Summer 2008 Newsletter hot from the press

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A reclaimed timber deck is a private area for the ground floor apartment with steps leading from the deck to the communal area as a back drop to a typical small urban garden.

A call for help from Home Housing saw Site Manager, Paul Thompson, and Foreman Joiner, Paul Larkin, building the stand for four days in London, as Paul explained, “It was a bit unusual but nothing too challenging and we had some fun down there so very worthwhile!"

Originally known as the Great Spring Show, the RHS’s Flower Show was first held in Kensington in 1862, but has been held at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea since 1913. This was the 85th show to be held at this site and was visited by some 157,000 people. The garden was awarded a Bronze medal in the Show Garden category.

26 year old David, who lives in Whickham, is a time served bricklayer who had worked extensively in Europe before deciding to progress up the construction ladder and move into purchasing. A member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, David looks at his post as a huge opportunity, as he explained.

"Kendall Cross has a very good reputation within the industry for encouraging career progression and I jumped at the chance to join them."
"The job is basically to liaise with both clients and architects to add our knowledge of materials to their specifications and then to ensure that the right materials arrive at the right time, and at the right price, on site. As such, it’s a mix of keeping up to date with the rapid changes in materials and construction techniques, which are constantly evolving, and ensuring the logistics of delivery are right – a lot of construction sites are very limited for storage space, so we’re moving almost to a ‘Just In Time’ delivery situation where we have to guarantee materials arrive on site at exactly the right time to allow work to progress as per programme."

38 year old Jeff, who lives with his family in East Boldon, joins the company from Marshalls plc and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Occupational Health & Safety and an Associate Member of the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment. Whilst employed by our parent company, Galliford Try plc, Jeff will be based at Head Office with a remit that covers the entire NE region.

He commented, "Kendall Cross already have a superb reputation for Health & Safety and my job is to raise the standards even further. It’s all about accessing the expertise and support Galliford Try can provide and then ensuring that we engage all of our staff on site to make the sites as safe as they can possibly be."

"One technique that we already use successfully is a four week forecast plan that ensures all risks have been assessed and the necessary resources will be available to minimise them. The plan enables us to look back on previous periods and assess our performance against targets and develop plans for continuous improvement."

"Kendall Cross have already achieved accreditation to the Environmental Management System, ISO 14001, so are well known for their environmental responsibility, but with materials and construction techniques rapidly changing, it’s good to now have access to the resources of Galliford Try’s central Environmental Department to offer advice and technical assistance."

In addition, nine of our Site Managers have also received awards for their individual contributions to raising safety standards on site during 2007. The site managers are, David Sleightolme, David Currie, Derek Jackson, Neil Potter, Tom Graham, Jim Mouat, Ian Marshall and Mac Bell.

This a tremendous achievement by the whole company

Foster is running on behalf of the national charity Epilepsy Action for whom he hopes to raise £500.00, so any sponsorship is very welcome – contact Foster direct (FInnes@kendallcross.co.uk) or ring Head Office for details.

Peter Galbraith - promoted to Trainee Contracts Manager, working on Dyke House, Hartlepool, and, later, at Kielder for Home Group. Peter, born and bred in Ponteland where he still lives with his wife and two children, joined the company in 1988 as a 16 year old YTS Apprentice Bricklayer. After serving his time, he was then promoted to trainee Site Manager in 1992 and Site Manager in 1994, working on the Centre For The Health Of The Elderly at Newcastle’s RVI Hospital. Peter became Project Manager for the £6.5m Marconi House project on Newcastle’s Quayside in 2004 and most recently was responsible for thePlace in Sunderland.

Congratulations to Ken Harrison, Peter Kettle, and Alan Deacon who successfully completed NVQ Level 2, to Gary Easton, who successful completed NVQ Level 3, and to Wayne Howmans, David Sleightholme, Derek Jackson, Tom Graham, Jim Mouat, Ashley Foster and Paul Thompson who successfully completed Level 4.

Neil Ramsey, commented, “The Social Housing sector is already an important part of our current workload and one which we intend to further grow with the backing and resources of Galliford Try.”

“We used the three days to reinforce connections with our existing partners and establish dialogue with new potential clients.”

Neil Ramsey, Chairman of Kendall Cross, commented, “The offer from Galliford Try was a superb opportunity to expand the company that we could not ignore. It’s no secret that medium sized regional contractors such as ourselves are under great pressure by being unable to compete for the larger contracts, whilst being pressed by smaller companies with lower overheads. In the past few years we’ve seen many good companies go to the wall for these reasons and, as a board, we were determined that this would not happen to Kendall Cross.”

“With the strength of Galliford Try behind us, we can not only carry on with our own areas of expertise with our existing partners but also compete with national contractors for the larger regional contracts. The acquisition provides stability and sustainability to both our clients and staff.”

Greg Fitzgerald, Chief Executive of Galliford Try plc, added, “The acquisition of Kendall Cross provides a spring board on which we plan to grow our affordable housing and regeneration business in the north east of England, an area in which we see considerable potential. Putting the resources and expertise of Galliford Try behind the local client base and excellent reputation of Kendall Cross will enable us to grow a significant market presence in the north east of England.”

Kendall Cross’s existing board of Directors of Neil Ramsey, Managing Director, reporting into the Divisional Building Board, Ian Graham, Regional Managing Director, Malcolm Paton, Contracts Director, and Kevin Hayes, Commercial Director, will continue to run the company.

One of the top 350 public companies in the country and quoted in the FTSE 250 index, the Group is basically split into four divisions – Building (of which we are now a part), Infrastructure, Housebuilding and Investments

Within the Building Division, however, there are separate companies for general contracting in the education, leisure, health and commercial property sectors, and others under the heading of Infrastructure which handle transport and utility work and other civil engineering projects.

Similarly, the Housebuilding Division covers five separate regional developers, namely Midas Homes, Gerald Wood Homes, Stamford Homes, Linden Homes and Linden London Developments, who together deliver some 3,000 new homes annually, making Galliford Try one of the top ten publicly quoted housebuilders in the UK.

Running parallel to these three Divisions, however, are Galliford Try Investments which offers partnerships with public sector bodies through its programme of PPP (Public/Private Partnerships) and the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), and a dedicated Affordable Housing and Regeneration Division who can access other parts of the Group to offer a wealth of skill and experience for urban regeneration schemes.

The Group has been involved in some of the country’s most ambitious construction schemes, ranging from their ongoing redevelopment of the All England Tennis Club at Wimbledon, to award –winning regeneration projects as at Gun Wharf in Plymouth, and are even currently working in the Falklands Islands constructing research facilities for the British Antarctic Survey.