Construct, May2012

construct May 2012

working well together

Casey is Key Link for Innovation Chain NW Having recently been appointed to the Innovation Chain North West for newbuild contracts across the North West, Casey has secured the first two projects let under the agreement.

Waithlands Road, Rochdale Waithlands Road, Rochdale, is a development of modern, affordable terraced properties for social rent, for Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.

The project comprises site clearance and reclamation of the land plus the construction of six houses together with on- and off-site drainage, service connections and diversions, and landscaping.

The building will have a timber frame and be built to Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3, as well as being Secured by Design.

Work is due to start in June.

Paul Clark, Clark Director of CJ Partnership, the architects who designed the scheme, said, “This is very much a local community project, involving local companies. The bespoke design will have a positive impact on the street-scape, tidying up a derelict vacant corner site, whilst providing spacious modern accommodation for local families."

Dave Kelly, Kelly Project Manager at Casey, commented “As a Rochdale lad myself working for a Rochdale Contractor, I am delighted to be working collaboratively with Rochdale Boroughwide Housing Design and Build, CJ Architects and Kevin Shea Associates on this exciting new scheme.”

Tabley Superior, Knutsford The Tabley scheme is being developed to provide much needed affordable housing for local people with a strong local connection and a proven housing need.

The scheme comprises the design and construction of eight dwellings. These will consist of three 3-bedroomed houses, one 2bedroom bungalow and four 2-bedroomed buildings.

The scheme has been designed to meet Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 with a

major emphasis on ‘Fabric First’ with high levels of insulation leading to much reduced utility bills for residents.

Waithlands Road

This project is a sign of the commitment of RBH to improving the Borough’s social housing stock. A key feature will be the achievement of the Lifetime Homes standard, which provides for improved accessibility and adaptation.

NEW FRAMEWORK This month Casey has also been awarded a new framework contract to build homes across the North West of England. Procure Plus, an innovative consortium of North West registered social landlords, is looking to procure services worth up to £130m.

Contractors for this framework had to demonstrate a capability to deliver volumes of affordable housing on both a traditional basis as well as putting forward innovative ‘Modern Methods of Construction’ in line with the latest government agendas. Casey secured the top contractor position in both Lots 2 and 3 and look forward to working collaboratively with Procure Plus, RSL partners and other contractors to deliver much needed high quality affordable homes across the North West.

To submit articles or information for this newsletter, contact Debbie Hubbard on 07834 867580 or debbie.hubbard@casey.co.uk.

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HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE The health, safety and welfare of Casey employees, and others who may be affected by our works from time to time, continues to be an integral part of our business delivery.

An important part of our approach is communication and employee engagement and it is essential that employees share concerns or issues they may have with health, safety or welfare in the correct manner.

With this in mind, if you have any relevant concerns or issues, we would like you to share them with us. To do this, employees should speak to:

• Your immediate Line Manager; • Any Senior Manager, such as Contracts Manager or Projects Manager;

• A Workplace Health and Safety Contact; or

• Your Divisional Director.

Anyone else should speak with the Site Manager or call our Customer Care Line on 0800 032 8707.

If you would like to share a health, safety or welfare concern in complete confidence please call Phil Hey (07970 994350) or Paul Turner (07764 600917).

HEALTH AND SAFETY STARTS WITH YOU

H & S Contacts The Casey Companies have a number of Workplace Health and Safety Contacts. They are representatives of employees’ safety and are both office and site based.

The role of a Health and Safety Contact carries no additional legal responsibilities other than those of any other employee, but they are charged with raising the profile of health and safety amongst their co-workers.

To assist Casey in meeting health and safety obligations, Contacts are asked to:

• Liaise with the Site Management Team; • Continually monitor the standards of safety in the workplace and play a part in enforcing health and safety requirements;

• Assist in investigating accidents or danger-

Double Honours for Casey H&S Culture Casey have again been rewarded for their outstanding Health and Safety culture, receiving two prestigious awards during April.

These awards show the commitment Casey has shown to managing health, safety and welfare in a sensible and effective way.

For the fourth year in a row, we have achieved the RoSPA Gold award.

Paul Turner, Director, said ‘This is a great result and we are particularly pleased with the British Council Award with Distinction. A big thank you to our Management Teams and Workforce for working safely and for their significant contributions to these industry awards.

And, for the first time, we have been awarded a British Safety Council International Safety Award with Distinction, Distinction scoring maximum points.

Let’s be clear about the “C” word You should by now be aware of the current Government campaign—Be Clear on Cancer—that has been running on TV, the press and other media. The TV ad for bowel cancer featuring a GP talking about changes in your poo is the one that has probably caught your attention.

The campaign is designed to make people seek advice as soon as they notice any changes, and to make it easier to talk to their GP. When found at an early stage, treatment for is often simpler and more likely to be successful. Finding cancer early can make a real difference.

There are more than 200 different types of

A mouth or tongue ulcer that lasts longer than 3 weeks A persistent difficulty swallowing or indigestion

An unusual lump or swelling anywhere on your body A change in the size, shape or colour of a mole

cancer which can cause many different symptoms. However, experts agree that the symptoms below are the most important ones to look out for and act on.

As a general rule, it is a good idea to know what is normal for you and to listen to your body. This will make it easier for you to spot any changes that could be signs of cancer.

If you notice any unusual or persistent changes, it is best to get checked out by your doctor.

For more information: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/ spotcancerearly/naedi/beclearoncancer/ beclearoncancer A cough or croaky voice that lasts longer than 3 weeks

An unusual breast change (men as well as women) A sore that won’t heal after several weeks

Unexplained weight loss or heavy night sweats

ous occurrences in the workplace;

• Represent employees in discussion with the employer on health, safety or welfare issues and in discussions with the HSE or other enforcing authorities.

• Attend site H&S meetings, H&S Committee meetings and site meetings following an accident or incident investigation.

If you are interested in fulfilling the role of a Health and Safety Contact, please contact Phil Hey on 07970 994350.

A change to more frequent bowel motions that lasts more than 6 weeks Problems urinating Blood in your urine

Un unexplained pain or ache that lasts longer than 4 weeks Bleeding from the vagina after the menopause or between periods Blood in your stools

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Russian Military Intelligence Aids Rochdale Development

Late Returns Could Cost You Dear HMRC are sending a clear message to all those who have to file a self-assessment tax return—whether or not you owe any tax, get your return in on time.

A new penalty regime was introduced for late returns on 1st May this year.

These new penalties could end up costing you a significant chunk of your earnings even if you do not owe any tax.

There is now an initial fee of £100 for late filing and then a charge of £10 per day for every day you are late, up to a maximum of £900.

If you are six months late, you will be charged £300 or 5% of the tax due, whichever is greater, on top of the previous charges. If you are 12 months overdue, you will be charged £500 or 5% of the tax owed, whichever is greater. Again this is on top of all previous charges.

Even if you owe no tax, this means that if you file your return 12 months late, you will have racked up £1800 in fines.

This portion of map showing Rochdale is part of a larger map of Manchester. The map is labelled in Cyrillic—the orange road is Oldham Road A671 leading up to Molesworth Street, with the Rochdale Canal also shown. This map was produced at a scale of 1:25,000 and shows detailed land use, with colour coded areas for industrial, administrative and military use, plus green areas and non-developed land.

When pricing the job at Waithlands Road, Rochdale, for RBH Design and Build Ltd, we were surprised to see that one of the maps provided was produced by the Russian military during the Cold War. We have done some investigating and discovered a scary fact. Every Russian president from Stalin to Gorbachev knew where you lived and how to get there by tank! The Russian military carried out the most comprehensive global survey ever attempted and created detailed and accurate maps of almost every country in the world. Even today, for many African and Asian countries, these maps are the most reliable source of topographical information.

The Soviet military machine realised the importance of such mapping for military, economic and political purposes at the end of the Russian revolution. It is believed that a military cartographic administration was created in 1919 and it must have employed thousands. With the fall of the USSR in 1992 and the rapid withdrawal of the Russian military from the Baltic states, the fate of the maps that had been produced depended on where they were stored. Those under Russian control were often sold (with restrictions) to the West in order to generate hard currency. Thousands of paper maps covering the whole world were found abandoned in Latvia and Estonia, others were

discovered when they were sent to be destroyed.

Chris Perkins, University of Manchester Geography lecturer has discussed the Manchester map and said that there was not much that the Soviet generals missed out.

“The Soviet military who compiled the maps used aerial sources such as spy planes and satellite imagery to supplement information from UK Ordnance survey maps and publicly available road atlases. But there is so much extra information [such as prisons and nuclear sites deliberately left off Ordnance Survey maps] that it would be fair to assume that they were able to gather a considerable amount of intelligence on the ground.”

The maps show road widths and loadbearing statistics to plot advance routes for tanks, using roads such as the Mancunian Way and Princess Road.

“After declassification at the end of the Cold War, these maps became available on the international market,” said Mr Perkins. “I know for a fact that the Ministry of Defence sent a van over there in 1991, to pick up as much as they could.”

For more information read expert John Davies www.sovietmaps.com/history . Maps from Landmark www.envirocheck.co.uk/ products/

Who needs to complete a tax return?

You could need to complete a return if:

• You are self employed.

• You are a Company Director.

• You have income above a certain level from savings, investment or property.

• You are 65 and receive a reduced agerelated allowance.

• You have income from overseas.

• Your annual income is £100,000 or more.

• You need to claim certain expenses or reliefs.

• You owe tax and HMRC can’t collect it through your tax code, or you prefer to pay direct.

• You have Capital Gains Tax to pay.

• You have lived or worked abroad or aren’t domiciled in the UK

• You are a trustee.

For advice on whether any of this applies to you, contact the Self Assessment Helpline on 0845 900 0444 or www.hmrc.gov.uk/ sa/index.htm Deadlines for tax returns for 2011-2012 year are: 31 October 2012—paper returns 31 January 2013—online returns

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Our Youth is Our Future For Peter Casey, Chairman and founder of Casey, the training and development of young people has been critical in the success of the Casey Group. With an enviable track record in the support and delivery of modern apprenticeships and the achievement of industry recognised qualifications, as well as less formal training and support, Casey has developed a holistic approach to professional and personal development. All this has provided opportunities for young people and a skilled and stable workforce within Casey with the talent to take the Company forward during these difficult times.

Peter recognises that there are young people living in the communities in which the Group works who are crying out for opportunities. However, he knows that he cannot employ everyone. That is why, when he and wife Pat were approached about becoming founder patrons of Mahdlo Youth Zone in Oldham, they readily agreed.

Mahdlo is a purpose built facility in Oldham that aims to give young people the opportunity to come together to meet friends, get involved in sport and activities, learn new skills and access the support they need to develop and achieve their potential.

You can see Peter talking about Mahdlo and “giving something back” on the News section of our website.

For more information, check out the Mahdlo website www.mahdloyz.org The Casey concern for our youth reaches a little further than Oldham. Casey is a supporter of the Suubi Children’s Homes in Uganda. Set up by Hermann Jungmayr, a former Director at Casey, and his wife Helen in 2005, the orphanage can home up to 50 youngsters.

During April, Peter and Pat Casey visited Suubi to see it for themselves.

For further information go to suubiuganda.org.uk

To read about the work Suubi does you can go to our website and check our “In the Community” section.

You can also see a gallery of photos from Peter and Pat’s visit on our website and on our Facebook page.

There is always a lot of input required to produce this newsletter, and it’s a team effort. We would like to say a big Thank You! to all contributors to this issue: Phil Hey, Andrew Varley, James Billing, Phil Coughlin, Peter Casey, Paul Clark—CJ Partnership

The Casey Companies Rydings Road, Rochdale, OL12 9PS T: 01706 341121

F: 01706 861156

E: info@casey.co.uk

W: www.casey.co.uk