Taking pride in the job Our site managers sweep the board again Page 17 The big interview with Jeremy Hipkiss Group Sales and Marketing Director Pages 8-9
Our new maternity policy What's changed Page 11
Our customers How we're putting them first Pages 20-21
Issue 21 Summer 2017
Welcome to issue 21 In my welcome to the last edition, I talked about our strength in the face of a year full of surprises and uncertainty for the industry. So far, 2017 has not proved to be any different – at least in political terms! We have seen a wide-ranging government Housing White Paper announcing new policy on housing overshadowed by a surprise General Election and the uncertainty that a minority government brings. The government has finally triggered Article 50 and we now face an extended period of negotiations on the terms of our exit from the European Union. Not bad for six months!
As you will know, cyber security is ever more important and cyber crime is quickly becoming one of the biggest risks facing businesses across the UK and the world. We focus on what to look out for and how we all need to take responsibility to protect our business. Meanwhile our mission to be the nation’s leading sustainable housebuilder relies on us tackling the issues which matter most to our stakeholders, and we explain how we’re doing that.
Meanwhile, we have closed out FY17 with another very strong operational and financial performance. As always our focus has been on leading the industry by putting the customer at the heart of everything we do. We’ve demonstrated our commitment to quality and customer service by once again being awarded 5* in the HBF’s Customer Satisfaction Survey – for the eighth year in row. The next largest housebuilder with a five-star rating built fewer than 9,000 homes last year compared to our 17,395, a fantastic achievement for our teams. Our site managers also won more Pride in the Job Awards than any other housebuilder for the 13th year in a row.
This Foundations also looks at our new maternity and paternity policies, the fantastic work being done by our graduates, and the Long Service Celebration Dinner in honour of those who have committed many years to Barratt. We’re covering many stages of life in Issue 21!
This edition is also packed full of news about Barratt! We hear about our new Scotland region, our new Chief Financial Officer, and our award winners in Pride in the Job, Health and Safety Awards and Building for Life. The projects roundup gives a great flavour of some of the fantastic communities we are building across the country while we also hear from some of our happy customers.
Group Chief Executive
Readers will get an insight into the life of our Sales and Marketing Director, Jeremy Hipkiss, and we also take a look at Project Darwin, which will develop and improve our customer-facing websites to smooth out our Customer Journey.
Editorial team 1
James Warner Technical, London
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Muneni Chirinda Graduate, Barratt London
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Karen Connell Marketing, West Scotland
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Rob Chilton Design and Technical, GSC
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Estella Vinecombe Group Communications, Kent House
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Jasmine Sommers Graduate, Bristol
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WELCOME
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FOUNDATIONS
In this issue... 2/3
Welcome To Foundations issue 21
4/5
What’s new? News from around the business
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Our new Scotland region Why the Scotland region was created?
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Join our digital evolution Introducing Project Darwin
8/9
The big interview Jeremy Hipkiss, Group Sales and Marketing Director
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Our Graduate Million Makers Update on projects
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Our new maternity policy What's changed
12/13
Projects roundup Award-winning sites
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Celebrating long service 2017 Long Service Dinner
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Whizz Kidz Recent placements around the group
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Pride in the Job awards Our 2017 winners
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Meet the team West Hendon regeneration team
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Sustainability Update on sustainability
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Our customers How we're putting them first
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Safety Focus on mental health
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Cyber security Why it’s important and what you can do
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And finally... Wordsearch Caption competition Builders' one-liners
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CONTENTS
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What's new? Learning and Development – a change on the horizon This summer we’re launching a new MyLearning facility, designed to improve on our current learning and development offers, and increase the opportunities available. The new MyLearning will open up many exciting and innovative ways to learn and share knowledge across the business. We’re introducing some great eLearning content for personal and professional development, as well as simpler online booking for our classroom-based training. We’re also making it even easier to ensure SHE Training is accessible through an online catalogue, and compliance training will be available with automated reminders. Additionally, our Group Policies and Procedures will be housed within the new MyLearning facility, ensuring easier access, alerts when changes are made and a clear record to show when documents have been read, understood and accepted. We already have a great reputation in the industry – and we believe the new MyLearning will help enhance and grow this reputation and ensure Barratt is not only a great place to work, but also the employer of choice in our industry.
We're building for life We are proud to have won 56 Built for Life Awards, more than all other listed housebuilders put together. The awards recognise developments that have achieved good design responses to the 12 key questions set out by the industry standard, Building for Life. (These questions are reflected in our own internal initiative, Great Places). Submitted schemes are judged against the 12 questions using a traffic light system, to assess whether they are eligible to display the Built for Life quality mark. Congratulations to our divisions that have won awards in the past year. Particular recognition should be Preston Gran ge, The Holde given to the developments that have Canter n, bury achieved Built for Life Outstanding, meaning they have been awarded greens for all 12 questions. This is a fantastic achievement and brings our total number of Outstanding awards to 14. Redwood Heights, Plympton*
Exeter
Minerva, Exeter*
Exeter
Canes Meadow, Brixton
Exeter
Preston Grange, Canterbury*
Kent
Aylesham Village 1B, Aylesham*
Kent
New Mill Quarter, Hackbridge*
Kent
Chestnut Grange, Ashford*
Kent
Saxon Place, Harrietsham
Kent
Castle Hill 3B, Ebbsfleet
Kent
Oakwell Grange, Barnet*
North Thames
Kingsbrook Village Ph2, Aylesbury*
North Thames
Heritage Quarter & New Heritage, Whitehill & Bordon
Southampton
Saxon Chase, Bishops Waltham
Southampton
The Pavilions, West End
Southampton
Causeway Farm, Petersfield
Southampton
Oakhill Gardens, Swanmore
Southampton
Gillies Meadow, Basingstoke*
Southern
Elms Field, Wokingham*
Southern
Leithfield Park, Milford*
Southern Counties
Chapel Gate, Basingstoke*
Southern Counties
*Built for Life Outstanding
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WHAT'S NEW?
FOUNDATIONS
New and Scotland On theseNorthern pages, we take a look at a variety of topics that have been making the news around the business. Regions
Magnificent seven! Congratulations to seven of our site managers who have been honoured in this year’s NHBC Health and Safety Awards. Gareth Lewis (East Scotland) and Tony Shopland (London Stratford) were Highly Commended for Health and Safety on their sites.
Regional structure changes As of 1 July 2017, there has been a regional restructure involving a couple of our divisions. Under this restructure, DWH Southern has moved from London and Southern Region into East Region, and our North Midlands division has moved from East Region to our Northern Region.
Another five were Commended: Alex Price – Mercia
SCOTLAND
Allan Barclay – North Scotland
East Scotland North Scotland West Scotland
Alan Grant – West Scotland Tom Hill – West Scotland Sam Yell – London Aldgate The awards are designed to recognise and reward the very best in health and safety, and are also helping to drive up safety standards in the industry by showcasing and sharing best practice.
Design accolade Cane Hill Park, a joint development by our Southern Counties and Kent divisions, has won a national design award. The scheme, on a former hospital site at Coulsdon, picked up the Graham Pye award for the most family friendly plans in the 2017 Housing Design Awards. The judges were impressed by the high quality of both the external and internal design, particularly the use of space and natural light, in the two and three-storey townhouses.
NORTHERN North East Yorkshire East Yorkshire West North Midlands
CENTRAL
Manchester West Midlands South Wales
Mercia North West
LONDON & SOUTHERN
Northampton East Midlands South Midlands Eastern Counties Southern
London Stratford London Brentford London Aldgate Southern Counties North Thames Kent
EAST
WEST
Bristol Exeter Southampton South West
Our new Chief Financial Officer! In June, it was announced that Jessica White would join our Board as Chief Financial Officer. Jessica joined the Group in 2007 as Head of Financial Accounting before being promoted to Group Finance Controller - a position she has held for the past seven years. Prior to this, Jessica was Corporate Accountant at Wilson Bowden plc and spent five years in a variety of finance roles with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. Jessica has a strong track record and a deep knowledge of our business and the housebuilding sector, and will bring valuable experience and expertise to the role. Foundations would like to wish Jessica well in her new role.
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n January, we announced that our Northern Region would be split to form two separate regions – Northern Region and Scotland Region. This split was designed to more accurately reflect our customers’ needs and help us to lead the future
of housebuilding by putting customers at the heart of everything we do. Foundations caught up with Doug McLeod, Regional Managing Director of Scotland, to find out more about the new region.
Our new Scotland Region Why was the new Scotland Region created? There are many reasons why, the first being the Scottish range of house types. These are quite different compared to England and Wales due to Scotland having a completely different set of building regulations, higher thermal values for properties and the requirement to build new homes for lifetime standards, requiring larger houses. We’re also required to provide different elevational treatments to meet the requirements of local planners. How does the Scotland Region compare with our competitors? We have delivered more legal completions than any of our competitors, with an average sales rate per outlet slightly over 0.7. Moreover, with the increasing availability of land in Scotland the senior management team is focused on continuing the growth of the business and increasing our market share. Tell us about your recent award wins. Homes for Scotland is the Scottish Industry equivalent of the HBF, the recent award for Homebuilder of the Year 2017 is the first time a volume house builder has won this prestigious award. The award is recognition of the quality of our product, our people and the service that we provide to our customers. The judging team particularly commented on the high level of engagement Barratt has undertaken with the local community and the pride, passion and commitment of our sales and construction team on site. What does the future hold for Scotland? Scotland as a region has delivered its highest number of legal completions in a generation and there are more land opportunities available to allow Barratt to continue the growth of the region in the foreseeable future.
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OUR NEW SCOTLAND REGION
FOUNDATIONS
Join our digital evolution
Introducing Project Darwin
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uly 2017 marks the fifth anniversary of our current Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes websites. These along with our more recent Barratt London website - are key to driving our sales success. With over 90% of our advertising taking place digitally through means such as email, and on property websites including Rightmove, our websites receive more than 8.5 million visits and generate over 225,000 sales leads a year. More and more people consuming information ‘on the move’ through mobile devices, and customers’ expectations have vastly increased over the last few years. People expect to find what they want, where they want it and when they want it. In order to keep up with continuous changes to technology, Group Sales and Marketing are developing our customer facing websites, with a keen eye on increasing conversions, improving lead quality and creating an online end-to-end Customer Journey. This will both support customers throughout the buying process and give them easy access to relevant and helpful information once they have moved in. The project will be managed by James Wallace, Group Head of Digital, Media and Analysis and run by Shane Lightowler and Leonie Baxter from Group Marketing, with specialist IT support from Andrew Sparrow and Adrian Forbes. In order to take us to the next level and to continue to be digital leaders in our industry, we need to invest in the technology to support us. It is this notion of our digital evolution that inspired the project name, Darwin, after the Victorian scientist who developed the theory of evolution. Over
the next twelve months, the team will be developing and rolling out a new content management system (CMS) which will allow our Group and Divisional Marketing teams to provide more personalised, targeted and engaging content to our website visitors. This will allow us to generate better quality leads, which in turn, will support our sales targets. As a key system used by marketing teams across the Group, it is fundamental that we build and deploy a system that meets the needs of our Marketing teams. We’ve already started to work with a number of divisional marketing teams and have set up a User Forum who will support the project team throughout the system’s development. But more than that, this is a business-wide project, changing how our data is used to target prospective customers, from plot positioning, room dimensions and specific plot details, through to pricing, affordability and enablers to support purchases. It is important that the whole business is on board to support our advancements into a new digital space. Keep up to date with Project Darwin through OurPlace and Foundations.
Project Darwin at a glance: • Introduction of personalised custom er web journeys • Content tailored to a customer’s locatio n • Website experienc es tailored by device • A new system for Divisional Marketing teams
JOIN OUR DIGITAL EVOLUTION
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Jeremy Hipki J
eremy Hipkiss, Group Sales and Marketing Director, has recently started managing our IT functions, as well as taking the lead on our Building Excellence programme… Foundations spoke to him about his role, and what the business simplification project is all about.
Biography Barratt Developments PLC (2008 – Present) Group Sales and Marketing Director The Spirit Group Ltd (2002 – 2007) Marketing Director Regent Inns PLC (1999 – 2002) Head of Marketing Sodexho UK (1998) Operations Director Allied Domecq Retail (1995 - 1998) Area Manager Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (1992 – 1995) Area Manager Graduate Trainee Date of Birth: 19th August, 1971 Nationality: British Status: Married. Two children. Education: Economics B.A. Hons. (2.1) The University of Leeds Interests: Running, fitness training, yoga, cooking, restaurants, wine, the arts and cinema.
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Can you give us a quick overview of what the average day looks like for you? My day usually starts around 6.30am when I catch the bus into work. I use the journey to reply to emails, read the previous day’s press cuttings, customer complaints and prepare for meetings and calls in the day ahead. I'm definitely a morning person so this is also usually a good time for ideas. A typical day will be a mixture of one-toones with some of my eight direct reports, performance reviews with third party agencies, project meetings and various Executive meetings. When not attending a business event or late meeting, I try to get home and read with my eight-year-old daughter before she goes to bed. We're currently on the fourth Harry Potter book and I have to do different accents for all the characters, I'm particularly pleased with my Hagrid impression. I visit our Group Support Centre in Bardon every couple of weeks and go out to divisions as frequently as possible. Divisional visits are definitely the best days in my month, I really enjoy spending time with our teams in the Divisional offices and out on site. I usually come home wanting to move house based on what I have seen! One of our priorities is Customer First - what are the ways we are looking to maintain and improve our performance with our Customers? Putting the Customer First in practical terms means communicating and delivering what we have said we will do. At a site level this is what most of our teams do as a matter of course, following up every sales enquiry, helping customers choose the perfect plot, delivering a home of high standard to the agreed timescale and quickly resolving any issues. In divisions this is about delivering to time and quality for our site teams and colleagues.
JEREMY HIPKISS: THE BIG INTERVIEW
As you will read in this issue, we are currently working on upgrading our websites and digital marketing platforms, this will allow us to streamline and improve the customers’ journey through the home buying process. A huge amount of work has been put into finishing our homes to high standard, from performance management of our suppliers to quality checks and sign off procedures. There is still more to do though, particularly working with our suppliers and subcontractors to ensure we have better performing partners than the competition. We also need to get quicker at resolving issues when they occur which I know all our Divisional Heads of Customer Care are working hard on with Emma Toms and James Nicholls from Group Customer Experience. You are taking the lead on Building Excellence and business improvement, what benefits will we see from this programme? Building Excellence is our margin improvement programme. There are six workstreams covering Sales and Marketing, Construction, Commercial, Land, Product & Layout and finally our overheads. We have done a lot of work in Sales and Marketing in the last couple of years to become more efficient. We are making our marketing more targeted and reducing the cost of leads while streamlining the whole sales process. This is all reducing our cost of sale. In the Construction Workstream, Rhoddy MacKinnnon and his team are in the process of delivering a range of improvements to standardise best practice from compound set up to reducing waste management at site. This will reduce our non-productive costs. While in Product and Layout, Michael Finn and his team have done a great job in redesigning both Barratt and David Wilson housetypes to make them more cost
FOUNDATIONS
iss
THE BIG INTERVIEW
effective, improve layouts and perhaps most importantly easier to build both traditionally and through advanced methods of construction such as timber frame. All our divisions are now plotting and building the new ranges which will make a significant difference to both our profitability and also the quality of product for our customers. It's a win-win. Your responsibilities include IT, what specific projects are you and the IT Team working on at the moment and how will they affect the business? Technology is going to be a significant driver of performance and efficiency over the next few years and forms an important part of the Building Excellence programme. The team in Bardon are exceptionally talented and working really hard on some key improvements. The development team led by Paul Astbury is working on new websites with Group Marketing, supporting Daniel Smith Group Commercial Director and his team develop new Commercial systems, delivering improvements to Construction systems and a new E-Learning platform with HR.
divisions, are dedicated to keeping us all up and running. Next time they help resolve an issue for you, please thank them, it will make their day. Finally, what has been your most memorable moment at Barratt? I can genuinely say that my most memorable moment in recent times has been our long service dinner. I have been with the business nearly ten years but was humbled to spend an evening with people from across our business who have worked for Barratt or David Wilson for 20, 30 and even 40 years. We are really lucky to have such skilled and experienced people working for us.
However, there is also much valuable work that the IT team led by Ashley Brown do that most of the business never sees. As well as looking after 800 offices, they have been upgrading our phone system software and making network improvements that connect all our computers and there has also been a big programme to switch over to iPhones which will make a lot of our mobile working easier. Recently they have spent a lot of weekends and late nights protecting us from cyber attacks - whatever you do, don’t click on links in emails unless you know the source, this is how computer viruses can get in our systems. Finally, and most importantly there is the IT Service Desk and the Application Support team them led by Chris White and Ashley Wheldon. These guys, and the 2nd line engineers who are out there supporting
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or the past few years, our graduates have been putting their ingenuity to the test and taking part in The Prince’s Trust Million Makers Challenge. This year’s graduates have planned a series of fantastic projects to raise money for the charity.
Golden Bricks
The Million Makers of 2017
Legacy Project The graduate team are also taking on the challenge of addressing diversity and inclusion within the construction industry with an ongoing legacy project.
10 Gala Dinner On Friday 14th July, the Aspire Graduates welcomed people from across the industry to the 'Million Makers Black Tie Gala', celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Million Makers Challenge. The event took place at the home of Leicester Tigers, Welford Road Stadium, where former England Rugby Player Martin Bayfield spoke about some of his experiences. As well as an evening full of magicians, a live band and excellent food, a silent auction took place to raise money for The Prince's Trust.
In line with our aim to encourage disadvantaged young people into our industry, the graduates are hosting a ‘day in the life of us’ event, which will invite students of College and University age into a workshop-style experience. This event will showcase exactly what happens within our business with six rotational workshops on land, technical, commercial, finance, construction and sales. The event, taking place on 14 September, will involve numerous speakers and videoed interviews of inspirational individuals within the industry, aiming to show attendees how varied the industry is. “If we can encourage just one young person to take the same path as us then we will have achieved what we wanted to do.” If you are interested in talking at the event, or would like to be involved, please contact Jasmine Sommers in the Bristol Division at jasmine.sommers@barratthomes.co.uk.
The total amount raised from the evening was £9,700 and the graduates would like to thank everyone who attended, sponsored and donated, for their contributions.
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k a e P e e r h T e ir h s k r o Y As part of the graduates' aim to raise £10,000 for The Prince’s Trust, they set out to climb all three of Yorkshire Dales’ Three Peaks in one day. Nineteen team members tightened their laces and completed the challenge in an outstanding 13 hours. After a gruelling day, plenty of blisters and a couple of injuries, the team managed to raise an amazing £6,136.27. Thank you to everyone for their kind donations and support throughout the training and challenge itself.
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GRADUATE MILLION MAKERS
FOUNDATIONS
Our new maternity policy A
t Barratt, we know that a diverse team means a stronger business, is better for our customers, and makes us a more attractive employer, which is why we’re committed to diversity and inclusion. In line with this commitment, we’ve undertaken a review of a number of our family friendly policies starting with our Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Joint Parental Leave Policy. The review follows on from your feedback in last year’s Employee Engagement Survey, and more recently, our Diversity and Inclusion Survey, which emphasised that that you’d welcome improved benefits as part of our family related policies. As a result of your feedback, and the review, we have now made a number of important changes to our Maternity, Paternity, Adoption and Joint Parental Leave Policy. Our new maternity/adoption or shared parental leave policy now includes the option to take Enhanced Company Pay, which will increase the current statutory minimum to 18 weeks basic pay (followed by 21 weeks statutory pay). And our paternity policy has been updated to include Enhanced Company Pay of two weeks basic pay, and increase from the statutory minimum previously offered.
David Thomas, Group Chief Executive, said: “We value our people, and by updating our family friendly policies, we hope to create an environment where all employees are in a position to reach their potential, and contribute to our future success. “I’m delighted to support these policy changes which demonstrate our continued commitment to ensuring Barratt is a great place to work with an open and honest culture that embraces diversity and inclusion.”
Paula Chamberlain, Senior Sales Manager, Yorkshire West said: I have recently returned to work from a period of maternity leave. This new policy will offer additional financial support, and as a new mum that is one less thing to worry about! For Barratt to recognise the importance of reviewing this policy and making the change is appreciated. The enhanced maternity benefit offers more flexibility and support for those colleagues looking to balance family commitments and a career.
OUR NEW MATERNITY POLICY
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We are increasing our use of Timber Frame Construction – with more than 1,300 homes completed this year. We have also undertaken successful small-scale trials of Light Gauge Steel Frames, which are lighter, safer and quicker to put together than traditional construction methods, and Large Format Concrete Block technology, first used on our prototype ‘Barratt Green House’.
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We have engaged with our suppliers to find and consider innovative products and services, including foundation systems and roofing solutions.
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And we continue to introduce new product ranges, to ensure that the homes we offer suit the changing needs of our customers.
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s Britain’s leading housebuilder, we are continuing to develop and implement Modern Methods of Construction alongside traditional brick and block.
Here we highlight some innovative schemes currently under way around the country.
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Denotes Geography covered by;
Scotland
East
Northern
West
Central
London and Southern
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North Midlands Barratt (Northern Region) and East Midlands -DWH (East Region)
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Glasgow
Durham
Selby
Grantham
Solar PV panels are incorporated into the roofs of homes at Wallace Fields, converting sunlight into electricity and cutting energy bills for homeowners. First residents are now moving into the West Scotland development of four bedroom detached family houses. In the popular suburb of Robroyston, the location is ideal for families with plenty of local amenities plus Glasgow city centre within easy reach for commuting and shopping.
Two showhomes recently opened at The Drive at Mount Oswald, an exclusive David Wilson development less than two miles from the city centre. Our North East division is building 55 three and four bedroom luxury homes in a picturesque woodland setting. This new scheme follows the successful first phase of 60 homes at Mount Oswald, which generated strong demand and now has only five homes remaining for sale.
The new ‘Radleigh’ showhome at St Wilfrids Walk was the first in the country from the Barratt Homes 2016 range. The four bedroom detached house was completed in just eight weeks using timber frame, and in 21 weeks since the first timber kit was erected at the site, 26 timber kits have been built by the Yorkshire East division. More than 60% of the development, in the village of Brayton, is now sold.
A small scheme on the edge of the Leicestershire village of Bottesford gave North Midlands the opportunity to trial the Large Format Block (LFB) method of construction. The Wickets delivered 34 homes for sale and 22 housing association homes and provided useful lessons. The division has since used LFB on a second site and is now planning to use the system on a third development.
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PROJECTS ROUNDUP
FOUNDATIONS 5
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Wilmslow
Stoke-on-Trent
Cambridge
Bishop’s Stortford
Bollin Park is a flagship David Wilson development in this affluent Cheshire town, which is one of the most sought-after places to live in the UK. Our North West division is delivering a mix of four and five bedroom homes, designed to blend into their surroundings and built to the highest specifications. The scheme is well-located for commuting to Manchester and other centres.
Our Mercia division is providing more than 200 high-quality homes in a unique setting, surrounded by acres of peaceful parkland on the historic Wedgwood Estate at Barlaston village. The exterior designs were carefully considered, paying particular regard to architectural styles and vernacular materials, which helped secure permission for the proposals, despite the majority of the development being within the green belt.
Award-winning Trumpington Meadows is creating a new community of 1,200 homes less than three miles from the city centre. Work has now started on the latest phase of contemporary homes, shown in this preliminary CGI, and also on the local centre, which will help complete the new neighbourhood. The landmark project is setting the standard for residential development in the area and delivering the new homes Cambridge needs to support its future growth.
Homes at Kingswood Place, in the Essex village of Elsenham, incorporate unique architectural features reflecting the local character and are set in tree-lined avenues and open spaces. The Eastern Counties development of family homes is located in the Uttlesford district, which has been named as one of the best places to live in the countryside in Britain. The village is served by good schools and local amenities and is just an hour from London.
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London
Coulsdon
Farnham
Swindon
West Ham United’s former stadium, Upton Park, is being transformed into 842 homes across 15 new buildings. A light gauge steel frame Fusion system was selected for the first block, allowing the Straftford division to successfully complete the units with a far faster programme, compared to traditional building methods. Superstructure construction was completed in around five weeks. Potentially 100 homes could be built at Upton Gardens using the system.
Cane Hill Park, a 650-home joint development by our Southern Counties and Kent divisions, is championing the versatility of Modern Methods of Construction. Timber frames, an off-site solution ideal for challenging landscape sites, are helping to speed up the build process on houses, while light gauge steel frames are being adopted for apartments – the benefits include the high strength in relation to lightweight structure as a flexible build solution.
Steel frames are being considered to speed up the regeneration of the former Louisburg Barracks military site at Bordon, in East Hampshire. Our Southampton division, in partnership with the HCA, will deliver 500 new homes at the dual-branded development, where 76 homes have been sold since Christmas. The project forms part of one of the country’s first eco-friendly ‘Green Towns’, designed to provide a healthier and happier way of life for residents.
Tadpole Garden Village forms part of a thriving new community close to Swindon, combining town and country with family homes surrounded by green open spaces, play areas and allotments. The new village has a community centre, retail and convenience facilities and primary school. DWH South West recently launched Park View, its second phase at the village, which will provide 127 homes in a mix of modern and traditional designs.
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.. Celebrating.
This year we held our second Long Service Celebration Dinner in honour of those who have committed many years to the business.
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he annual celebration was held in London in April, and 75 people who celebrated their 20, 30, 35 and 40 anniversaries in the previous twelve months were invited to attend.
Hosted by David Thomas, Steven Boyes and the Executive team, guests shared memories of their time in the business, and reflected on the wider social changes that have taken place over the years. When the longest serving among attendees started at Barratt in 1977, James Callaghan was Prime Minister; ABBA’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ spent 5 weeks at number 1; and the M5 Motorway was officially opened.
Paul Turner, Dean Smith, Gary Tebbatt and Stuart Grice all from East Midlands celebrating their long service milestone
Group from East Midlands celebrating long service
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CELEBRATING LONG SERVICE
At Barratt, the 1970s saw Sir Lawrie Barratt and the Barratt helicopter feature in our advertising, and a one-bedroom house cost £7,000. Following the review of our long service awards policy in 2015, greater recognition and reward is given to those who have shown loyalty and commitment to the business. Long service is recognised locally at five-yearly intervals from five years of service onwards. Those achieving 20, 30, 40 and above are given a financial gift, a silver trowel and an invitation to attend the dinner.
Steven Pollard, Gary Cartwright, John Sw eeney and Mark Poole all from BD Living ,
FOUNDATIONS
Guests at the celebration dinner mark their 20 years' long service milestone
Marking 35 and 40 years' service
Marking 30 years' service
Long Service Roll of Honour
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40 Years’ Service RV
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DEVELOPM
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James Walsh – East Scotland Alan Henderson – North Scotland Alexander Booth – North Scotland Kevin Clark – North Scotland YE Anthony Austin – North East A RS OF SER David Kelland – South Wales Graham Swann – North West Philip Davidson – London Office
2040+ 30
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30 Years’ Service
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Jackie Rogers – London Aldgate Anthony Hensley – London Office Phillip Draper – Group Finance
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Darren Foster – West Midlands Graham Rees – North Midlands Paul Rhodes – North Midlands Michael Watson – North Midlands Derek Askew – North Midlands Mark Summers – North Midlands YE ER A Tracey Dickens – East MidlandsRS OF S Gary Tebbatt – East Midlands Michael Spencer – South Midlands Gordon Spencer – South Midlands Brian Baucutt – South MidlandsYE ARS OF SER John Sweeney – BD Living Gary Cartwright – BD Living Philip Webb – Exeter Mark Negus – Southampton Colin Quinn – Southern Counties Sid J'Dourou – North Thames EN
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YE
ARS OF SER
Ian Gardiner – East Scotland Keith Findlay – North Scotland Graham Rowan – Yorkshire East YE R Keith Precious – Yorkshire West A RS OF SE Neil Fairbrother – Yorkshire West Susan Law – North East Brian Davies – Manchester Mark Robson – Manchester Mark Thompson – Manchester Andrew Perks – Manchester Patrick Doyle – Manchester Frank Dainty – Manchester David Kay – Manchester Julie Parry – Manchester
VI
BAR
BAR
20 Years’ Service 30
DEVELOPM
30
YE
ARS OF SER
TT
DEVELOPM
TS
TS
20
YE
TT
EN
DEVELOPM
20
TT
EN
RA
In each issue of Foundations, we recognise those who have reached a 20, 30 or 40 years' long service milestone over the last six months. Congratulations and thank you to all who have reached a milestone between January and June 2017.
A RS OF SE
David Duncan – North Scotland
15
Working with Whizz-Kidz I
n our Summer 2016 issue, we reported on our Mercia Division’s work with Whizz-Kidz, a charity that provides mobility equipment to disabled young people. As part of a trial to offer work placements to young wheelchair users, 16 year old Jack Ebanks spent two weeks working as part of the Technical Team at the Division. Mercia has since welcomed a second student, Dan Platt, who was thrilled with his opportunity to work with the Sales team. Jane Newbold, PA to the MD, said, “We have really enjoyed the experience we can provide these young people and I believe if every Division took part, we could offer 27 young people a placement, which would be fantastic”.
Dan Platt with mem bers of Mercia Sales team and Sales Dire David Wilson ctor
The West Midlands Division has also taken part, offering 19-year-old Bradley Beaumont a five week placement with their Land and Technical teams. Bradley is currently studying for qualifications in ICT and carpentry at college, hoping to go on to be a site manager in the future. We spoke to Bradley, as well as Lee Perry, Technical Director, about his time at the Division.
Foundations: How did you get involved with Whizz-Kidz, Bradley? Bradley: I got involved with them when I had my first wheelchair from them. I saw posts on Facebook and different activities/groups and I commented saying the different things looked good fun. One of the organisers then contacted me to get involved. I’ve been a part of Whizz-Kidz for just under a year and really enjoy my time with them. Foundations: Why were you interested in a work placement with us? Bradley: I was interested because of what I do at College (Level 2 Carpentry). Barratt was a good placement as you can see what happens in the background of housebuilding and it gave me a good insight into things like Planning. For what I would like to do as a career (Site Manager) it was a good first step. Foundations: What did you do during the five weeks in the division? Bradley: Residual land valuations of sites, technical layout drawings, reviewed current layouts and reviewed current accessible/wheelchair user houses, suggesting ways to improve the layout. Foundations: What have you learnt from the work experience? Bradley: I have learnt about housing layouts and how they are put together to form a whole layout. I’ve also learnt how you calculate the value of houses and sites.
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WORKING WITH WHIZZ-KIDZ
Bradley (front right) and members of We st Midlands Land and Technical Teams, Land Direc tor Richard Miller and Technical Direc tor Lee Perry
Foundations: Bradley - would you recommend a placement like this to others? Bradley: Yes I would, but I would say that the person looking to do a placement would have to be interested in a career in this industry to fully enjoy it. I’ve enjoyed all of my time here and wouldn’t change anything. Foundations: Bradley clearly learned a lot from his time with you. Did you learn anything from him? Lee: Yes, Bradley has a great attitude, which has made working with him a pleasure. He is very focused and doesn’t let anything get in his way. He also made us re-think about access around a property a little more. Foundations: You’ve spoken very positively about the work placement. From your point of view, would your division do it again? Lee: Yes, I would be happy to offer another placement.
FOUNDATIONS
Taking pride in the job O
ur site managers have swept the board once again in the 2017 NHBC Pride in the Job competition, winning 74 Quality Awards, more than any other housebuilder for the 13th year in a row. Pride in the Job awards are the most coveted in the industry. They recognise site managers who achieve the highest standards in all aspects of their role, showing consistent quality, technical skills, attention to detail, leadership, customer service and site safety.
Winning an award is an exceptional achievement, with more than 16,000 sites across the UK being assessed. It is the highest industry accolade a site manager can receive – and gives added reassurance to buyers that they are purchasing a top-quality new home.
Russell is best in the UK Russell Bond, a Site Manager at London Aldgate division was judged a Supreme Winner in the 2016 Pride in the Job awards*. He won the top national award in the Multi-storey Builder category for his outstanding work at Aldgate Place. The judges admired his seamless control of a complex inner city project. Russell, is in charge of a 500-strong workforce, including 13 team site managers and a further 30 Barratt staff, at Aldgate Place.
The scheme comprises six buildings, ranging from six to 25 storeys high, accommodating 463 new homes, a hotel, restaurants and shops. Its location, on the doorstep of the City of London, brings special challenges for the construction team. “We are surrounded by tube lines and the site is also riddled with underground services that had to be diverted before we could start building,” said Russell, who has worked in construction for 19 years and joined Barratt five years ago.
“But because we’re working at height, safety is the number 1 concern for me.” He added: “My major skill is to lead the construction teams and site managers. It’s all about planning and organisation, including monitoring and reviewing what the workers and teams are doing. You need to be able to see the bigger picture, while also paying attention to the small details.”
* The Supreme Award runner-up in the Multi-storey category was Site Manager, Mark Pinder of Midgard Ltd, for his work at DWH Southern’s Newbury Racecourse development.
PRIDE IN THE JOB 2017 This year's Pride in the Job Quality Award winners have been announced. They are...
SCOTLAND East Scotland Gareth Lewis Ewan MacLean Peter Lawrie Alex Sinnet North Scotland Allan Barclay David Oliver West Scotland Murray Grierson Tom Hill Alan Grant Matt McLaughlin
NORTHERN North East Jim Bage Mark Summersgill Dan Walker Steven Taylor
Yorkshire East Martyn Thorley Ben Waines Steve Sharp Yorkshire West Gary Coughlan Steve Usher James Swan North Midlands Martin Rose Kevin Mowbray Mark Pettet
CENTRAL Mercia Alex Price Kirk Raine Ian Green Richard Hilditch Paul Moore Jamie TaylorBowen
Wayne Berry Jak Harper Adam Breakspear South Wales John Popple Paul Oakley Chris Davies Manchester Neil Salisbury Sean O'Regan James Thomson Steve Jordan Peter Fallon Dave Clarke West Midlands Ian Crockford Darren Galbraith Stuart Stokes North West Gary Atherton Ian Wilson
EAST Northampton Darren Price Roy Kelly East Midlands Alex Coltman Liam Hathaway Zoe Rawlings Kevin Richardson Wayne Shooter Henry Patecki Steve Curtis Dave Dearden Southern Mark Pinder (Midgard) Darran Milne
WEST Exeter Andy Robson Southampton Matt Annalls
Phil Cripps Michaela Martin Jon Fuge Austin Barfield Mark Nicholls Bristol Martin Beard Stuart Foale South West Claude Viveiros
LONDON & SOUTHERN Kent Oliver Chapman Glenn Day London Brentford Calum Kidd London Stratford Matt Hatfield Gary Cheek Will Quibell
JULY 2016
Judging begins. NHBC inspectors start continuous assessment on sites, using the Pride in the Job checklist.
JAN - MAY
Moderation and verification of site scores.
JUNE
Quality Award winners announced. Judging begins for Seals of Excellence and Regional Awards. Unannounced site judging visits continue.
OCT - NOV
Supreme Award judging tour – all Regional Award-winning sites are visited by the judging panel.
JAN 2018
Pride in the Job Gala Dinner, when Supreme Winners are announced.
TAKING PRIDE IN THE JOB
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Meet the team T
he Regeneration Team, part of the wider construction team at West Hendon, are responsible for ensuring a smooth partnership with council, residents and stakeholders, to name a few, at the complex regeneration project in London. Headed up by Danny Farenden (Project Director), the team consists of Nathan Smith (Senior Project Manager), and Eric Holroyd (Regeneration Surveyor).
ration Team West Hendon Regene
Foundations caught up with the team to find out more about the project. What is the West Hendon development? At West Hendon, we’ve formed a joint venture partnership to deliver more than 2,000 new homes over the next ten years. The work involves demolishing over 650 existing homes on a 1960s dilapidated council estate and replacing them with a vibrant community of homes and shops, as well as new education and leisure spaces, a primary school, a community centre and a small health centre. Over 500 affordable homes are also being built, many of which are for the existing residents of the West Hendon estate.
West Hendon Regeneration Team
What are your responsibilities? As the Regeneration Team, we’ve a wide variety of responsibilities, from securing compulsory purchase orders and buying existing leasehold flats and commercial premises, to drawing land down from the local authority and securing vacant possession of existing residential blocks. We’re also responsible for managing the principal development agreement between Barratt London, its JV partner, and Barnet Council as well as resident and stakeholder liaisons, to name a few.
Over 500 affordable homes are also being built, many of which are for the existing residents of the West Hendon estate. What are the challenges?
Having people live so close to a busy construction site is also a challenge in its own right. We manage this by sending out regular newsletters, hosting a project website with up to date information, ensuring residents know who to call if they have a problem, and holding a monthly open meeting where residents can raise any concerns they have. We make a concerted effort to engage with the local community and support a number of initiatives each year such as resident fun days, summer BBQs, Christmas parties, educational initiatives with schools, and sponsoring an annual day trip away from the construction works to the seaside. What’s next for the project? We’re currently building two phases concurrently and are in the ground on both sites so there is lots of excavation and foundation activity. Completions for new homes start next spring, alongside six brand new retail spaces. Looking slightly further ahead, we need to finish buying up around 40 leasehold flats with a view to making way for the next phase of construction. In around five years’ time the new school and community centre will be built and we’ll be finishing the final homes of the project in 2027.
When you take on a complex regeneration project there can often be a lack of trust between the developer and the existing community, and it’s been a big challenge for us to build that trust. However, we’re now three years into the development, and existing residents are excited about moving into to their new homes and seeing the project come to life as each phase completes. West Hendon, Lo ndon
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MEET THE TEAM
FOUNDATIONS
Building our
sustainable future T
o be the leading national sustainable housebuilder, we’re continuing to focus on six issues that matter most to our stakeholders. These cover a much wider range of issues than environmental issues and energy efficiency alone –
everything from keeping people safe, to attracting, inspiring and investing in people and sustainable places to live. Here are some highlights from the past few months:
Operating efficiency By focusing on four waste reduction initiatives – plasterboard rightsizing, Wellsafe stairwells (to eliminate the need for sacrificial joists), ready-cut deck flooring, and pallet re-use, we have delivered an estimated 3,400 tonne reduction in waste created this year. A biomass boiler installed at our BD Living furniture factory in June will turn wood waste into heat, reducing carbon emissions by about 80 tonnes per year and reduce wood waste by one tonne per day.
Sustainable places to live After installing over 170 swift bricks in homes at Exeter, Aylesbury, and East and West Yorkshire we are now encouraging habitation at Kingsbrook, Aylesbury by playing swift calling noises with the help of residents. We are sponsoring the development of guidance on delivering net gains for biodiversity being developed by CIRIA, CIEEM and IEMA. Our input is helping ensure guidance is practical for homebuilders to deliver. Group Marketing have updated the integration of sustainability information into content on our customer-facing Barratt and David Wilson Homes websites.
at Kingsbrook bricks installed The first swift
Sustainable and responsible sourcing
Investing in innovation and development
We’re continuing to engage suppliers through the Supply Chain Sustainability School, which provides free learning materials and workshops for suppliers. We are a founder and Chair of the Homes leadership group of the School, and sit on their Modern Slavery special interest group. The School is now taking an industry-wide approach to signing up sub-contractors with a series of regional workshops.
Bringing together 11 suppliers with the NHBC and other industry and environmental experts, we held a workshop to look in to the design and materials options available for adapting homes for climate change.
Attracting, inspiring and investing in people You can find more information on how we’re investing in our people on pages 11 and 14.
Keeping people safe Find out more on page 22.
Sustainability online Early this year, we made some improvements to the www.barrattdevelopments. co.uk/sustainability section of our website so you can read about all our six issues and Group targets. A new ‘Taking Action’ resource shows the industry-leading practical steps we’re taking across many areas.
BUILDING OUR SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
19
Our customers...
C
How we're putting them first
ustomer First means more than just building great homes, it also means providing an outstanding customer experience.
Following on from the article in Issue 19 of Foundations, we wanted to share some recent comments and notes that show how much our customers appreciate what we do for them.
Dea
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t, ...I lo v Plac e my ho e ar use e The a girls fantast nd the i s The c i team n the sa and a c taff at y o outs r l ide t have he es offic edit to y ur Oakh e heir u o l rem ped me have be ur com rst p it‌ with e a othe n great. ny. r stu ff
Mr B Sou , Oakhu ther r n Co st Place unti es ,
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OUR CUSTOMERS
FOUNDATIONS
Our Mercia division we nt above and beyond for a custome r, adding a bird table to their mo ving in pack following a series of ha ppy tweets.
e. n e w h om r u o in t s First n igh wit h som e de lic iou g C e le brat in e n fie lds in our n e w e r G an d De n bie s ugs. B ob m s e m o but tH e n gr e at , @ B a r r at e b e v a h sale s h as Jay from n t sit e m an age r) a t Guy (assis ut st an din g. yo ll a be e n r e me uys! #h o Th an k s g k, gford Par Mr D, Lon ds lan We st Mid
bout t h e a e g a s s e t o post a m t n a w t an d its s t n I ju e m p lo e e adows dev M e e rvic e , ic s p p ic o t s C a t n – suc h fa r e g a n a g th e m in n sit e in w n o t ulat ion s a r g n o c d m oved in e an W ! ) b o J ide in t h e r P ( d or k s f or r w a t w a a h t e d e ve r y o n n a y a d r lly Jak! e ia c e ye st p s e , t e n brillian e b s a h H DW g t oo! in z a m a is Our h ouse e adows, M e ic p p o C Ms W, Me rc ia 21
Safety, wellbeing... and you
T
he nature of our business means that it’s important we ensure the highest standards of health and safety in everything we do. Keeping people safe is one of our five key principles and health and safety is a core value for which we are all responsible.
Over the years we’ve introduced a variety of safety initiatives, including launching a comprehensive ‘5 Steps to Safety’ programme, implementing SHE guidelines and checks into our processes, and measuring our performance with health and safety compliance rates reported year on year, but safety alone cannot deliver a healthy working environment and our health and wellbeing is just as important.
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) EAP, provided by Unum Lifeworks is a positive, preventative programme of information, advice and services available to all our employees to help them deal with events and issues in their everyday work and personal life. Unum LifeWorks offers staff members and their immediate family free help and support to cope with life’s challenging events, whether it’s a complex concern or a simple question. A confidential Freephone telephone helpline is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to speak with expert counsellors. You can arrange up to four counselling sessions either face to face or by phone. In addition, they provide in-depth support and advice on legal issues including property law, wills or neighbourly disputes.
Construction Worker Helpline
Our responsibility for the wellbeing of our people extends beyond our developments. Recent surveys report that 88% of people working in construction have experienced some level of workrelated stress, and nearly half of respondents have suffered, or know someone close to them who has suffered, from mental health issues (Opinium Research, 2015). Here are some of the ways we can support you through My Barratt Benefits:
EAP includes: • Access hundreds of resources, self-assessments and online tools including a health encyclopaedia and a childcare locator: www.unumlifeworks.co.uk • Mobile app available on iPhone and Android
Username: unum Password: lifeworks 0800 048 2702 (UK) or 1800 937 351 (ROI) 22 Available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
The Construction Worker Helpline is a free, confidential service for construction workers and their ‘living in household’ dependents. Set up by B&CE’s Charitable Trust, it offers you support, advice and a guiding hand in times of need. They offer guidance on what options you can explore or direct you to the right service.
Freephone: 0808 801 0372
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SAFETY, WELLBEING AND YOU
FOUNDATIONS
Cyber Security
Cyber crime is now one of the biggest risks facing businesses, in the UK and abroad. Attacks on company IT systems, data breaches and email scams are happening on a daily basis.
O
ver the last couple of months, there have been a number of cyber attacks in the UK, including the ‘WannaCry’ ransomware attack that crippled the NHS.
One of the largest threats to our business is malware, a malicious software that can infect your computer, and disrupt or restrict access to programs, files or apps. It can enter our network when you open email attachments, or links to websites targeted at you. Malware will often claim you have won a prize, received an invoice, owe money, or have done something illegal with your PC, and that you are being fined by a police force or government agency.
This is a tactic designed to ensure people open up the OUR CUSTOMERS
attachment or link. Once downloaded to your PC, the malware can either corrupt important files on your server, or record and copy information, including bank and credit card details. If you have downloaded a type of malware called ransomware, you may be asked to pay money without informing anyone who may be able to fix the problem. We all have our part to play to keep our business as secure as possible – for our security as well as our customers.
Remember: malware emails look genuine and believable, so if in doubt, delete!
What can you do?
For your safety and sec urity, it’s important we all: Immediately delete ext ernal emails from unexpected sources Look out for emails fro m unknown senders Beware of fake emails (e.g. Apple, Netflix, Microsoft) Never open attachments or links in unrecognised emails Don’t click on links in social media posts Empty your deleted em ail folder each day If you notice any stran ge behaviour on your PC report it to IT asap. Please be particularly cautious looking for fake documents, fake emails and alerts requesting you to open attachments or web site links. If you encounter any do cument that will not open or requests a pa ssword, or a payment that you are not expect ing, then please shut down your PC or laptop and contact the IT Service desk on 01530 51 80 80.
CYBER SECURITY
23
Builders' one-liners
And finally... Caption competition
Marble is a valuable building material and should not be taken for granite.
Wayne Berry and Steve McNally from Mercia downed tools to take a ride on a model engineering train at the Baggeridge Village site!
I just met someone who was a steamroller operator. He was such a flatterer. So I rang up a local building firm. I said: “I want a skip outside my house.” He said: “I’m not stopping you.”
We wondered who might be saying what… can you write a witty caption?
What is it that keeps a roofing team together? Trussed.
Email us at employee. communication@barrattplc. co.uk before the closing date of 31st September, and we’ll print the best suggestions in the next issue. "Shiver me Barratt renewably sourced timbers!"
Why was the builder so short? Because he had been contracting for a long time. A man walked into a bar. When he woke up, his boss said, “Next time look where you're going."
And the winner is...
Have you got news for us?
Thanks to all the readers who sent in captions for our last competition, which showed the Blue Beards from South Wales taking part in the annual Monmouth Raft Pace. The winning caption came from Duncan Atkins, Development Accountant, Wilson Bowden Developments.
you have lookout for stories. If We’re always on the you’d like at wh t ou ab nts me any suggestions or com on the or , ns ns of Foundatio to see in future editio you. m fro ar he to e we’d lov Our Place intranet – rrattplc.co.uk .communication@ba Email us at employee
Congratulations
Prize word search
The winner of our last wordsearch competition was Gail Badman, Bristol, who received a Marks & Spencer gift card worth £50.
Words 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
BRADLEY CYBER MYLEARNING JESSICA SCOTLAND DARWIN
7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
RANSOMWARE MATERNITY CAMBRIDGE WHIZZKIDZ MULTISTOREY SLAVERY
13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.
REGENERATION EVOLUTION DIVERSE BRICKS TECHNOLOGY LOUISBURG
19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.
TADPOLE LONGSERVICE PRIDE SUSTAINABLE LEGACY CLIMATE
Word search competition Return your word search to us and we’ll name the £50 gift card winner in the next issue.
Name Address
Job title Location Fill in this form and post it back along with the word search to: Barratt Word Search Competition, c/o First floor, 22 Lendal, York, YO1 8AA. Closing date: 31st September 2017.
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AND FINALLY...
