THE
Kier Construction News
NEWSLETTER FOR THE LONDON REGION
Spring 2013
Editor’s Notes If you would like further information about any of the stories in this edition, or would like an article in the next edition, please contact Shirene Jarvis or Carol Simmonds.
Contents Corporate News
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Company News
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Project News CR News
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Going for Gold The Kier Gold SHE Flag will be flown on site at Queensland Road in recognition of the hard work and commitment by our staff and subcontractors for delivering a safe, healthy and environmental friendly place of work. See page 7 for the full article.
Cover Story Health and safety manager Mark Starling and his friend James Phillipson canoed 125 miles along the Thames to raise money for the COINS Foundation.
See page 16 for the full article.
Managing Directors Update Our business intelligence supports our view that the outlook for Construction in London over the longer term is better than the rest of the country. With a stronger performance in both private housing and commercial office construction in the region this will continue to drive growth in the capital and supports our projected turnover of 175m for the year 2013/14. We are in a strong position with 90% of next year’s turnover already identified. It is to our credit that we have delivered 170m of work this financial year with a strong safety performance, and on-going improvement with our quality and commercial performance. In this edition you will find good news about our people, projects and our fundraising activities. The Kier Construction News is always a reminder of what we have achieved together and the potential to be realised in the future months ahead of us. I wish those of you about to take your annual holiday an enjoyable summer break.
Mark Pengelly give’s the MD’s view of the business
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CORPORATE NEWS
Kier nominated for Construction News Awards Kier has been short-listed for 4 Construction News Awards in the following categories for: • Employer of the Year • Best use of Technology: Mercury 4GEE site connectivity solution • Training Initiative of the Year: Construction Team Leader Apprenticeship, the new Kier Foundation Degree programme and our Leadership Charter • Project of the Year (over £50m): HMP Oakwood (formerly known as HMP Featherstone 2) Construction News editor Rebecca Evans, commented: “Construction can boost the economy like no other industry, and these awards are one way that companies can shout about their huge achievements. With such fierce competition, all of our finalists can feel very proud to have made the short list.”
Finalists will now face Dragon’s Den-style live interviews to members of the 53-strong jury of esteemed key clients, contractors, consultants, institutes and government departments including: Network Rail, John Lewis Partnership, Crossrail, Argent, Great Portland Estates and the Cabinet Office. The rigorous judging process makes these awards the most valuable ones to win or be short-listed for, and the prestige that comes with winning a Construction News Award helps bring further success to many businesses, year after year. Winners will be announced on 11 July 2013 at the prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, where over 1,000 of the industry elite will join together for a night of recognition and celebration.
Kier leaps to Platinum Big Tick for CR Kier has been recognised at the highest level in Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility (CR) Index, which is produced annually to benchmark responsible business management. This has seen Kier rise from Gold status in 2012 and leapfrog past Platinum to go straight to Platinum Big Tick. The Platinum Big Tick is a new banding in the CR Index for 2013; it is designed to challenge leading companies with ‘stretch questions’ on topics such as their long-term planning and the unique contribution they can make to create transformational change and a sustainable economy. Achieving Platinum Big Tick means that Kier can demonstrate that it is thinking about how global mega trends, such as population growth and resource scarcity, are affecting the future strategy of the business. The banding is an indication that Kier is
making long-term investments to improve or launch new environmentally and socially sound products and services, and is embedding responsible values throughout the workforce. Kier Group chief executive Paul Sheffield commented: “We are delighted to have achieved Platinum Big Tick status. We do not underestimate the value that CR brings to Kier and shall continue in our bid to further improve, steer change and encourage others to do likewise.” As a result of its high score in the Platinum Big Tick band, Kier is now one of five companies to be short-listed in the Responsible Business of the Year category in Business in the Community’s prestigious Responsible Business Awards. The winners will be announced at an awards gala dinner event in July. 4
CORPORATE NEWS
Introducing Sharepoint The project to replace Kiernet with Sharepoint has moved one step closer. Set to launch in November this year, MyKier is the Group’s exciting new intranet tool, which will significantly improve communication and collaboration and transform how Kier employees share knowledge across the business. It will provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ where everyone is encouraged to get involved and share ideas. For example, you will be able to create a personalised electronic space called MySite – that can help save time by providing shortcuts to the tools that you need to do your job, whether it’s documents, policies or links to systems.
MyKier will replace the front end of KIERdoc, with all the documents, links and news that you currently find on KIERdoc’s front page being migrated to MyKier by a team of 150 trained intranet editors from across the business. These editors will be responsible for ensuring that all the pages are up to date and constantly refreshed, enabling you – the end user - to have easy access to everything that you need as a Kier employee, and much more. During March a programme of training for intranet publishers began and MyKier will be launched to the wider business in November of this year.
New Brand Guidelines New Kier brand guidelines have been launched. As part of our Year of Kier, a significantly stronger brand is being rolled out across the whole Group. These new guidelines are already in effect and these should be used for any new material being produced. If you have any printed stock in the old brand please use
this up before you produce things in the new brand, but when things need updating or reprinting this will be done to the new guidelines. Templates will be available in the coming weeks for PowerPoint presentations, bid documents, Word templates and so on. Visit the new Kier brand guidelines page on KIERdoc or if you have any queries please contact Trudy Stripp. 5
COMPANY NEWS
Long Service Awards A Sad Farewell to Malcolm Charles Constable who passed away on 7th February 2013 aged just 58 years old. Malcolm’s funeral service was held at Barham Crematorium, Barham, Kent on 22nd February and was attended by his daughters Rebecca and Anna and Malcolm’s colleagues from Kier.
Tina Kendall – Accounts Supervisor – 25 years Andrew Shaw – Design Manager – 25 years Stephen Tant – Senior Surveyor – 25 years Shane Baker – Senior Surveyor – 25 years Kevin Knight – Project Manager – 25 years Paul Crouch – Procurement Manager – 25 years Graham Pryor - Head of Business Development – 25 years
A warm welcome to our New Starters Charlie Mappley Adam Minns Rachel Jackson Nigel Rix Natalie Whatford Gary Craig Stefan Rehli
Trevor Davidson John Croucher David Fisk Shaun Carey Ian Saunders Edward Austin David Peace
Kier Construction London Directors’ SHE Week 28th – 31st May 2013 During Directors’ SHE week the Board visited all active sites and gave a business overview, completed a short site inspection and discussed their findings on the day. The main objective of the week was to meet as many staff and directors of our supply chain as possible and to reinforce our Positive Safety Leadership message. The Board urged everyone within our business to make the most of the week, and to help to make a real difference. As part of the Directors’ SHE Week our “1 Million RIDDOR Accident and Incident Free Hours” campaign was introduced starting from the 31st May 2013. The poster (right) will be displayed in our offices and workplaces to promote the campaign, we ask all staff to participate in the campaign and support our target of “1 Million RIDDOR Accident and Incident Free Hours.”
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COMPANY NEWS
Gold Flag for Queensland Road
The Kier Gold SHE Flag will be flown on site in recognition of the hard work and commitment by our staff and subcontractors for delivering a safe, healthy and environmental friendly place of work. The Queensland Road team represent the very best of what Kier can achieve when we all work together with a common goal to provide a working environment which is safe and environmentally sustainable. The dedication and resolve to deliver such a high benchmark should not be underestimated and this clearly demonstrates a consistent approach taken over the duration of this project without compromise. Further to the presentation of the Kier Gold SHE Flag for one million accident free hours at Queensland Road I wanted to give you my thanks for your professionalism and
sustained commitment to improving Safety, Health & Environmental standards in Kier Construction London. The achievement at Queensland Road and the buy in from the supply chain is a direct result of your leadership and the standards you personally portray as individuals. I always look forward to coming to your project as I know I will see the best of Kier. Enjoy your success as it is very well deserved but please keep up the good work and help our business continue to raise the Safety, Health and Environmental standards and be a sector leader.�
Mark Pengelly - Managing Director
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PROJECT NEWS
Bronze Award for Barking Skills
On Tuesday 23rd April 2013 at a ceremony in the Plaisterers Hall in London, Kier Construction – London received a Bronze Award at the Considerate Constructors Scheme 2013 National Site Awards. This award was presented to Richard Pyle and Ainsley Patter on behalf of the Barking Skills Centre team. The site was particularly commended for the high standards reached in the categories of: Considerate, Environment, Appearance, Respectful, Safety, Responsible, Accountable and for its exceptional achievements in the category of Good Neighbour.
Chairman, Considerate Constructors Scheme David Watson commented “Once again even in these tough times for our industry, many sites have excelled to not only maintain standards, but surpass what has been achieved in previous years. The National Site Awards are an excellent showcase for these sites, and give the industry the opportunity to reward those site teams that have gone that extra mile. I wish to congratulate all those who have received an award and for their contribution towards improving the image of construction.”
Sydenham Bell Green’s CCS Award The threshold for receiving the KCL Considerate Constructors reward of £35.00 has changed from 35 points under the old scoring system to 42 points. Our first site team to reach the threshold you qualify for the reward of £35.00 for each Kier site member is Sydenham Bell Green. If you would like to make contact with Shirene Jarvis she will be able to answer any questions you may have about how to claim your award.
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PROJECT NEWS
Handover at Coombe Road On 12th February, Coombe Road Phase 3 achieved its first successful handover. Kier Construction London was brought on board to complete the final phase of this regeneration project in Tovil Maidstone. Phases 1 and 2 of the project were completed by Kier Partnership Homes. This design and build project consists of 40 houses for social rent. The properties have been designed to comply with Lifetimes Homes and incorporate the ability for future adaptions. Two units are designated for disabled tenants with low surface temperature radiators and are readily adaptable for their needs. The units have also achieved Secured by Design. KCL Director, Brian Briggs, said: “I am very pleased with the product the team have produced on this project and to date the site has been well run with an excellent approach towards both delivery and health, safety and the environment.”
Key Facts 1st handover date:
12 February 2013
Expected final handover date:
16 April 2013
Value of project:
£4.4m
Accident free hours:
The project has been accident free and was awarded the coveted Silver Helmet award by Kier Construction’s board in February 2013.
RIDDOR accidents:
Zero
CCS:
Site average score of 36 and 1 Performance Beyond Compliance certificate issued.
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PROJECT NEWS
Green APR Achievers The KCL Board of Directors would like to thank and congratulate 10 of our sites who have recently scored all green in their APR Inspection Reports. 4328 North Middlesex Hospital Retained Estates & Cardiology Quote from the Report: “ The work area is within the live hospital and it is noted that the project team have made an increased effort to minimise disruption from our works.”
4279 Etz Chaim School Quote from the Report: “The visit was very positive with no improvements items raised. All members of the site team (both Kier and subcontractors) should be praised for their efforts.” 4305 Bell Green Sydenham Quote from the Report: “This is the first all green APR report issued to this site and is a good example of how well KCL can plan and manage a project with a tight programme on a restricted budget meeting all the Red Top standards. A credit to all the hard work, hours of dedication to deliver a safe site which is noted.”
4328 North Middlesex Hospital Retained Estates & Cardiology Quote from the Report: “There is consistent use of service marker flags to mark existing live hospital services. This is very positive as damage to any live services could have significant impact on the hospital.” 4327 North Middlesex Hospital (Infrastructure & external works) Quote from the Report: “The project team have put significant effort into setting up the site area to reduce disruption to the public & trust staff. Kier corporate image is also of a high standard.”
4313 North Middlesex Hospital (Women & Children's) Quote from the Report: “On-going drainage and ground-works taking place. Positive traffic management arrangements noted with clear segregation between work areas.”
4328 North Middlesex Hospital Retained Estates & Cardiology Quote from the Report: “The site management continue to manage SHE to a consistent standard with no improvement items issued during the last 3 inspections.” 4300 Orion Primary School Quote from the Report: “The permanent welfare and site set-up are now in place and have been established to a high standard.” 4216 Whipps Cross Hospital Quote from the Report: “The site in general was found in good order, segregation of works, pedestrian access, site security were all well managed.” 4279 Etz Chaim School Quote from the Report: “The project has demonstrated consistent SHE standard’s over the past 3 APR reports with no improvement items raised.”
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PROJECT NEWS
Bronze Flag for Menorah School
The Menorah School Team has recently passed the 250,000 RIDDOR Accident free hours milestone. This achievement entitles the site to proudly display the Kier Bronze SHE Flag in recognition of their commitment to safety, health and environmental management. Managing director Mark Pengelly said “Congratulations to the project team at Menorah School who have demonstrated compliance to the Red Tops and Kier SHE Procedures without exception. The SHE standards as seen during SHE Advisors inspections has been very consistent and set a new benchmark for other residential schemes to aspire to going forwards�.
Safety Glasses In line with the mandatory eye protection policy the SHE Department on the ground floor in the Loughton office has safety glasses for you to collect. All visiting staff to sites are required to provide their own eye protection and must take their safety glasses with them on visits.
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PROJECT NEWS
North Middlesex Hospital
On the 15th April, a major milestone was reached at North Middlesex Hospital with the arrival of 152 steel-framed modules which have been constructed off site by off-site construction specialist Yorkon. This is currently the biggest and most complex healthcare scheme to be built off site in the UK. The project, which was procured under the ProCure21+ framework, was built off site at the Yorkon production centre in York. This approach will radically reduce disruption to patient care and the build programme to ensure the new facilities will be operational, in line with the Clinical Strategy programme. The building will form the women’s and children’s block at the North Middlesex Hospital development and contain additional high-dependency beds, two new obstetrics theatres, a neonatal unit, triage centre, woman’s outpatient department, a midwife led birthing unit with four birthing pool rooms, a postnatal ward with discharge lounge, and a transitional care unit to support neonatal care. A rooftop plant room will also be included on the second floor.
The units are being craned into position with doors, windows, first fix electrics and plumbing and a high-performance concrete floor pre-installed. The exterior of the Woman’s and Children block will reflect the design of the existing facilities and will include a rendered façade, ribbon glazing around the perimeter of the first floor. A large atrium entrance spanning two storeys includes light wells providing natural daylight inside. There is also full-height glazing to the stair towers on each of the two wings and large projecting window bays provide a visual contrast to the rendered finish across the building envelope. Clive Watson, Project Manager said, “The biggest advantage of off-site construction on this project is speed. We anticipate it will reduce the delivery time by around three months enabling us to have the new facilities up and running ahead of the busy winter period. It will also bring quality benefits because it allows so much of the construction to take place off site in a controlled factory environment that is not affected by poor weather conditions. Our experience with Yorkon and their level of engagement from the outset has been very positive to date.” 12
PROJECT NEWS
Seven Sisters reaches PC On 28th February, Seven Sisters reached Practical Completion. The Seven Sisters Road development comprised of the design and construction of 130 mixed tenure flats and maisonettes including 44 for outright sale.
Yasin’s Work Placement at QLR
The Kier team were involved from the tender stage, working closely with the client during the decant to allow demolition of the existing buildings and designing and constructing the new flats. Seven Sisters was one of the largest timber frame projects in London at the time and included four flats for wheelchair users with all homes designed to meet Lifetime Homes standards and Secured by Design principles. With a biomass district heating system the development also achieved Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4. The research developed with our consultants and timber frame contractor has since been used by the UKTFA to develop their ‘Design guide to separating distances for buildings during construction’. This large complex timber frame scheme required an exceptional team effort that included consultants and Prestoplan Timber Frame to produce a construction fire strategy that reduced the fire risk to satisfy the HSE to allow the project to go ahead.
Senior Engineer Yusuf Luhar’s son Yasin joined the Queensland Road Project for a week’s work experience in March 2013. Yasin is currently at secondary school taking his GCSE’s. The site team kept him busy by assigning him tasks such as finding relevant drawings to print off. Helping the new site secretary with paper work, and liaising with senior staff in the offices.
His health and safety awareness on site included a discussion about how we conduct SUSA’s conversations and the importance of positive safety leadership. As a result Yasin regularly checked SUSA tickets and marked the results onto site SUSA chart white board on behalf of the team.
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PROJECT NEWS
Coombe Road and Bell Green receive SHE Award
The fourth and fifth sites to receive the Kier Construction London Board’s SHE Award Coombe Road in Maidstone and Bell Green in Sydenham. This award is presented every 2 months by the KCL Board to the site team, who in their opinion best performed against set criteria for Safety, Health and Environment. The award recognises the hard work and commitment by our staff and subcontractors in providing a safe and incident free environment on all of our sites. Mark Pengelly commented “The Coombe Road Team have shown how well a traditional residential scheme can plan and
manage a project in full compliance with the Kier Red Top standards and Kier’s SHE Procedures. The efforts and hard work by our Staff and and our Supply Chain is appreciated.” He added “The Bell Green Team has demonstrated a high level of safety leadership throughout the Project. They have successfully managed some significantly high risk operations which include working at height, widespread segregation of lots of plant and people and extensive 278 Roadworks. This award recognises the contribution of the whole team and shows what can be achieved when we work together with a common purpose.”
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PROJECT NEWS
Whipps Cross flies Bronze Flag The Whipps Cross Hospital Team successfully exceeded the 200,000 RIDDOR Accident free hours milestone during the construction phase of the project and have recently completed the demolition of the old school without a single reportable injury over the lifetime of the project. This achievement entitles the site to proudly display the Kier Bronze SHE Flag in recognition of their commitment to safety, health and environmental management. The Kier Bronze SHE Flag was presented to Project Manager Richard Wheeler by Kier Group SHE Manager Ron Wilson.
Staff Promotions
(l-r) Ron Wilson (Kier Construction SHE Manager), Richard Wheeler (Project Manager),
James Howlett has been promoted to site manager. James is currently working on the Queensland Road project.
Matthew Burley has been promoted from assistant design manager to design manager. Matthew is currently based at North Middlesex Hospital.
John Croucher has also been promoted to an assistant site manager.
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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY NEWS
Westminster to Devizes Canoe Race By Mark Starling
James Phillipson, my best mate and I successfully completed one of the top 30 endurance races in the world last weekend and raised over £3000 for the COINS Foundation with donations still rolling in. When the Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Race started on Good Friday, the temperature was minus 11 degrees. We were very prepared for the race and had put in plenty of training, however, no one can train for manoeuvring a kayak through frozen water for two miles – we had to break the ice to get through which was really tough!”’ The race has been held annually over the Easter weekend since 1948 and is a severe test of both skill and stamina which produces a memorable sense of achievement on completion. James and I completed the 125 mile race in an impressive 27 hours and 09 minutes and were welcomed into London by Kier, COINS and family supporters waiting on Westminster Bridge. We flew the Kier and COINS Foundation flags along the way and were known by the other rowers as ‘Team COINS Foundation’. “It was a brilliant event,” we are pleased with what we have raised but are always glad of more!” You can still donate to our challenge online at www.justgiving.com/markstarling2013 or support can be pledged by emailing mark.starling@kier.co.uk. All monies raised from this race will go directly to the COINS Foundation projects.
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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY NEWS
Kier 3 Peaks Challenge 2013
On the 29th and 30th June 2013 a Kier Construction London Team of 22 will be taking part in the National Three Peaks Challenge. As part of their training for the event 10 team members travelled up to Horton in Yorkshire to attempt the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge. The Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge is a really tough warm up for the National 3 Peaks Challenge and the team planned to walk the 25 mile circular route climbing the peaks of Pen-y-Ghent, Wernside and Ingleborough. On the day the weather was terrible and the first peak was climbed in driving rain with minimum visibility, and with no let up in the weather the decision was made to skip Wernside and head back via Ingleborough. The team managed to walk 21 miles in 11 hours, 5 of which was in pouring rain.
It is very easy to lend your support to the team by making an online donation on their ‘My Donate’ page https://mydonate.bt.com/teams/kier3peakschallengers. The team will be extremely grateful for any donation and your messages of support.
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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY NEWS
Gavin’s Marathon
Reading Half Marathon
Site Surveyor Gavin Carragher took part in the London Marathon in April to raise awareness and money for The Samaritans. Gavin’s finishing time of 4hrs 40mins was not the time his was aiming for due to an injury that he picked up just 10 weeks before the race.
Michael Salisbury and his brother Matt Salisbury took part in the Reading half marathon to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH). They decided to support the Charity after Michael’s daughter was admitted there with a virus in 2011. Michael explained “They treated her over the course of a week and they were very professional and friendly. They put myself and my partner up in accommodation through that tough time so that we could be close by.” Despite the rain Michael finished in 1hr 44 mins, and in Matt in 1hr 55mins and after the race they celebrated with a few beers. With a £200 donation from Kier, they raised £1300 for the charity.
Congratulations to.... Peter and Karen O’Rourke are pleased to announce the birth of their second child Jenson James. Jenson was born on Friday 3rd May weighing 7lb 9oz.
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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY NEWS
Go Green Week Fundraising Totals
Our grand total for Go Green Week in support of Barnardo’s was £560. • St Patrick’s Day themed Cake Bake raised £75 • Mark Starling correctly guessed that there were 237 green Sweets in the Jar. We raised £55 from this mini event. • Mike Smith was sponsored £120 to wear his green costume for the day. • Our ‘Auction of Promises’ hosted by Mike Smith raised £70! • We collected £140 from the Dress Down Day and Charity Pizza Lunch. As always we are bowled over by your generosity and we thank you for digging so deeply.
More Fundraising Events Kier Group held a Ride Your Motor Bike to Work Day in support of the Nationwide Association of Blood Bikes on Thursday 20th June 2013. Satff donate £5 for the pleasure of riding their bikes into work and asked family and friends to sponsor them. To register your details for next year’s event contact val.atha@kier.co.uk
Kier’s 21st Birthday Friday 21th June was our last fundraising event and we used the opportunity to celebrate 21 years since the buyout of Kier which happened in July 1992. We raised £800 for our corporate charity partner Banardo’s and the Kier Foundation. The full story and photos will be featured in our Summer edition.
Winter Photo Competition There were no entries for the winter photo competition.
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