Medcon was founded in 1956 by Mr Nicolas Karantokis, who remained Chairman until 1977. The company’s original construction projects were for the British military. Medcon became a building and civil engineering contractor in 1959, and soon came to prominence as a leading civil engineering business on the island. The company moved all its operations to the Middle East in 1974, and formed an alliance with the Alnaboodah Group based in Dubai, during which time several prestigious projects were completed in the Gulf. These collaborations continued until 1986 when Mr Karantokis brought the business back to Cyprus. 

In the early 1990s, Medcon began quarrying operations. In 1997, Demetra Karantokis, the daughter of the founder, became Chief Executive Officer, and the company underwent a period of modernisation. Mr Pierides explains that, “this related particularly to the introduction of total quality management (TQM) practices as well as other new procedures, developing human skills and updating company equipment, and also a policy of more frequent outsourcing and subcontracting of non-core activities.” He continues: “In 2008, we joined our quarrying and asphalt operations with the Cyfield Group, with each party retaining its own management structure.”

Keeping in contact

Medcon is part of the Karantokis Group, and is also involved in leasing and servicing heavy plant and machinery, and property development. The company continues to be a family-run business, with a small governing board, which maintains contact with the daily operations of the business. Mr Pierides notes: “This allows for a more in-depth insight into the company’s activities with an almost entrepreneurial approach to changes in the industry.” Medcon has procurement, estimating, purchasing, project planning, as well as health and safety and environment departments. Mr Pierides states: “We have a number of highly qualified engineers in the planning department; usually sufficient to assign one project per engineer, so each engineer can see a project through from start to finish.” 

Medcon has two quarries and two asphalt plants, each with its own associated offices and warehouses, as well as main and satellite mobile on-site testing laboratories that check the chemical composition and strength of concrete and asphalt core samples. 

Mr Pierides explains: “The Public Works Department, the Electricity Board and the Water and Sewage Boards are major clients. We have also completed projects for the private sector, including the Vassiliko Cement Factory. Also, we have collaborated with Nemesis Construction and Predessa, a desalination specialist. Other joint initiatives have been undertaken with Iacovou Brothers Construction and Christoforos D Costinidies AE, the latter for building a small port in Zigi, Cyprus.

Strength through diversity

Mr Pierides selects three projects to illustrate Medcon’s range of expertise, the first being the Strovolos Industrial Estate Interchange that intersects the busy main highway into Nicosia, a project worth CYP8.5 million. He explains: “We proposed an alternative design involving the use of the reinforced earth method, which saved much time and money. We completed the project with minimal traffic disruption.” The second project, the Rizoelia Ag. Athanasios Interchange near Limassol, funded by the EU and worth €11 million (the work executed by MEDCON) won a sustainable development award for innovative design and execution established by a joint agreement between Cyprus and Greece. Mr Pierides explains: “It was necessary to underpin two pressurised water mains pipes without disrupting the flow of water. We had to pile bore holes beneath the pipes while holding them in place with prefabricated steel support beams.” The third project was undertaken for the Vassiliko Cement Company to construct a silo to store cement clinker. Mr Pierides recalls: “The silo was 100 metres in diameter, and was built by using the slip-forming method in which shuttering is moved along the surface of the construction structure, so that concrete can be poured continuously to avoid construction joints. This continued for 14 days and consumed 7,000 cubic metres of concrete. As the silo walls were a metre thick, there were a few problems due to overheating during setting of the concrete.” 

Mr Pierides notes: “We used a specialist sub-contractor to adapt slip-forming for the local climatological conditions, and to allow us to move at different speeds during day and night, to avoid thermal stressing of the concrete.” The company also utilises the well-established post-tensioning technique. Mr Pierides explains: “This involves threading a cable made of steel or synthetic material through a sleeve placed in concrete before it sets. The free ends of the cable are clamped and tightened by using jacks. Post-tensioning is designed to ensure that the concrete remains in compression and never goes into tension. “The jacks are obtained from Freyssinet, one of Medcon’s major suppliers which specialises in bridge building. Mr Pierides adds: “Another of our key suppliers is Metso Minerals who will shortly be providing a new crushing line for one of our quarries.”

Currently, most of Medcon’s projects are confined to Cyprus, although occasionally it acquires property and land elsewhere. Mr Pierides elaborates: “Membership of the EU will definitely help us bid for contracts in what has become a more transparent environment, and it will also help with acquiring and moving staff between projects.” 

Being ahead of time

Mr Pierides believes that Medcon’s success can be attributed to its management structure, its approach to business, and its strong commitment to staff training. He explains: “We can virtually respond instantaneously to acute problems such as a health and safety issue, as well as to changes in market conditions, with decisions being made by the Chief Executive Officer following board discussion. In this way, we can take calculated risks while retaining a competitive edge.” Mr Pierides continues: “Secondly, we consider the timely completion of projects to be part of our ethos and culture which enables us to cultivate successful and lasting relationships with clients, and thirdly we believe that we only take on realistic commitments.” Moreover, Medcon ensures that all its staff are equipped with appropriate, up-to-date and straightforward protocols and the necessary tooling, and that health and safety is taken seriously. Mr Pierides explains: “We comply with relevant EU regulations for health, safety and environmental issues, and send employees on training courses. Also, we are accredited according to ISO 9001 (for quality control), and currently we are undergoing certification for ISO 14000, ISO 21000 and ISO 18000 (covering environmental and health and safety in the work place, respectively). In addition, we ensure that our products have ‘CE’ markings, where necessary.” 

Achieving more and consuming less

With regard to the environment, Medcon recycles as much as 70 percent of its surplus construction materials, in conjunction with a local company, CMA. However, Medcon is now certified to handle its own waste. Material that cannot be recycled is either stored centrally for use on another project or disposed of constructively. Mr Pierides explains: “When, for example, we remove asphaltic pavement, we donate it, for example, to the local community to be used as rubble for playing fields or to farmers to build a track.” Medcon also minimises transportation of materials and people, to reduce fuel, wear and tear and exhaust emission. Mr Pierides notes: “Most of the environmental issues relating to projects are specified according to EU Directives. We also balance the amount of excavation with the amount of fill-in material to conserve construction sites as far as possible, and we also monitor fuel efficiency of plant material and vehicles, if necessary, replacing them with more-efficient models.” 

Currently, Medcon is developing a total quality management system to integrate the three separate activities of quality control, health and safety and environment into one operational unit, to improve the manageability, efficiency, consistency and auditing of all the procedures. Mr Pierides explains that, “most of our internal audits are informal question and answer sessions, to help us identify problems and deal with them effectively and positively, for example by explaining the need to wear protective clothing and footwear, and by providing suggestions to make this more practicable.” However, Medcon makes clear to all its staff and contractors that there can be no compromises regarding safety. 

The company has an active research and development programme to improve construction designs and techniques, as a result of feedback provided by individual project teams, and by the company’s Chief Quality Controller. Also, Medcon occasionally bids for small, interesting contracts to gain more experience. The company also attempts to pool resources for different projects, particularly when they are at nearby sites, to minimise costs, logistical problems and carbon footprint. The scheduling of new projects takes into account company policy of completing and delivering projects one or two months ahead of time per year of project duration (for a three year project, equivalent to three or four months early). 

Building for the future

The current global financial crisis has had beneficial and detrimental effects on Medcon’s activities. For example, there is a trend toward more build and operate, and transfer and design and build projects being advertised, especially by the public sector. This is aimed at accelerating the speed with which projects are completed, and Medcon considers this will increase its ability to shape the future of the regional civil engineering industry. However, the drop in property values that occurred elsewhere before it happened in Cyprus, particularly in the United Kingdom and Russia, has prompted owners to sell holiday homes in Cyprus to purchase cheaper properties in their own countries, contributing to the decline in property values in Cyprus. These changes have prompted Medcon to reconsider its involvement in the property market and in design and build contracts. Mr Pierides believes that, “Medcon should be able to weather the recession as we have avoided over-reliance on property development. We have put a few development projects on hold, while we are proceeding with some others. There are also changes being made to construction techniques, particularly those aimed at improving thermal performance.” 

The construction of an industrial estate, primarily for its own usage, is one project that Medcon has decided to continue with. This will include new management offices and a workshop and vehicle maintenance garage, as well as other units for leasing. The company also intends to proceed with two residential development projects to take advantage of cheaper materials now, and the upturn in the market when it occurs. Medcon also plans to refurbish two properties, and it will be building a new asphalt plant that will require new offices, a storage depot and a warehouse. In addition, Medcon’s first crushing plant and associated facilities are due for modernisation in 2010. Mr Pierides adds: “We are planning to offer more services, for example engineering consultancy and project management. Also, we are implementing a comprehensive information technology initiative to update our existing computer systems and to computerise all other processes. In addition, we are in the process of building a new head office.” 

Medcon Construction Limited has clearly managed to expand and diversify into a highly successful and competitive business, while retaining the advantages of being a small organisation, particularly the ability to react rapidly to market changes and to involve its workforce in quality control and health and safety issues. The company’s flexibility and prudent but entrepreneurial approach to business,’ the current economic climate, should enable it to continue to grow and take full advantage of the upturn when it occurs.