The year started well for Sir Robert McAlpine when the construction company signed a £220m contract to design and build Arsenal’s new 60,000-seat stadium. The firm has a strong track record on landmark projects, having built the Millennium Dome and the new British Library. It is now run by 10 McAlpine family members through the parent company, Newarthill, which also has property, wind-farm and aviation interests. In 2002 Newarthill had sales of £794m, which remains the latest available figure. It made an operating loss of £4m after running into difficulties with Private Finance Initiative contracts.