27: Bex Contracts

Bex Contracts was formed out of Bexley Glass & Glazing Contractors – a roof and patent glazing company that Robert Bickley co-founded in 1964. In 1986, the two co-founders split the company and went their separate ways. Bickley set off glazing train stations around London and the South East. He gradually expanded this into other services such as painting, re-tiling and refurbishing mainline and underground stations.

Today Bex Contracts is one of the most successful construction and refurbishment contractors within the railway industry, with latest turnover at £5.9m and a compound growth rate of 117 per cent over the past four years. Its major clients include Network Rail, Tubelines and Metronet, for which its last major project was the upgrade of the London Underground’s Victoria line.

Bickley remains the chairman of Bex Contracts but, since March last year, the company is now managed on a daily basis by his director daughter Michelle King. “I started working here when I was 16 in the accounts department so I’ve really seen the company grow and been able to grow with it,” she says. “We’ve had particularly good growth in recent years and in May 2006 we bought a majority stake in another company called FPH Rail. Bex specialises in south-east London, whereas FPH Rail is focused in north-west London, so that has complemented our business nicely.” www.bexplc.com

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