ME Construction directors John Yeo (left) and Dennis Barnard with the company’s Fast Track 100 Award, presented at an event held at Richard Branson’s Oxfordshire home.

The directors of ME Construction, the specialist refurbishment contractor, have attended an awards event at Richard Branson’s Oxfordshire home as a result of the company being named in the current ‘Fast Track 100’.

Compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each December, the current Fast Track 100 list names ME Construction as number 93. This comes as a result of the company’s growth in sales for 2011/12 of 52.57 per cent to some £12.6m.

Despite the current economic downturn, Fast Track research shows that, over the past three years, UK companies in the Fast Track 100 increased sales by an average of 89 per cent a year – from a combined total of £504m to £2.7bn. They have created more than 10,500 new jobs and now employ 14,000 people.

“We’ve certainly seen growth in both sales and projects – and we’re delighted that this has enabled us to become the only specialist construction company in the current Fast Track 100,” commented ME Construction’s Operations Director, Dennis Barnard. “And that growth in our business has also been translated into an increased headcount, so we’re doing what we can to help the UK’s economy – as well as meet and exceed our clients’ expectations.”

Active in London and the surrounding areas, ME Construction concentrates on the delivery of small to medium-sized projects – typically, not exceeding £4.5m. It is active in the conservation, refurbishment, healthcare and selected new build sectors.

Its recent projects include a high-profile refurbishment at Westminster Abbey. Working with architects Purcell Miller Tritton LLP, ME Construction converted the Abbey’s Grade II Listed Air Raid Shelter into an archive centre, comprising an office, a strong room and related sanitary facilities. This included the provision of new services including ventilation, mains power, heating and lighting.

Working with the same architect, ME Construction also carried out external works to the rear of The Cannon of Westminster’s residence – a Grade 1 listed structure – at Number 1, Little Cloisters, inside the Abbey grounds. This involved demolishing an unlisted single storey extension and re-configuring the area to form an external paved sunken garden; rebuilding a 15th century party wall and restoring the original timber door and window frames, as well as inserting new external doors and windows.