Following 20 successful years in business, Gipping Construction proves the power of passion within the construction industry
Founded in 2004, Gipping Construction (Gipping) has been synonymous with construction industry excellence in the East Anglia region for over 20 years. An award-winning principal contractor with a strong presence in the public and private sectors, Gipping has built a reputation for its high levels of quality, reliability and innovation. From heritage restorations to modern infrastructure projects, the company’s capabilities span the sector, as it continues to deliver projects that not only meet, but exceed expectations.
Construction & Civil Engineering sits down with Andy Laflin, Joint Managing Director at Gipping, to learn more about some of the company’s most recent projects and uncover the many ways in which it continues to support and empower the construction industry. 
“Gipping Construction was incorporated in late 2004. We’re based in the village of Baylham on the outskirts of Ipswich serving the East Anglia region, and we have around ten people working in the head office and 30 based on our sites,” Andy begins. “We’re a principal contractor working across a number of different sectors, ranging from residential, education and healthcare to commercial, civil and heritage work.”
Championing its core values of trust, fairness, equality, and collaboration, Gipping’s people-centric ethos has been one of the key ingredients that has driven its success over the last two decades. From its clients to its partners, colleagues, suppliers, and wider communities, the company upholds the highest levels of respect and integrity, constantly expressing its care and appreciation for the people that are making a difference to the industry. For instance, Gipping is proudly employee-owned, which has been just one of the ways in which it’s been able to show an extra level of appreciation to its employees.
“In our first year of trading, we established a staff share benefit scheme, giving all employees the option to purchase annual shares in the company at a heavily discounted rate. There was never any compulsion or pressure for them to do that, but it was a way of illustrating our people-focused ethos and how much we value our internal team. Two years ago, we took that staff share scheme a bit further and became an employee-owned company, which has paved the way for more people progression within the company. Today, we’re Gold Standard Investors in People, which is quite hard to achieve for a smaller company, and a testament to our commitment to promoting growth and development within the team.
“We’re also members of a few trade federations,” he continues. “We became members of the National Federation of Builders in our first year of trading, where I was a regional chair a few years back. At present, I’m a committee member of the Organisation for Suffolk Joint Construction Committee, which is a cross-section of all disciplines: principal contracting, architecture, quantum services, and so forth. We sit as a group three to four times a year and we’re heavily involved with anything we can do to support and promote the industry, from education to community initiatives.”
Heritage projects
Throughout its 20-plus-year journey, Gipping’s continued passion and dedication to the industry has won it a multitude of exciting projects and awards. One particularly notable project has been its redevelopment of the former Babergh District Council offices in Hadleigh, Suffolk. The project, which commenced in 2022 and is now nearing completion, saw the redevelopment of five listed buildings which have been transformed into a series of residential properties.
“When the council moved out of the premises, the building was redeveloped into just under 50 flats, which is now on the cusp of being handed over to the client – in fact, the first two residents have already moved in,” Andy elaborates. “It was a sizeable job for us because it involved a mixture of heritage buildings that had to be restored, refurbished and extended; some of those extensions had steel frame elements, concrete frame and timber frame elements, and we had piled foundation in several areas of the site as well. We had to use a diverse range of construction methods within this project, which made it particularly interesting.”
On the topic of redevelopment projects, Gipping is also currently working on an intriguing project for the Ipswich Museum. Much like the Babergh redevelopment in Hadleigh, this project showcases Gipping’s wealth of expertise in the heritage sector, truly highlighting the very best of the company’s capabilities.
Andy comments: “We’re currently working on a really interesting project in Ipswich Town Centre for Ipswich Museum. It’s a Grade II stylistic building where we’ve carried out extensive refurbishments to modernise it, as well as built small coffee shop extensions onto the side of the building. The roof was completely retiled, we underwent extensive LED work, window renovation, stonework, and other repairs, and a full fit-out will come later down the line. The project is worth in the region of £5.5 million, so it’s a great project for us.”
Reciprocal relationships
Having just surpassed its 20th anniversary last year, it’s clear that Gipping will continue to flourish for many more decades to come, upholding its high standards of client care and exceptional project delivery as it embarks further on its pursuit of industry excellence. When Construction & Civil Engineering asked Andy what factors he feels have contributed to the longevity and success of Gipping, his answer homes in on the very qualities that the company holds dearest.
“It all comes down to our culture and how we treat people, from our customers to our supply chain to our colleagues,” he reveals. “We have a real team spirit, and our supply chain is seen as an extension of us. We have an approved database of subcontractors that we regularly trade with and we look after them as best we can – simple and obvious things like making sure that they’re paid fairly and promptly, ensuring that the site they’re working on is organised when they arrive, and so forth, which will enable them to be competitive with their pricing for us so we can work together again. It’s a very reciprocal way of doing business.
“On top of that, we’re also our biggest critics. We spend a lot of time reflecting on our projects and analysing feedback, which I think keeps our feet on the ground. We’re all about continuous improvement, making sure that our clients are getting good value and the highest quality service.”
Looking ahead, the sun shines brightly on the future of Gipping Construction. With a plethora of exciting jobs scheduled for the year ahead, it’s bittersweet for the company as its valued Co-Managing Director, Paul Orriss, prepares to retire. Boasting over 35 years of experience within the construction industry, with 21 of those being at Gipping, Paul has played a fundamental part in the company’s success, and Andy expresses the importance of the legacy that Paul and the founding directors leave behind.
“My Co-Managing Director, Paul Orriss, who was one of the company’s founding directors, has reached the time in his life where he’s decided to move on and retire,” Andy says. “In terms of succession, we’ve recently welcomed a longstanding senior colleague onto the board – Julian Davies, and another colleague of mine, Joe Butler, is primed and ready to step up as Commercial Director towards the end of the year.”
Optimistic for the years ahead, Andy sheds light on what Gipping’s next chapter holds: “We’re fortunate enough to have work in hand to take us through to the end of the year and we’re very much looking forward to next year. We’re busy looking at tendering new opportunities and speaking to well-known client consultants that we’ve worked with in the past to hopefully do more business with them next year.
“Overall, we’re really pleased that the last 20 years have gone by in a flash and that we’ve established ourselves as a well-respected contractor in our region,” he concludes. “We look forward to what the future holds.