News
April 2012
Well after the Lord Mayor’s Show it has all gone rather quiet, particularly as a result of the rain of April and May which have stymied a couple of our riverside schemes.
All is not gloom however, and our progression of work for the Environment Agency continues with a mixed civils job at Lydney Harbour including a new pontoon, a long structural sewer replacement in a flood bank at Leicester, a couple of headwall screen jobs and a habitat creation scheme near Gloucester. Two small desilting schemes and two minor refuse chute replacements at Coventry and Middlesborough complete the package.
There is not much of our specialist civils work around at present and despite being linked to many web based contract lead sites, we are looking a little thin on the tender front. Time to catch up with some of the training and cpd that we have been putting off since the New Year.
February and March 2012
We are shaping up for our busiest February and March for a number of years.
We have started and finished a riverbank erosion prevention project at Oswestry and a wetland scrape near Worcester.
The larger contracts near Shrewsbury and Coventry are underway along with those recently awarded for canoe launches at Hereford, habitat creation at Stourport, high rise refuse chute replacement at Smethwick, weir works at Alcester and headwalls and screens at various Midland locations.
We suspect that much of the work is as a result of it being the end of the budgetary year but nevertheless is welcome. Long may it continue.
We have had two estimators busy for the whole of February on interesting schemes throughout the country and we hope that this results in a continuity of work into April and May.
What else? Well our Environment Agency Framework prequalification exercise is well underway as is the preparation for our CHAS audit. We have also been updating our sustainability monitoring procedures. We want to be able to actually demonstrate that “we walk the walk as well as talking the talk”.
December 2011 and January 2012
Unfortunately the flood alleviation scheme near Gloucester mentioned in our last diary didn’t happen but contracts for a reservoir flood safety scheme near Shrewsbury, a fish pass at Baginton Mill near Coventry and a roads repair contract at Lea Marston north of Birmingham have been received so we cannot complain.
The final tidy up of the Broom Flood Alleviation Scheme and the wetland creation scheme at Glastonbury have taken a little longer than expected – even light rain days in the winter take a while to drain and dry out.
A hopeful sign for the future is that we have been extremely busy on tenders and tender pre-qualification questionnaires. Our records on both are pretty good so we shall see over the next few months.
October and November 2011
We have been extremely busy since our last diary entry and have now completed the dams work in Richmond Park, the canoe access points on the River Wye and the habitat creation scheme on the River Chelt. Photos of the Richmond Park project are in our Project Portfolio.
The Broom Flood Alleviation scheme is also nearing completion and we have started and finished a fish pass near Cleobury Mortimer and a headwall at Bewdley. All these schemes have been a pleasure to work on in the dry, mild autumn that we have had.
Having built up our labour force to nearly our pre-recession levels we are hopeful of maintaining continuity but have not been helped by delays at Tamworth and the Vale of Evesham. On the other hand we have commenced work on a SSSI at Hurcott Pools near Kidderminster, are shortly to commence reinstatement of a Peat Extraction site near Glastonbury for Natural England and are hopeful of a £400,000 flood alleviation/wetland creation scheme near Gloucester. A dry winter would be appreciated.
The external audits covering our ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 accreditations were successfully undertaken and we are now beginning the process of similar Constructionline and CHAS audits. Maintaining accreditations are a time consuming process but so essential to demonstrate our continued commitment to strong management systems which match our practical construction expertise
The next lists of “to do’s” include our Carbon Saving Calculations and other Sustainability Targets.
We hope to produce another diary entry in December, but just in case we don’t – Happy Christmas to all our readers.
August and September 2011
It is nice at long last to be busy and in a position to build up our labour force once again – long may it continue.
The Broom Flood Alleviation Scheme is in full swing turning over £165,000 in the month of August.
The Ross on Wye Canoe passes were started in August and are nearly complete as we near the end of September.
The dam overflows in Richmond Park for The Royal Parks kicked off in early September and should be complete next month. A huge, beautiful park with deer and parraqueets alongside our site. We recommend a visit if you are ever in the area.
These were all contracts that were expected in our last diary note but a new addition is on the outskirts of Cheltenham where we are re-aligning the River Chelt in a habitat creation scheme. Once again a really enjoyable working environment.
Other news includes the award of a contract for the construction of a fish pass on the River Anker at Tamworth plus we are also hopeful of news of a wetland scrape and two flood attenuation ponds in the Vale of Evesham. A dry autumn would be appreciated.
We are still busy on the tender front with recent tenders submitted for a listed SSSI site in Wales and a number of other similar schemes. Here’s hoping.
Our ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 annual external audits come along shortly. Although these audits involve a considerable amount of preparation and documentation, we do actually welcome them as a means of testing our management systems, especially where these days so much of our work is environmentally sensitive.
June and July 2011
First the good news, we have started the Broom Flood Alleviation Scheme in the Vale of Evesham and another F.A.S. for Prodrive at Banbury. Frank Birch himself is on this contract and the first bit of bad news is that he’s got his eye on a new, very expensive company car!!!
Further good news is that we have started and finished two small contracts for West Mercia Constabulary and West Midlands Fire & Rescue as well as a couple for the Environment Agency.
The next two items of bad news are that the contracts in Ross on Wye and Richmond Park have been slightly delayed by planning issues. Hopefully these will be resolved shortly.
What else? Well we have been very busy with Pre Qualification Questionnaires for decent sized river and lake related contracts up and down the country. PQQ’s are hard work but from our point of view well worth the effort if we are ultimately amongst a select group of chosen tenderers.
Tenders are still rolling in and so we are more confident than we have been at any time in the past six months.
April and May 2011
The past two months have been the quietest back to back months for perhaps twenty years. Clients have seemed loath to kick off contracts where our tender was the lowest. Anyway times are about to change.
- The pre-contract meeting for the £600,000 Broom Flood Alleviation Scheme for the Environment Agency is taking place as the writer writes this diary.
- The construction of canoe passes on the River Wye at Ross on Wye, also for the Environment Agency starts shortly.
- Spillway alterations on two dams in Richmond Park for The Royal Parks begin in July.
Hopefully the light at the end of what has seemed a long tunnel. Here’s to a long sunny summer.
