ISSUE 02 | DECEMBER 2013
IN THIS ISSUE Raymond Brown 60th Anniversary Celebration in Pictures
Planning Success for Raymond Brown Aggregates
South East Division Forecasts Best Year Ever
As we reach our 60th Year of Trading It was a pleasure to host almost 350 colleagues and guests from all regions at our 60th anniversary celebration. The evening proved to be a great success and my thanks to everyone involved for taking the time and effort to participate and for the resultant photographs. It is pleasing to report a general improvement in trading opportunities with significant growth in Group turnover, up from £73m to £85m, with all companies trading profitably. I am particularly pleased with the progress made by informing and involving staff in our future plans. The series of regional staff seminars and communication events have provided a good opportunity to discuss and develop our plans whilst seeking suggestions on potential new markets. With a good level of work in hand and a strong pipeline of future opportunities, I feel confident that we are well poised in an improving market. It is a testament to the contribution of staff, both past and present that the Raymond Brown Group continues to flourish whilst retaining the family feel. Now in our 61st year, I believe that Mr Raymond Brown would be justifiably proud of the business we have become. Finally, I thank you for your continued contribution and wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Kelvin White, Group Chief Executive
Investors in People I am pleased to advise that following the recent assessment by Inspiring Business Performance, all Group companies have been awarded ongoing accreditation as Investors in People. The interviews, with 44 staff from across the Group, sought to gather the opinions of employees on training and personal development, company culture and communication of strategic plans. The report concludes with the following paragraph:-‐ “Without any doubt the Raymond Brown Group fully demonstrates its ongoing commitment to its people and fully recognises the value of all its employees. Learning and development is very well supported and considerable investment is demonstrated to individuals at all levels and within all job roles and activities. There is no doubt that the Group continues to fully justify its accreditation as an Investor in People.” In addition, the report identifies a number of common themes raised by those interviewed which include:-‐
■ A culture of hard work, honesty and integrity ■ Workforce proud to be part of, and committed to, the Raymond Brown culture and ethos ■ Retention of the “family feel”
The Directors and I are very proud of this report and would like to thank the staff who participated in the assessment for their positive feedback. The Raymond Brown Group is committed to affording all staff the opportunity to realise their potential and I confirm that we will continue with this investment in the future. Kelvin White, Group Chief Executive
2
HEALTH & SAFETY, QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENT
There is a lot to celebrate this Christmas! As it is the end of the year it becomes a natural time for us to reflect on what we have achieved over the past 12 months. From our triple RoSPA award success, to gaining the Principal Contractors Licence for rail work, we have pushed ourselves hard to achieve. Some of you may not be aware that we recently had outstanding scores issued by Achilles UVDB Verify: Office Site H&S 96.7% 94.4% Environment 91.8% 96.4% Quality 96.1% 97.7%
To be recognised so highly by an external audit is obviously a great boost to the company but achievements like this do not just belong to the HSQE Department. Without the help and assistance of everyone within the Raymond Brown Group, such recognition would not be possible. Not only have we had such recognition externally, but the Groups accident frequency rate has dropped again this year. This is down to every employee within the Group helping take care of themselves and those around them. So what next? We can’t just stop there, a New Year is always a good time to renew our efforts, many of us make New Year resolutions to help us achieve in the year ahead. So we should take our Christmas break as well deserved time off, to congratulate ourselves on what we have achieved, but then to renew our efforts in the New Year.
There are still areas where we can improve and any accident is one accident too many! The Group HSQE Department would like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported us over the year and wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. But just remember, more than 80,000 people a year need hospital treatment for injuries such as falls, cuts and burns over the festive period. During Christmas, your home is likely to be full of people and, in the excitement, accidents can easily happen. Around 350 people a year are hurt by Christmas tree lights, according to RoSPA. Injuries include people falling while they are putting them up, children swallowing the bulbs, and people getting electric shocks and burns from faulty lights. Also, beware of your Christmas tree. That Norwegian spruce is not as innocent as it looks. Every year about 1,000 people are injured by their tree, usually whilst fixing stars, lights or other decorations to the higher branches. Don’t be one of those people and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Kieren Hush, Group HSQE Compliance Manager
Boots & Suits Thank you to everyone for their contributions in this edition of the Group Newsletter. The next issue will be due out in 2014 and any news for inclusion can be emailed or given to Kerry Smith ([email protected]).
3
Raymond Brown recruited to rescue Cornerstones Primary School
The successful completion of the Cornerstones Church of England Primary School by Raymond Brown enabled the children to start as planned on Tuesday 3rd September. Raymond Brown Building Ltd were approached by Hampshire County Council in July to deliver the first phase of the school facility by the start of the September school term, following the unfortunate termination of its previous contractor. Understanding the highly political priority of the project, and the obvious urgency for the school to be ready in time for the children, Raymond Brown took on the challenge to deliver the school facility within a phase 1 programme of just 6 weeks! The works involved the car parking, playground, infrastructure and services to the new modular temporary school. The project has demonstrated the growing strength and capabilities of the Raymond Brown Group, with several companies having an involvement in order to complete the contract on time. The project was managed by Raymond Brown Building Ltd with plant, machinery and staff from Raymond Brown Construction Ltd, IBA Aggregate and muck away from Raymond Brown Aggregates and skip hire from Brownskips.com. The children were all given Raymond Brown hi-‐vis vests, hard hat pencil sharpeners and pencils to keep, to remind them of the dangers of construction sites. Simon Jones, has said “Raymond Brown were thrilled to be approached by Hampshire County Council to take on the works. It was a team effort by all parties, and Kevin Valentine and I would like to thank all staff involved for their hard work and determination to get the project completed on time. We all appreciated the urgency of this contract and concentrated extremely hard to ensure that the school was ready for the children.” Steve Clow, assistant director property services for Hampshire County Council said “I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and your team for completing this very significant project for us. I have received excellent feedback about your willingness to take on the challenge after we had terminated the previous contract." The school children even made up a song to the rhyme of Bob the Builder for Tom (Lawrence) the Builder, which they sang to him (pictured, above).
4
AGGREGATES
Tipper Fleet join in the Celebrations The Raymond Brown Aggregates tipper fleet, which is already in the process of a re-‐branding exercise, have joined in with the 60th anniversary celebrations! Over 20 lorries have so far been adorned with the new 60th anniversary celebration logo on the rear, and there will be more to follow over the coming weeks.
Lee Thompson promoted to Operations Director After over five years working for Raymond Brown Minerals & Recycling, Lee Thompson has been promoted to the position of operations director. In his new role, Lee is responsible for managing operations on all current and future sites. Mark Isaac, managing director said, “I would like to congratulate Lee on his new challenging role. He brings considerable experience to the post from both an operational and management perspective which he has gained from the last 24 years in the industry.”
Huge Planning Success for RBA
I am pleased to announce that we have achieved some very significant planning successes during October which secure some very important elements of the business for the future. Firstly, the extension to Binnegar Quarry near Wareham. For those of you who do not know, we have been extracting and selling sand from Binnegar Quarry since 2002 at a rate of over 200,000 tonnes per annum. This has been one of the key parts of the business and the extension to the quarry will allow us to continue this success story for the foreseeable future, so thanks and congratulations go to all the team at Binnegar Quarry. On the 24th October 2013, planning permission was granted from Hampshire County Council to re-‐locate the Blue Haze IBA (Incinerator Bottom Ash) processing operation to our A303 Recovery Facility near Andover, pictured below. In preparing the planning application, a considerable amount of work was involved in site design to protect the underlying ground water. Local residents, including the neighbouring solar farm, were consulted through a series of open days to address their concerns. The site operations will be closely controlled with a contained water management system to ensure dust and odour nuisance does not arise. The project will include a major project to re-‐profile the site and considerable concrete works, including a containment lagoon by Raymond Brown Construction Ltd. The existing plant will be dismantled and upgraded to improve operational efficiency and achieve optimum recycling rates. The total project costs will be in excess of £2m and it is hoped the re-‐location can be completed by mid-‐2014. The project will be linked to an extended contract with Veolia Environmental Services for processing IBA received from the three Energy from Waste Facilities located in Hampshire. Many thanks and congratulations to the IBA team at Blue Haze and the A303 team. I would also like to express my appreciation in particular to Steve Cole who was ably assisted by Lauren Finch throughout the planning process. Stuart Harris, Group Director
5
WASTE SOLUTIONS
New Baler for A303 Materials Recovery Facility RBWS have invested £200k into a new Imabe Baler at the A303 Materials Recovery Facility. The new machine compresses and bales recovered materials such as plastic, cardboard, paper and carpet with a high throughput and minimal labour requirement. It also offers a continuous and fully automatic operation with a wire tie system programmed to vary the amount of wires per bale, which improves conformity and material retention within the bale.
Steve Clasby, managing director said, "We are pleased to welcome Russell on board. His vision, drive and experience within the industry will be instrumental in driving our business forward. Russell will be invaluable in evaluating the current markets, defining appropriate targets for our teams and co-‐ordinating, developing and strengthening our sales functions".
New Skip Lorries for brownSkips.com To deal with increasing skip sales, brownSkips.com have introduced two brand new 7 litre Volvo FLH240 skip lorries to the fleet. These 240bhp lorries, which are based out of the A303 Materials Recovery Facility feature the Raymond Brown specification upright exhaust system to minimise dust pollution on construction sites. Managing director, Steve Clasby said, “These are the first Volvos introduced to our skip lorry fleet and we are receiving positive feedback from our drivers. Early indications suggest that we are achieving good fuel efficiency, which is excellent news as we strive to reduce our fuel costs and carbon footprint.”
New Sales Director Raymond Brown Waste Solutions have recently appointed Russell Fleetwood as their new sales director. In this position, he will be responsible for managing the sales team and continuing the sales growth within the division. Russell brings with him almost 27 years of sales experience from both a sales and service background. He joins us from Biffa after four years of heading up their national and regional account teams. Commenting on his appointment, Russell said: "I am delighted to be joining the RBWS team and I am looking forward to my new role and the challenges ahead. The continuing growth that RBWS have seen during this year will provide us with a positive springboard for 2014-‐15. I am pleased to be joining this growing and ambitious company."
6
WASTE SOLUTIONS
Contract News Garmin: Mark Oakley from Garmin Europe, who has been delighted by the service offered by RBWS, has written to say, “We took the difficult decision to leave a trusted waste management company and we have been impressed with the level of service provided. Scott Vidler has been very helpful and is in regular contact to try and improve when necessary, the drivers are patient and polite and the accounts and order taking staff are both friendly and helpful. These important aspects were behind our decision to transfer out our waste commitments direct to the Raymond Brown Group.”
New Contracts: Croudace Homes Development near Romsey worth £17k
Churchill Retirement Living near Romsey worth £12.5k
Willmott Dixon supplying skips to a £22m Care Home Development
brownSkips.com support Longparish Clean Up Day brownSkips.com provided a 20 yard skip free of charge for the Longparish Local Clean Up Day on 7th December. Many people (over 30 adults and lots of children) helped clean up the village and a huge amount of work was undertaken, including stream clearing, litter picking, cutting back vegetation, digging out ditches, cleaning the bus shelter and clearing leaves from the village hall drains, footpaths and the roadway near the school.
Playground Improvements at Barton Stacey School RBWS has proudly presented a cheque for £800 to Barton Stacey Primary School as a contribution towards their playground improvements. Sales director, Russell Fleetwood who visited the school to make the donation said, “We are pleased to be able to contribute towards this project and look forward to seeing the playground when it’s finished. With our head office also being based in Barton Stacey, it was a great opportunity to give something back to the local community.”
brownSkips.com and chiltonSkips.com launch new Websites RBWS are pleased to announce the launch of two new skip hire websites which feature quick and easy 24/7 online booking systems and a secure online payment facility. Adam Murnieks, strategic development manager said, “We anticipate that the demand for online bookings will continue to increase as more and more of our customers are using smart phones and 4g networks. Online sales are already three times higher this year and there is nothing to suggest that we cannot achieve a similar level of growth in 2014. The websites are not just great for our customers; they also reduce call volumes and improve order processing times and accuracy.”
Steve Clasby
7
60th Anniversary Celebration Party, St Mary’s Stadium -‐ 23rd November 2013 The fun 1950s-‐themed celebration party took place at Southampton Football Club, with employees and partners enjoying a three course meal and live swing band, with a funky photo booth and vintage sweetie cart adding to the party atmosphere. To highlight the 60 year celebration, a raffle took place for one lucky employee to win a total of 60 hours paid leave to be added to their existing 2014 holiday entitlement. This was won by General Foreman, Tom Lawrence. First place fancy dress prizes went to site manager, Matt Lonnon and his partner Gemma who both arrived dressed as Andy Pandy and Looby Lou! An impressive 60th anniversary cake was displayed throughout the evening and cut after dinner by Mr Raymond Brown’s wife, Pola Brown and two daughters, Sue and Fiona Brown. The event was a tremendously successful celebration of the last 60 years.
60th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN PICTURES
60th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN PICTURES
60th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN PICTURES
60th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN PICTURES
60th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN PICTURES
60th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN PICTURES
BUILDING
A fantastic year for Raymond Brown Building Ltd I am pleased to announce that 2013 has been a fantastic year for Raymond Brown Building. Apart from our usual school work, it has seen us enter into the high end housing market with the commencement of Beacon Hill Copse, a 6,000 sq ft2 house just outside of Ringwood. Below is an artist’s impression of the front elevation. Beacon Hill Copse will be our flagship housing project; it has already opened the door of opportunity for us in the multi million pound housing market. We are now tendering for an even larger project within walking distance of Beacon Hill and expect a similar sized tender early in 2014. This year we have welcomed six new members of staff who have all settled well into their positions. Existing staff members that have seen promotion include; James Adams, moving into the role of commercial manager, Angela Brown as administration manager, Audrey Duffy as commercial assistant and Lewis Rogers and Tim Godden who both stepped into assistant contracts manager roles at our busiest period to assist Steve Manville with the workload. Spring saw the formation of our Small Works Department headed up by Ian Smicle-‐Thompson and Mike Castle. Both of whom worked immensely hard during the summer holiday rush. At its busiest we ran sixteen live contracts. In July, Raymond Brown Building started its first joint venture with Raymond Brown Construction. Cornerstones Primary School in Whiteley proved to be raging success bringing in one of the best references we have ever received from Hampshire County Council. Hopefully 2014 will bring similar opportunities to pull on the resources of the group. Our success warranted a Communications Day where the whole company paused for a day to review what we have achieved in the last few months, which was followed by an evening at the pub, with a brief presentation by Kieren Hush and myself. We cannot summarise the year without giving mention to the improvements made with regards to our marketing, image and website. With the much appreciated help of Kerry Smith, this revised approach is allowing us to target our most profitable work streams resulting in £41m of tenders to date this year, and with the team that we now have in place, 2014 looks set to be another great year for us. Simon Jones, Managing Director
14
RBB Team visit Rookery Farm Aggregate Recycling Facility and A303 MRF On Friday 15th November 2013, the entire Raymond Brown Building Ltd team went by coach to visit two of Raymond Brown Minerals & Recycling Ltd’s sites; Rookery Farm Aggregate Recycling Facility and the A303 Materials Recovery Facility. The first stop was Rookery Farm Aggregate Recycling Facility in Fareham for a behind the scenes tour of the site from Mark Isaac. The facility, run by the Raymond Brown Aggregates Division, provided an insight into how waste from local construction sites and HWRC’s can be recycled into a useable product for re-‐use in construction. The next stop was the A303 Materials Recovery Facility, run by Raymond Brown Waste Solutions and located in Barton Stacey, near Andover, which serves Hampshire, Wiltshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire and the surrounding areas. The Raymond Brown Building team were split in two and taken on guided tours by Stuart Harris and Steve Clasby to learn about the materials recovery process, from when the waste arrives on site through to the baled recovered material at the end. The final stop was the pub back in Ringwood for a meal and drinks, with a brief presentation by Simon Jones and Kieren Hush. By giving the whole company the opportunity to have tours of both facilities, it has enabled us all to learn more about recycling and fully appreciate the operations of Raymond Brown Minerals & Recycling Ltd. Today was a fantastic opportunity to pause and take stock of how much we have achieved as a Group within the last few years. Our performance stands as testament to the dedication and commitment of the whole team, and the Communications Day gave us the chance to say a big thank you to all the staff at RBB. Simon Jones, Managing Director
BUILDING
Steve and Tim Godden complete the Rad Vlaanderen Stuttgart Challenge 2013 Congratulations to our father and son team who have completed their cycle ride across Europe to raise money for charity. Steve Godden, general operative, was joined by his son Tim, site manager in the Cycle Adventure Charities’ Rad Vlaanderen Stuttgart Challenge at the end of September. Along with other members, Andrew Godden and Richard Gulliver, Team G-‐Force, cycled in relay, covering a distance of 500+ miles across Belgium and Germany in just three days! The team raised approximately £2,500, which was given a generous boost of £750 from the Raymond Brown Group, half of which will be given to the Cycle Adventure Charities’ (CAC) nominated charities which are The British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK. The remaining sponsorship will be shared equally between three local charities that the team have chosen.
15
WILKINS
National Trust Refurbishment Buscot & Coleshill Estate, Wiltshire Wilkins Builders are pleased to announce that they have recently completed their first ever National Trust project. The National Trust are continually aiming for their buildings to become increasingly more energy efficient and the 18th century cottage refurbishment consisted of a new kitchen, bathroom and internal redecoration along with energy saving measures such as secondary glazing, loft insulation, low energy lighting, draught proofing and water saving devices.
The project was successfully completed on time and to the high standards of finish that Wilkins Builders are well known for.
Bricklayer builds on a Milestone Congratulations to bricklayer, Ian Beaven who is this year celebrating a milestone 25 years of service for Wilkins Builders. Ian has been practising his skills on hundreds of Wilkins projects from new build, listed building refurbishments and day-‐to-‐day reactive maintenance works. Pictured, Ian receiving his certificate of achievement from Adrian Wilkins.
Wilkins Builders rolls out another 6X Building
Wilkins Builders are pleased to be carrying out another major project for Wadworth’s Brewery of Devizes, Wiltshire. The Crown Inn public house near Dyrham Park, Bath is being enlarged with nine new letting rooms to take advantage of its prime location near to Bath and the Cotswolds. The £380,000 project will provide Wadworth with a beautiful stone clad building with reconstituted stone roof tiles that will blend in with the traditional Cotswold landscape. The main building is also being altered to create new living accommodation for the assistant manager. The works are all due for completion before the start of the summer tourist season.
Wilkins Builders goes to the Dogs... and Cats Home Wilkins Builders has added a new major name to its growing customer list this year. It has been enlarging the RSPCA Cats and Dogs facility at Claverton Down in Bath. The new Welcome Building costing £400,000 started in July and comprises 40 new cat pens for abandoned cats and mum’s with kittens. In addition to the new building, 32 dog pens will also have their concrete floors refurbished.
The works are due to be completed in January 2014.
Age is no Barrier to Ron Franklin – 78 Years Young Ron Franklin, yardman at Wilkins Builders, had his 78th birthday recently. Ron, or ‘Rocket’ to some of his colleagues, has been working for Wilkins Builders for 13 years, following many years keeping the boilers going at the town’s Harris Meat Factory buildings and then retirement from his milkman’s duties. Industrious Ron finds himself busy keeping the yard tidy, delivering and collecting materials and plant from site, and keeping the stores in order. You just can’t keep a good man down! Kelvin White Group Chief Executive
16
CONSTRUCTION
Volkswagen Pre-‐Delivery Inspection Facility Contract Award This £919k scheme for Peel Ports, initially comprised of the groundworks for a new shed and the resurfacing of the existing parking area, which has since increased exponentially. The tendered project changed in work content one hundred fold. Since the start of this contract, we have added ducting and bases for the CCTV and lighting, a fueling station and vehicle wash down area as well as a completely different design on the resurfacing works. Once again, due to the efforts of the site team we have a very satisfied client who can see that we are helping to sort out issues whilst maintaining a challenging programme.
South East Division Forecasts Best Year Ever Following a slow start to the year, a summer of awards has resulted in the South East Division forecasting its best year ever. Since the beginning of the summer, contract awards of note include; £3.5m Haywards Heath Relief Road, £4.4m Smurfit Kappa Phase 2, £1m Volkswagen Pre-‐delivery Facility, and a £3.5m Greenwich Swing Bridge. A projected turnover of £12m with around £4m secured for next year puts us in a position of great optimism. My thanks to all staff in the division who, through a combined effort, have made this possible after a tough few years. Jeff Roberts, Divisional Director North Middlesex Hospital This contract was part of a £50m project won with Kier (London) Ltd as part of their Procure 21 Hospital Framework for the construction of a new maternity unit in North London with a value of £2.7 million. Work began initially on an enabling works package in November 2012 whilst the full package was being negotiated for commencement in January 2013. We were set a challenging programme requiring the rapid mobilisation of resources to work on a number of different areas including foundations and drainage for the main hospital unit, external foul and storm drainage, a new foundation for a generator house and five car parks.
Smurfit Kappa Phase 2 Contract Award This £4.4m scheme, part of a £150m new paper mill was successfully bid and negotiated mainly due to the successful delivery of the Phase 1 works, where RBC demonstrated to the client that by working with them to mitigate their delay issues we can deliver a quality product to time and budget. The contract commenced mid October 2013 and is progressing on programme with the pouring of concrete floors at several different heights throughout the building including 12.5m up from ground level. This is made more difficult by the fact that the cladding and precast concrete wall contractors are in front of us.
As works progressed, announcements were made in the local press regarding the closure date of the existing maternity unit some miles away and the opening of the new North Middlesex Hospital Unit which concentrated minds due to the proximity of the date of the 21st November for the arrival of the first patient. The final push to get the external works finished was hampered by delays on the main building fabric but our site team rose to the challenge and the unit opened for business with the first baby safely delivered that day. Some areas remain to be tidied up but we will shortly be demobilising from a site that we can be proud of. Our site team, in no particular order was Pat Devine, Gavin Tait, Daniel Nicholls, Robin Farnish and Bill Evans.
There remains a number of further significant packages yet to be let, which, with our current performance we would hope to secure. Well done to the site team, keep up the good efforts!
This contract has doubled in value and scope. The client has approached us with the opportunity for further projects in 2014. All this has been made possible by the site teams continual management and delivery ethos, you all know who you are, keep it up!
17
CONSTRUCTION
RBC Southern Division secures over £10m of new Contracts We are pleased to announce that over the last three months, the Southern Division of RBC has been awarded in excess of £10m of new contracts. The largest of these is the construction of a new wet basin and 600T hoist dock for Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth worth £6.2m which starts on site in the New Year. Pictured below left. Also commencing in January 2014 is the £550k reconstruction of three bridges spanning the river in Ripley for Surrey County Council, installation of seventy four more fenders for DP World in Southampton worth £600k and a £268k beach recharge scheme at Selsey and Wittering for Chichester District Council. The £2.1m slope stabilisation and beach hut replacement scheme on Swanage seafront was awarded to us by Swanage Borough Council in November and has since commenced on site. Pictured below right. The final project of these recent awards is the £450k Chapelhay Gardens retaining wall reconstruction in Weymouth for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council which commenced on site at the beginning of November. This moves our ‘work in hand’ position to circa £13m with a number of tenders and negotiated opportunities still being discussed with various clients. As 2013 slowly draws to a close, I would like to thank all the staff for their continued efforts which, after a tough year for work winning, is helping the Southern Division get back on track to our desired and well deserved levels of workload. Kevin Valentine, Divisional Director
New Director for RBC Rail Division As I am sure most of you will already know, Tom Schofield has decided to leave the business to pursue other opportunities. During the last three years Tom has worked tirelessly to build the Rail Division from scratch and I’m sure you will all join me in thanking him for his efforts and contribution to the business. There are tremendous opportunities in the rail sector and the Rail Division is now well established; I am sure it will become an increasingly important part of the business in the future. Tom’s involvement with the ICE Professional Reviews must also be acknowledged. His recent involvement in the scheme has obviously been beneficial, seeing Rob Hayman achieve IEng MICE and Richard Knight achieve Eng Tech TMICE. Both Rob and Richard would like to record their appreciation for Tom’s support and dedication to them both throughout the process. Tom’s contributions to the training and development of employees have also resulted in us achieving the New Forest Business Partnership Training & Development Award for 2012/13. To replace Tom, Brian Shepherd is joining us as our new rail divisional director and many of you will already have met him. I am sure you will all join me in welcoming Brian to the business and that you give him all the help he needs in his new role. Guy Hardacre, RBC Managing Director
18
Green Energy Wales Awards 2013 Winners The Wales Green Energy Awards 2013, organised by RenewableUK, took place at Cardiff Bay on 9th October to celebrate the very best examples of green energy in Wales. There were seven category winners available and Raymond Brown Renewables were nominated twice for the Outstanding Green Energy Project Award. Raymond Brown was nominated for Balance of Plant Contractor at Ysgellog Wind Farm in Anglesey, and our involvement with the Wear Point Wind Farm. It was a great honour to have been shortlisted and to know that Raymond Brown were associated with two out of the four finalists in the Outstanding Green Energy Project category. We are delighted to announce that Ysgellog Wind Farm went on to win the Outstanding Green Energy Project Award. We are extremely proud of our achievement and hope it will continue to raise our profile within the wind energy sector across the UK, and especially in Wales. Chris Craufurd, Operations Director
Survival of the Fittest in Cardiff Members of the Wales office took part in the gruelling 10k Survival of the Fittest Obstacle Race held in Cardiff last month. The event saw the team undertake an obstacle course through the City of Cardiff, clambering over hay bales, wading through the river, carrying sand bags, an army assault course and when they thought it was all over, scaling a 10ft wall.
CONSTRUCTION
The team all managed to complete the course and in doing so raised £1,782.20 for the MS Society. This charity is one which is close to the hearts of many at the Wales office after Nikki Mitchell, business development manager, unfortunately had to leave the organisation earlier this year after being diagnosed with it. In acknowledgment of the hard work and support Nikki gave to the development of Raymond Brown in Wales, the challenge was completed to support the great work of the MS Society. The team hopes that the funds raised will go some way to supporting further research and providing support to other MS sufferers throughout the UK.
Long Service Awards Congratulations to Sean Manning and Kevin Davies for both achieving 25 years service with Raymond Brown. Sean Manning started with the company on 12th April 1988, and Kevin started shortly after on 3rd October 1988. Sean and Kevin were presented with their long service awards at the Southern Division Communications Evening on 24th September by Guy Hardacre and Kevin Valentine.
19
Boots & Suits Thank you to everyone for their contributions in this edition of the Group Newsletter. The next issue will be due out in 2014 and any news for inclusion can be emailed or given to Kerry Smith ([email protected]).
Ellingham & Ringwood Rugby Club Sponsorship Deal The Raymond Brown Group has just agreed a £5,000 sponsorship package with the Ellingham & Ringwood Rugby Club for the 2013-‐14 season. Raymond Brown have been supporting the club each season since its new facilities were built by Raymond Brown Building Ltd in 2008. They have since been enjoyed by various players and supporters alike, as well as being a real asset to the community. Kelvin White has stated, “I am thrilled to announce another season’s sponsorship of the Ellingham & Ringwood Rugby Club. As we achieve our 60th year trading in Ringwood, it is excellent to be able to continue our relationship with an extremely popular and deserving club within Ringwood. Many of our employees are enthusiastic rugby fans, and I speak on behalf of all of Raymond Brown when I say that as the main sponsor, we are proud to be associated with the club.” Peter Pearce, Ellingham & Ringwood Rugby Club chairman said, “We are proud to continue our association with the Raymond Brown Group, who are such a well respected company in the area.” He added, “Our club house was built by Raymond Brown Building and our ground is named after Raymond, who was so supportive of our efforts to develop our own ground in the town, so it is fitting that the Raymond Brown Group are able to continue to be the club’s main sponsor.” Pictured, at the club’s first home league match of the season on Saturday 21st September 2013 at the Raymond Brown Memorial Ground, keen Ellingham & Ringwood supporter, Ben Race from Raymond Brown Construction Ltd, with Team Captain, Duncan Soden. If you would like to attend any matches, the fixtures list is available on the ERRFC website: http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/ellinghamringwood/s/fixtures-‐results-‐17713.html
Wear it Pink Day 2013 Thank you to everyone who took part in the Wear it Pink Day in aid of breast cancer on Friday 25th October. Your generous support helped raise £404.57 across the Group. Congratulations to Sarah Neal, from Raymond Brown Building Ltd who won the raffle, receiving £15 cash and a bottle of wine.
20
Top Related