News
December 2009 and January 2010
The shortage of work continued through December and then low and behold when we had work to start, down came the snow.
As I write this the thaw is underway and we shall be able to kick off the Environment Agency jobs that have been delayed.
I am pleased to report that we have been busy on the tender front with projects for Solihull and Cotswold Councils and have had a number of new decent opportunities have arrived in the office.
Hopefully with decent weather and competitive tendering we will have better news next month.
November 2009
As forecast, October was quiet and November is set to be even quieter although we do have a few small contracts waiting to start including two river weirs at Ledbury and a dam strengthening in Telford.
We thought that we had an extremely strong tender base but with this countrywide recession, budget cuts all round have demonstrated our need for more potential clients. It does not help that these days a lot of civil engineering work is tied up in Construction and Facilities Management Frameworks. Our head office and site teams are geared up for main contract work rather than the subcontracts resulting from frameworks and so we have set about establishing some new long term contacts. If you are a government funded body with a civil engineering budget you will have probably heard from us during the past few weeks.
In recent years we have had a sequence of £100,000-£250,000 schemes upon which to build our business. This year it has been a series of much smaller schemes, many of which take the same amount of setting up input as a £250k job – oh for a larger scheme!
This quiet time has enabled us to bring forward our training plans and I’m pleased that four of our foreman successfully attended a Site Supervisor Safety Training Scheme (SSSTS) course and have started along the route to their Gold CSCS Supervisors Card. The next planned course is for the three yearly Confined Spaces review in January.
Hopefully better news next month.
September / October 2009
Where did September go? Sorry for the lack of news but with the writer actually acting as setting out engineer/agent on two sites as well as ISO Audits to prepare for, the month seems to have flown by.
We have been busy but still I’m afraid on small but interesting contracts.
The creation of tidal wetland on the Severn Estuary for the Environment Agency/Gloucestershire Wildfowlers Association has been one of the highlights, undoubtedly helped by good autumn weather and no major high tides.
River bank works at Newtown, Wednesbury and Bedworth; landscaping drainage and paving works at Worcester RFC; a vehicle washbay and office foundation work at Brentford; a weighbridge slab at Bristol; the completion of the Highways drainage scheme in North Worcestershire and a number of small West Mercia Police contracts. It’s been a busy period.
Unfortunately October is shaping up to be quiet despite our best tendering endeavours. The larger contracts are just not happening. Here’s hoping for more.
And the ISO yearly audits? No problem – all three, namely ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 successfully completed with complimentary remarks received from the auditor.
August 2009
Well we are busy even if it is on a whole series of small jobs in addition to the two larger contracts we have ongoing at Holy Cross in North Worcestershire and Bridgnorth.
It is also an extremely positive sign that we have been busy on the tender front with over £1 million of quality tenders submitted in the month for quality clients. We now await the results with anticipation.
Although we have an extremely strong tender base the recession has demonstrated that we need to add to the base and so we will be actively seeking new opportunities, particularly on flood alleviation, sewage works, silt removal and reed beds and lagoons.
July 2009
I feel a little more optimistic than last month with two new contracts underway.
- An improved highways drainage scheme for Worcestershire County Council at Clent in the north of the county
- A new large headwall and screen at Bedworth for the Environment Agency
These are in addition to refuse chute replacements in Dudley and the civils necessary to make a new house buildable in Bridgnorth.
I am pleased that we have four new weighbridge civils awaiting commencement in Preston, Reading, Warwick and Bristol and am also hopeful that other tenders will bear fruit shortly.
We could still do with some more work, especially some three-six month schemes that we could get our teeth into. These seem to have disappeared off the radar screen at the moment and the smaller schemes require just as much initial setting up and yet come and go so quickly.
June 2009
As forecast last month, June has been our quietest month for many years.
Two small Environment Agency contracts have progressed through to completion at Gloucester and Stratford respectively. The civils for a house at Bridgnorth are ongoing and a weighbridge slab at Teesport, Middlesborough has started and finished. Other than these we have been slow.
There seems to be two main hopes for the near future, both centrally funded. We are hopeful of more Environment Agency jobs in July as we await the results of a number of submissions and our estimators are at work preparing other budgets. Also, our speciality work, on the replacement of refuse chutes is receiving enquiries.
Even as I write this the instruction has come through to start a refuse chute replacement for Dudley MBC/Hardall International at Lye, near Stourbridge. I hope this trend continues.
As a result of our Environment Agency expertise, we are still dealing with a number of river, brook, lake, desilting and gabion enquiries which should increase the workload, but this type of work is best dealt with during the summer.
May 2009
Unfortunately the month of May has been an extremely quiet month for us. A shortage of work has been compounded by three small contract starts at Teesport, Brentford and Dudley being delayed until June.
Our works for The Environment Agency fortunately have progressed at Gloucester, Evesham, Stratford, Southam and Scunthorpe with only minor works now outstanding.
A new contract at Bridgnorth is underway where we are carrying out substantial civil engineering works for a new largish house on a sloping plot.
Our estimators have a number of interesting schemes in the office but unfortunately even if our tenders are successful these will not commence until July and hence June, despite the contracts mentioned earlier, will be another quiet month.
April 2009
The month of April is shaping up to be a busy month for us with five Environment Agency contracts underway, the completion of two refuse chute replacement contracts in the West Midlands and our sewage works at Oxford for The Scout Association on stream. We have contracts lined up on behalf of Tesco at Stow on the Wold and Middlesborough and for Enterprise Rent A Car in Brentford in Middlesex but we could still cater for more, later in the month and in May.
The first six months turnover for this financial year is up 33% on our forecasts. We have had a nice dry early spring and if Liverpool could win the Premiership, Worcester Warriors win the European Challenge Cup and Everton qualify for Europe, all the directors would be very happy.
March 2009
The snows of February soon melted and the end of the month became very hectic with clients needing to ensure that this year’s budgets were expended by the end of the month. Hence March has been our busiest month for many years – long may it continue.
By my calculations we have been working on up to seven sites at any one time and my list below highlights the broad range of work being undertaken.
Contracts March 2009 (some quite small)
- Trenance Lake Desilting, Newquay for Restormel Borough Council
- Dam Overflow Renewal, Sandhurst Royal Military Acadamy for PrIDE (M.O.D.)
- New Sewage Treatment Works and Lagoon, Youlbury for The Scout Association
- Headwall Grills, Warwick (7) Birmingham (4) for The Environment Agency
- Flood Alleviation and Remedials, Southam, Lichfield and Gloucester for The Environment Agency
- Fish Habitat, Evesham for The Environment Agency
- Gantry Foundation, Scunthorpe for The Environment Agency
- Refuse Chute Replacements, Brierley Hill for Hardall/Dudley MBC
- Refuse Chute Replacements, Oldbury for Vale/Sandwell MBC
- Highway Drainage Improvements, Worcestershire for Worcestershire County Council
- Foundation Work, Droitwich for West Mercia Constabulary
We are busy on the estimating front and so we are hopeful that the upward blip in workload will continue especially as the gangs from Newquay and Sandhurst return home this weekend with successfully completed contracts under their belts.
January and February 2009
The month of January has been busy on two fronts i.e. our contracts at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and Trenance Lake Desilting at Newquay but our other two teams have been struggling for continuity with a few very small schemes undertaken for West Mercia Police and The Environment Agency plus weighbridge civils for Central Weighing in Manchester.
Our gloom about a short term shortage of work has been balanced by the joy of being included on The Environment Agency Midlands Minor Civil Engineering Framework for the next four years. We are already involved in a number of pre-project plans and are optimistic about contract starts in the next few months.
February has started brightly with the award of a sewage works and eco pond contract at Youlbury Park near Oxford, value £115,000 for a new client namely The Scout Association.
Youlbury was the first permanent scout camp in the world and the facilities are now receiving an upgrade.
As I write this, the snow has fallen in Worcestershire and has affected all our contracts this week. The writer’s grandson has his sledge out for the first time in five years, so I guess we really cannot complain at this hopefully infrequent reminder about the vagaries of England’s weather.
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