Influence / Lobbying 5. Corporate Crimes 6. Further Links, Contacts and Resources

AMEC Plc
A Corporate Profile

By Corporate Watch UK
Completed May 2002

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Influence/Lobby groups

Lobby Groups
AMEC's involvement in UK-based lobby groups and industry associations
Below is a selection of the UK-based lobby groups and industry associations of which AMEC is a member, categorised by sector. It is by no means a complete overview:

Business: General

Road building

Nuclear industry

Airports
One of AMEC's specialities is airports. To advance its interests in the aviation industry, AMEC participates in the following lobby groups:

Links with the British government

The UK government is a major client of the construction industry. It accounts for 40% of the construction industry's output and is supposed to regulate the industry at the same time. In addition, the government is funding the construction industry by providing money for R&D. It also supports construction projects in Eastern Europe and developing countries. There are many people holding high positions within both the British government (for example, within several of the government's many Task Forces) and AMEC. This intimate and rather undefined relationship between AMEC and the British government can obviously lead to conflicting interests and (from the environment's and public's point of view) undesirable policy outcomes.

AMEC people with fingers in many pies include:

Cockshaw subsequently held the following positions: Chairman of the government's commission for New Towns, which designates places for new construction; Chairman of the government agency English Partnerships, which helps ensure that new construction and property development meets public needs; On the board of the new Millennium Experience, the firm set up by the government to oversee Britain's millennium celebrations, including the Millennium Dome.[xciii] Cockshaw has also been appointed Chairman of Manchester Millennium Ltd, the Task Force responsible for spearheading the City's renewal programme.[xciv] In July 1999, British Airways appointed Cockshaw as Chairman Elect of its wholly owned subsidiary, British Airways Regional.[xcv]

AMEC part of the Government's Advisory Elite
AMEC participates in many Task Forces and ad hoc advisory groups, set up by the UK Government since 2nd May 1997. The government claims that Task Forces, ad hoc advisory groups and reviews provide independent, expert advice to the government on a wide range of important issues - including health, education, transport and crime. They are, the government says, an effective means of securing high quality advice on matters of real public concern and seek to operate in as open and transparent a fashion as possible. However, amicable government officials, corporate representatives and scientists, all sharing the same agenda, form an advisory elite, and dominate the Task Forces and advisory groups.

The 'Task Forces, Ad Hoc Advisory Groups and Reviews: Annual Report 2000/2001' can be found at: <http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/central/2001/TaskForces.pdf>

AMEC participates in governmental bodies promoting big business

British Trade International (BTI)
British Trade International is the UK government agency responsible for attracting inward investment through its Invest UK division and for promoting export through Trade Partners UK. AMEC CEO Peter Mason is member of the BTI board.[cii]
Website: <http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/>

Trade Partners UK
Trade Partners UK works alongside Invest UK within British Trade International (BTI) whose role is to foster business competitiveness by helping UK firms secure overseas sales and investments, and by attracting foreign direct investment. Trade Partners UK offers a "window on the world" for British companies through UK Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates around the globe and through Trade Partners UK offices in the UK. Ian Thomas - Business Development Director, AMEC plc - is member of Trade Partner's Asia Pacific group.[ciii]
Website: <http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/>

AMEC and the Private Finance Initiative (PFI)

AMEC is involved with eight Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in roads, hospitals, water treatment and the public building sector.[civ]
The government's Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has increasingly come under fire as evidence accumulates suggesting that PFI schemes are a waste of public money, fail to deliver, and basically represent a scandalous sale-out of public utilities.[cv] Still, the government and the main beneficiaries of PFI schemes - companies such as AMEC- keep pushing for PFI projects to go-ahead. AMEC CEO Peter Mason insists that "any disadvantages are outweighed by the private sector completing projects more efficiently and at lower cost."
Mason advised Blair "to hold his nerve in the face of controversy on bringing private firms into the public sector." AMEC is in the vanguard of bidders for PFI work, so it is unsurprising to find Mason a firm believer in the private sector's role in public service reform. Last year Blair opened the new £87m Cumberland Infirmary, built by AMEC (see below). It has plenty more projects in the pipeline.[cvi] AMEC's Investment Division, which consists mainly of its Public-Private-Partnerships, prospers.

The government hired PR firm Bell-Pottinger to promote its PFI schemes and generate public support. Bell-Pottinger assists the Public Policy Forum, which represents companies hoping to win PFI contracts, with a brief to 'promote the benefits of PFIs'. Organisations involved in the PPP Forum Include AMEC, Bank of Ireland, Deutsche Bank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Balfour Beatty.[cvii]

AMEC and hospitals
British Prime Minister Tony Blair opened the new Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle in June 2000 - the first major district general hospital to be completed under the PFI. Financing, design and construction of the hospital was undertaken by an AMEC consortium, which will also provide non-clinical services for the next 30 years. An AMEC consortium also started work on the new University College London Hospital (during 2001). This is AMEC's second major UK private finance hospital and includes the responsibility for non-clinical services for the next 40 years.[cviii] Shortly after the opening of the Cumberland Infirmary, the new hospital was labelled by various people (including a UNISON spokesman) as 'the first PFI hospital disaster' and was criticised for being 'filthy, gloomy and chaotic' (see Corporate Crime section). Meanwhile, AMEC's share price soared.[cix]

AMEC's Involvement in Road-building

UK's first toll motorway
AMEC is part of the consortium that is building the Birmingham Northern Relief Road (BNRR). Friends of the Earth argued that the road would destroy 27 miles of greenbelt land and two sites designated SSSIs (Sites of Special Scientific Interest).[cx]

Bingley Relief Road in Yorkshire
AMEC is involved in the construction of the road. The road would cut through, according to Friends of the Earth UK, a 10,000year old fen mire and a SSSI.

A1(M) Alconbury to Peterborough, UK
AMEC won the contract to design, build, finance and operate a major 30-year life maintenance scheme for the Highways Agency.

A419/A417 Swindon to Gloucester, UK
AMEC has designed and constructed 26 kilometres of dual carriageway through a design, build, finance and operate scheme for the Highways Agency (30 year maintenance).[cxi]

AMEC and other public utilities

AMEC supports Railtrack
Beleaguered Railtrack (a gov't owned company set up in 1993) has been held up as an example of how relying on the private sector can go wrong. Yet the AMEC CEO Peter Mason remains convinced that not only was rail privatisation right, but so too was splitting track operation away from the train companies. He has some expertise on the subject as a major contractor to Railtrack and chairman of a British Trade International committee on the rail industry.[cxii] The fact that the British gov't has recently been forced to spend an increasing amount of money on the railways should be good news for the three major Railtrack contractors: Balfour Beatty, AMEC and Jarvis.

AMEC and Airports
One of AMEC's specialties is airports. In 1995 and 1996, AMEC teamed up with the BAA (formerly the British Airport Authority) for a five-year partnership calling themselves The Pavement Team. The integrated team was responsible for the design, management and construction of projects at the airports. Within the partnership AMEC was responsible for the engineering and construction projects at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Southampton airports.[cxiii]
AMEC welcomed the news that the government had given approval for airport operator BAA to proceed with the development of a new fifth terminal at London's Heathrow Airport. AMEC has been providing a range of ongoing engineering and construction services to BAA for nearly 10 years.[cxiv]

Publicly funded Research and Development

Construction research has long been perceived as an area deserving of government funding and promotion because of its important role in assisting a historically dysfunctional industry. In addition, the government generally believes that the construction industry (by producing more economically productive, sustainable and energy-efficient buildings and infrastructure) significantly contributes to boosting overall UK economic performance (including employment and attracting inward investment) and is therefore worth investing in.

The bulk of public-funded research reaches industry through the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the largest of the seven UK Research Councils). The European Community funds another (minor) proportion of research.[cxv] The UK government currently spends around £23 million per year in commissioning construction-related research and supporting innovation. The aims of this expenditure are to underpin the development of regulation and ensure safety and health in buildings and to support the sustainability and competitiveness of the UK construction industry. Currently around half of this expenditure is through the Building Research Establishment (BRE) - the majority in projects funded under the terms of the Framework Agreement that was put in place upon privatisation in 1997.

Sir John Fairclough, (former chief scientific adviser to the Cabinet Office, ex-Director of IBM UK laboratories, and former Chairman of the Engineering Council) has recently completed a report (Rethinking Construction Innovation and Research) on how to secure the right construction research skills and facilities for the future. The report, undertaken jointly on behalf of the DTI and the DTLR, has assessed what understanding, knowledge, skills and facilities in construction research are likely to be needed to meet the future requirements of government and industry, and how and where those competences are best supported.
The report was published on the 27th February 2002 and, among other things, urges the government to make an even stronger commitment to support and safeguard investment in construction research and development. AMEC's Dr. Mike Murray was among the experts consulted during the course of the review.[cxvi]

The Contribution of Development Aid to AMEC Projects

· Loans From Export Credit Agencies
The UK Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) is a publicly backed government agency that gives financial guarantees to companies operating abroad.

The value of the investments and exports it underwrites far outstrips the UK's bilateral aid budget. Basically, the ECGD is a source of taxpayer support for private sector companies seeking to off-load on to the public the financial risks of their business projects in the South and Eastern Europe. Until recently the ECGD lacked any mandatory environmental and development standards. The ECGD has backed many environmentally destructive, socially oppressive and, often, financially unviable projects.[cxvii] Nevertheless, the level of government funds available for subsidising British businesses carrying out overseas projects through the ECGD is set to rise from £500 million to £2.1 billion between the current financial year and 2003/04.[cxviii]

The ECGD offers very attractive schemes for industry. Corporations involved in big infrastructure projects (such as AMEC) are among the main beneficiaries, since large proportions of development aid are historically directed towards energy and construction. In 1997/98, AMEC was the 7th largest recipient of support from the government's ECGD, receiving £80 million for construction work in Hong Kong. The trade body to which AMEC belongs - the Export Group for the Construction Industries- has lobbied against the imposition of environment and human rights conditions on the ECGD's loans.[cxix]

Executives connected with companies that benefit from its guarantees heavily influence the ECGD. AMEC's director Liz Airey currently chairs the Export Guarantees Advisory Council, which meets to help Trade ministers make export credit decisions. She became chairman in December 2001. Other members of the council are Sir David Wright (Chief Executive, British Trade International) and John Armitt (CEO Railtrack plc).[cxx] AMEC CEO Peter Mason has also been a member.

· Grants From Development Agencies
On 12 June 2000, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) agreed to pay AMEC's subsidiary AGRA Inc. a $250,000 grant to do assessments in Belize where another huge hydroelectric dam -the Chalillo Dam- is due to be built (see Corporate Crime section).

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