Lucas (contractor)


Lucas is a specialist contractor providing finishing and fit out services to the UK construction industry. It is based at Wrotham in Kent.

History

Lucas was founded in 1969 and its sister operation, Lucas Fit Out, was established in 2008. Danny Lucas joined the company in 1982 and became managing director in 1997. In a management buy-out in late 2010 he acquired the main shareholding and became executive chairman and managing director of Lucas. The company completed building a new innovation centre at its headquarters, and opened a new visitor and learning centre there in March 2018.

Awards

Lucas won the Finishing and Fit Out Category in the Specialist Awards organised by Construction News in 2010, 2012, 2014 and again in 2019. Lucas also won the Specialist Contractor category of the 2014 Building Awards organised by Building magazine. It was named Specialist Contractor of the Year in the Construction News Awards 2017 and in 2019 was named the first ever winner of the magazine's Outstanding Contribution to Construction award. The company was included in the "Financial Times 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies" and also named in the London Stock Exchange's "1000 Companies to Inspire Britain". Lucas was also the first winner in the National Technology Awards 2018 of the Manufacturing and Construction Category, which it won again in 2019.

Services

Lucas provides decorative and protective coatings services including general decoration, spray applied finishes, protective and hygienic coatings and special paint effects. It also provides commercial fit out and finishing services. In July 2010 the company re-launched the Muralplast brand of coatings and protective finishes. In February 2017 it launched Lucas Breathe, a protective treatment for stone and concrete surfaces that reacts with sunlight, activating a catalytic reaction with pollutants in the air, turning them into harmless trace elements which disperse naturally. The company is now a Living Well Alliance partner with the British Lung Foundation. It opened its own 3D printing laboratory in June 2019.

Lucas ProTools

Lucas Pro Tools is a subsidiary company providing a range of products for painting and decorating professionals. The company and its flagship product, the ProFinish paintbrush, was launched at an event held at the McLaren Technology Centre in November 2014. The brush design includes a hand-crafted, FSC accredited beech wooden handle and DuPont Chinex filaments.
In 2015 the ProFinish brush won the product design prize at the Red Dot Awards. It was also shortlisted for product of the year at the Mixology awards, organised by Mix Interiors magazine. Lucas launched its online Lucas ProStore in March 2019.

Projects

Lucas has undertaken many large finishing and fit out projects. They have included Heathrow Terminal 5, the O2, the 2012 Olympic Stadium, the Shard of Glass, Centre Point, Television Centre, the Bloomberg headquarters building, Southbank Place and Battersea Power Station. Heritage projects have included the Guildhall in London, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon and the Café Royal in London's Regent Street. Other projects include Westfield Stratford City shopping centre in East London, Birmingham New Street station, and the Tate Modern extension.
Lucas's commercial buildings fit out and finishing service have been deployed on financial datacentres, facilities at Heathrow and the refurbishment of the Savoy Hotel in London. It delivered the fit-out of the two stations at the Emirates Air Line cable car crossing over the River Thames in East London.