For developers and principal contractors running large residential programmes, specialist subcontractor procurement is one of the most time-consuming parts of project planning. Each package requires tender processes, pre-qualification checks, reference verification, contract negotiation, and ongoing coordination across multiple independent businesses that have no relationship with each other and no shared interest in each other’s success.
The Globe Group offers a different model — four specialist divisions, operating under shared group leadership, with an established track record of working together on the same sites.
Fewer Interfaces to Manage
On a typical large residential development, the groundworks contractor, scaffolding contractor, roofing contractor, and fall protection contractor are four separate businesses, procured separately, managed separately, and accountable only for their own package. When something goes wrong at the interface between packages — and on a busy development, it usually does — resolving it requires negotiation between parties who have no particular incentive to accommodate each other.
When those four packages are delivered by Globe Civil Engineering, Globe Cambridge, Globe Roofing, and Red Safety Netting, the interfaces are managed within the group. The divisions know each other’s working methods, understand each other’s requirements, and have an established communication framework that doesn’t depend on the principal contractor to mediate every coordination issue. Problems at the interfaces between packages are identified and resolved at group level, before they affect programme.
A Consistent Standard of Pre-Qualification
One of the less visible costs of managing multiple specialist subcontractors is the pre-qualification process. Verifying accreditations, reviewing method statements, confirming insurance, and checking competency certification across four separate businesses takes significant time — and has to be repeated for every project.
Across the Globe Group’s four divisions, the accreditation framework is consistent and maintained at group level. CHAS accreditation is held across all divisions. Globe Cambridge holds Constructionline Gold, CISRS certification, and NASC membership. Red Safety Netting is FASET accredited with 100% CSCS-certified operatives. Globe Roofing works to NHBC standards and holds CHAS certification. Pre-qualification documentation is available, up to date, and consistent in format — reducing the administrative burden on the procurement team and giving the principal contractor confidence that every division on their site meets the same baseline standard.
Programme Coordination Across Packages
On a phased residential development, the sequencing of groundworks, scaffold, and roofing is critical to programme. Delays in one package have a direct knock-on effect on the next, and on a large scheme those knock-on effects compound quickly. When each package is held by a separate subcontractor, coordinating the sequence depends entirely on the principal contractor managing each party separately.
Because Globe Civil Engineering, Globe Cambridge, and Globe Roofing regularly work together — on the same sites, in the same sequence — the coordination between packages is part of the group’s standard operating model. Groundworks completion feeds directly into scaffold mobilisation. Scaffold erection is planned around the roofing programme. Red Safety Netting’s fall protection installation is sequenced with the roofing package from the outset. The principal contractor doesn’t have to manage that sequencing from scratch — it’s built into how the Globe Group operates.
Continuity Across Phases
For developers delivering large schemes in multiple phases over several years, continuity across phases has a real commercial value. Re-procuring and re-briefing four separate specialist subcontractors for each phase takes time, introduces risk, and means the lessons learned on earlier phases don’t automatically carry through to later ones.
The Globe Group’s structure supports continuity across phased developments. The same divisions, working to the same standards, with familiarity of the site and the developer’s requirements already established. This is reflected in the Globe Group’s long-term relationships with developers including Vistry, Barratt Homes, Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Bellway, Redrow, Bloor Homes, and Countryside — relationships built through consistent delivery across multiple schemes, not just a single project.
If you’d like to discuss how the Globe Group can support your next residential development across groundworks, scaffold, roofing, and fall protection packages, contact us today.
