Howard Civil Engineering are thrilled to announce that we have been awarded places on two regional frameworks across Yorkshire for the very first time.
Following the successful delivery of projects such as Cogden Beck for North Yorkshire County Council, we have secured a place on the NYCC Civil Engineering Framework to deliver projects up to £500,000 for the seven councils forming the Yorkshire Highways Alliance – which includes North Yorkshire County Council.
Potential works on this framework would include resurfacing, reconstruction, slurry sealing, drainage and kerbing, bridge repairs, retaining walls and culverts.
More recently, Howard Civil Engineering have also secured a place on the City of York’s Minor Civils Framework. Our involvement on the framework will generally involve small scale civil engineering projects relating to carriageways and footways with a value of up to £250,000.
Pre-contracts manager Brian Barton played a key part in securing these frameworks: ‘I am thrilled to have helped Howard Civil Engineering place on these two very prestigious regional frameworks. This is an excellent step forward for the company after securing a place on our first ever framework only seven months ago.’
This sentiment was echoed by pre-contracts director Peter Howard.
‘This is certainly a key milestone for the business,’ he said. ‘These framework awards form an integral part of our strategic growth plan and provide a platform to further reinforce our position as a dependable multidisciplined contractor within Yorkshire.’
The North Yorkshire County Council framework will last for four years, and the City of York Minor Civils Framework contract will be for a period of 24 months with the potential to extend a further 24 months based on performance.
Following our recent relocation to our brand-new offices in Seacroft, we were thrilled to donate over £5,000 worth of high-quality office furniture to a local school in Leeds!
The Pivot Academy Leeds East is a 105-place specialist setting for young people aged 7-16 with autism and/or social, emotional, and mental health difficulties. Students at the school are unable to access mainstream education due to their needs and require specialist teaching and resources to enable them to achieve their potential.
As former neighbours at Acorn Business Park, Howard Civil Engineering enjoy a positive working relationship with The Pivot Academy, with Howard Group team members supporting the pupils with fundraising events such as bake sales and car washes.
The school has recently purchased our previous premises at Acorn Business Park in order to enhance their offering to pupils, so we were only too happy to help them settle into their new building with a hefty donation of desks, cabinets, chairs, and drawers in addition to several electrical appliances!
Cheryl Lotherington, headmistress at The Pivot Academy Leeds East, explained how the donation has helped the school to better support its pupils.
‘This new building, which we are calling The Hub, will play a crucial part in our purpose to offer all children access to equal opportunities and choices for life,’ she said. ‘Our plans for the building include a designated meeting room, a family support area, CPD resources for local schools, workspace for our teachers, and a place where our families can come together on a regular basis to share their expertise and their challenges.’
‘On behalf of the Pivot group, our staff, students, and families, I would like to thank Howard Civil Engineering for their kind donation of furniture and electrical appliances in our new building,’ she continued. ‘We are truly grateful for this offer which positively impacts on outcomes for these vulnerable children and their families.’
We are thrilled to say that we are now fully moved into our new offices on Limewood Approach, Leeds!
We have relocated from our Acorn Business Park units to almost1,000 square foot of premium office space only a stone’s throw away from our plant yard.
Our brand-new premises enable us to support all of the Howard Civil Engineering, Howard Plant Hire and Erris Homes teams under one roof.
The Howard Civil Engineering and Erris Homes teams have worked tirelessly over the past year to convert a former car sales garage into a modern and stylish office for the entire Howard Group.
In addition to a two state-of-the-art meeting rooms and a spacious canteen, our new offices also have a warehouse and a dedicated reception area for Howard Plant Hire.
Michael Howard, CEO and managing director of Howard Group, is thrilled with the new premises: “Having outgrown our previous premises, I am thrilled to have secured this fantastic new office in such an ideal location,” he said.
“This is a very exciting move as we endeavour to cement our status as one of the north’s leading civil engineering companies and expand upon the high-quality service can deliver to our clients.”
This move follows of a string of new contract wins and framework awards for Howard Civil Engineering, including a £24m deal with Keepmoat Homes in Sheffield and a place on a £400m national framework.
Jamie Rainton, HR and payroll manager, explained how the group’s new headquarters will help attract new talent to support the upcoming projects.
“Not only do our new premises enable us to offer enhanced provisions for our existing workforce, such as training rooms and breakout areas, but they also help us to attract new talent in the local area,” he said.
“One of our primary aims for the next four years is to increase our graduate and apprenticeship intake and I am confident our new office will play a key part in ensuring the Howard Group is an employer of choice for many young people across West Yorkshire.”
The new office will also help Howard Group achieve its environmental sustainability targets.
“Howard House is completely gas-free, meaning we will be saving over 16 tonnes of CO2 per year compared to our previous premises,’ said sustainability champion Sophie Henderson.
“In addition to this, we now have the capacity to station multiple recycling points around the building to help us reduce the amount of office waste destined for incineration,” she continued. “These forward-thinking design elements demonstrate Howard Civil Engineering’s dedication to sustainability and have been well-received by both clients and employees.”
With both his father and his uncles in the industry, you could say that construction is in Brendan O’Hara’s blood. He certainly seems to feel that way, as he says he never really considered a career in a sector other than construction.
‘When I was thinking about what role I’d like to do on site, it just made sense for me to follow in the footsteps of older family members,’ he explains when asked why he chose to be an Apprentice Engineer. ‘They’re mostly involved in the civils side of construction, so it’s what I’ve grown up with.’
Brendan has worked on numerous high-profile sites since joining Howard Civil Engineering two years ago, including Foss Park Hospital, Greengates Junction, and our award-winning Hard Ings Road site.
‘All the project managers and site managers I have worked with so far have been really supportive and this has definitely helped me maintain my enthusiasm throughout my apprenticeship,’ he continues. ‘The sites I’ve worked on have been fairly big projects, but everyone has been very approachable, so it’s been a lot easier to adapt when moving between sites.’
When he completed his apprenticeship in Construction and the Built Environment, Brendan was working at our Skipton Road site in Harrogate. It seems this enormous 350-home residential development certainly challenged Brendan in all the right ways as he notes this site in particular when talking about his apprenticeship.
‘I’d say that I had a fairly similar apprenticeship experience to the rest of my college classmates until I started working on Skipton Road,’ he says. ‘As it’s a very large site, I’ve been a lot more involved in ordering and planning compared to my peers who were at a similar stage in their apprenticeships. I’ve definitely received a wider knowledge for those sort of things.’
So, what would Brendan’s advice be for new learners looking to make the most of their apprenticeship?
‘Pay as much attention as you can to what your mentors and your peers are telling you and get as much knowledge out of people as you can get – it will all put you in good stead for the future!’
It seems this approach definitely worked for Brendan, who has now completed his apprenticeship and has his sights set on becoming a project manager in a few years’ time.
‘While I see myself staying as an engineer for a good few years, I’d love to progress into project management,’ he says. ‘I’ve already had the conversation with my line manager, and it looks like it’s definitely possible for me to work towards this at Howard Civil Engineering.’
Amazing work, Brendan – well done!
Children at Sunnyside Day Nursery in Greengates really digged their visit from our Greengates site team earlier this week – as we pulled up to the nursery with an exciting array of plant machinery!
As we undertake improvement works at Greengates junction, Howard Civil Engineering work closely with Sunnyside Day Nursery to maintain access to the building and ensure the safety of pupils.
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Earlier this week, children at the nursery were invited to explore some of the plant machinery we use on the project in a safe and controlled environment – and it’s clear to see that they loved it!
Community liaison officer Sophie Henderson commented: ‘By enabling the children to get up close to the machinery in a supervised setting, it allowed them to not only realise the sheer size and scale of these machines and learn about the dangers of being too close to them unsupervised, but also develop their interest in construction and the built environment.
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‘It was brilliant to be able to encourage an enthusiasm for construction – hopefully there will be a future machine operative amongst them!’
Staff at Sunnyside Day Nursery were thrilled with the gesture.
‘The children absolutely loved it!’ said one member of staff. ‘We often watch [the Howard Civil Engineering team] at work from the garden or the doorstep, so it was an amazing experience for them to climb on and explore the diggers and dumper trucks.’
Looks like it was a wonderful afternoon for everyone!
When Ben Pritchard joined Howard Civil Engineering last summer, he was fresh out of university and eager to start his career in the construction industry.
Fast forward 14 months and Ben, 23, is now a fully-fledged quantity surveyor managing his own projects and workloads!
Ben attributes this new-found responsibility to the helpfulness of his colleague’s and Howard Civil Engineering ‘trust in younger people to get the job done.’
‘When I first started at Howard Civil Engineering, I didn’t feel like I was pressured to know anything,’ said Ben. ‘I was given a clean slate to work from and it’s always been clear that I could ask any question I wanted to. As a result, my progression here has actually surpassed the progression of my classmates who haven’t had the opportunities to manage their own projects despite working for a company for a longer period of time.’
Initially shadowing senior quantity surveyor Peter Farrar, Ben quickly got to grips with the responsibilities of his role on sites such as Skipton Road, Gateway 36 and Greengates Junction. Ben has since worked on around 20 sites, four of which he has managed by himself.
‘I feel like I’ve definitely got to grips with three of the four main areas of the business: roads and sewers, groundworks, and S278 and infrastructure,’ he explained. ‘I am currently working on three projects, including Leeds General Needs and Spa Fields, but I can’t wait to hopefully work on projects with reinforced concrete products in future.’
Ben is looking forward to starting his Assessment of Professional Competence (APC) next year which will enable him to qualify as a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), all of which is being funded by Howard Civil Engineering.
So, what would Ben say to other graduates hoping to make the most of their first job after university?
‘Ask a lot of questions!’ he laughed. ‘No question is a silly question. Keep working hard and it will get noticed.’
TRUST US TO DELIVER YOUR PROJECT ON TIME AND ON BUDGET