CBD, Author at Howard Civil Engineering

Pictured: Engineer Declan Conlon proudly displaying a Mental Health Awareness Week poster in his site office.

In times like these, kindness is more important than ever – that’s why it’s the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Research shows displays of kindness positively benefits mental health and helps us feel connected to others, whether that be our friends, families, neighbours, co-workers, and even complete strangers.

In light of this, we’d like to give a special mention to one of our Site Operatives, Dave Murtagh Senior. Last month, Dave was awarded a Site Safety Award from our client, Willmott Dixon, and was thrilled to receive an Amazon gift voucher. However, Dave later gifted this voucher to his neighbour, a nurse, as a gesture of thanks in light of the COVID19 pandemic – now that’s a true display of kindness!

This week, we have been conducting Tool Box Talks across all of our live sites aiming to raise awareness of the symptoms and effects of poor mental health. Operatives were invited to take part in Time to Talk’s ‘pub’ quiz and test their knowledge in order to raise awareness of the facts and statistics surrounding poor mental health.

Howard Civil Engineering routinely conduct Tool Box Talks discussing mental health, and we are pleased to say that in the past year we have been able to dedicate over 40 hours to tending to the needs of team members experiencing poor mental health.

If you are experiencing poor mental health or have concerns about a colleague’s mental health and would like further advice, please contact any of Howard Civil Engineering’s Mental Health First Aiders who will be able to help privately and sympathetically.

We have now completed our extensive groundworks package at Aflex Hose’s new 17,000 sq. m purpose-built manufacturing facility and office blocks at Bradley Business Park, Huddersfield.

HCE were awarded the contract by GMI Construction in February 2019 and commenced work on the development in March 2019.

Speaking on the complexities that HCE faced when delivering the groundworks package for this mammoth site, Contracts Manager James Page commented, ‘This has been both a challenging and rewarding project to be involved with. From the early 6m high retaining wall which released the structural steel erection to the upper level slab which had to be constructed to a high tolerance within specific time slots due to planning constraints, the challenges were overcome to a high standard by working collaboratively with our client, GMI. As with most projects of this scale, the works required an abundance of forward planning and experience to propose options and alternatives to achieve the joint objectives and hit critical path milestones . It is a credit to Steve Poulson (Project Manager) and his team for completing the works on programme. Ultimately, Aflex Hose Manufacturing Facility is a project we are very proud of.’

GMI Divisional Managing Director, Lee Powell, also commented, ‘With the facility achieving PC on time despite experiencing various challenges during construction the completion of this project represents a notable achievement for everyone involved. We would like to thank and congratulate every member of the project team for another fantastic result of which we are all notably proud.’

Aflex Hose are manufacturers of world-leading PTFE-lined flexible hoses for the pharmaceutical, biotechnologies, food and beverage, chemical and automotive industries. Now complete, this new 17,000 sq. m factory will provide new extrusion lines and processing equipment, increasing production by 70% and employing 280 staff.

Read more about HCE’s involvement in this project here.

Our £2.7m groundworks and external works package at the new Foss Park Hospital in York is now complete! This was our second contract for Wates Group, with work commencing in September 2018 and finishing ahead of schedule in March 2020. The hospital since opened in April 2020 a week ahead of schedule.

Having delivered 1,500m of service trenches, 5,500m of drainage and a 165m3 attenuation tank at this state-of-the-art facility in York, we then installed finishing touches such as steel edgings, resin-bound and rolled whinstone gravel, textured paving slabs and extensive street furniture.

Speaking on the challenges presented by this prestigious site, Pre-Construction Director Peter Howard commented,“we are extremely pleased to have supported our client Wates on this prestigious scheme. This scheme had a significant quantity of drainage and substructure works and we were presented with access and logistic challenges. However, our fantastic team ensured our package was not only delivered on time but ahead of schedule, all whilst maintaining a high level of safety and quality. Early contractor engagement and planning dramatically enhanced our ability to deliver these works efficiently, and ultimately provided a platform for the overall fruition of the scheme.’

Colin Martin, Chief Executive at Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘To get to this position, particularly with all of the current challenges, is an incredible achievement. The teams involved in this – both within our Trust and partner organisations – have worked extremely hard to make sure that the project ran to schedule, especially in these last few weeks, so we are hugely thankful to everyone involved.’

Located alongside the River Foss, this £27mil state-of-the-art facility provides two adult, single sex wards and two older people’s wards – one for people with dementia and one for people with mental health conditions such as psychosis, severe depression or anxiety.

Read more about HCE’s involvement in this project here.

Howard Civil Engineering are pleased to announce that we have been awarded several places on the North East Procurement Organisation’s (NEPO) Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Works framework agreement.

Out of 13 potential lots, we have placed on four separate lots up to £3m and are a reserve contractor on two lots up to £5m.

The NEPO211 Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Works, developed by Sunderland City Council, is a £400m national framework featuring 26 contractors from across the country with an emphasis on works in the North East region of England.

This framework will allow Howard Civil Engineering to tender for public realm, highway structures, drainage, marine, coastal and river works across local authorities within the North East region.

Pre-contracts manager Brian Barton (pictured, left) spearheaded Howard Civil Engineering’s framework application and is thrilled with the outcome.

‘Needless to say, I am delighted to have played a key role in securing Howard Civil Engineering’s first framework award, fulfilling the faith that the directors and the rest of Howard Civil Engineering have placed in me,’ said Brian. ‘Let us hope this is a platform for more future success!’

Managing director Michael Howard echoed Brian’s comment: “There has been a lot of time, hard work and energy gone into achieving our first framework,” he said. “A lot of credit goes to Brian for spearheading it and engaging the wider team in assisting him, and to (Pre-Construction Director) Peter [Howard] (pictured, right) for persisting with this goal when at times it would have been easier to give up and focus on conventional sub-contracting. I am very excited to see where this new venture takes us.”

Established in 1976, NEPO undertakes high-value procurement in major strategic areas of spend in conjunction with North East local authorities and a range of associate members. You can read more about NEPO at www.nepo.org

We are thrilled to have received praise for our ongoing work at Hard Ings Road amid COVID-19 interruptions by our client, Bradford Council.

We are currently undertaking road widening works on the A650 which is a key thoroughfare between Keighley and Bradford and is predominantly a dual carriageway except for Hard Ings Road, which is a pinch point for traffic. Amid the recent social distancing measures encouraged by the government as a result of COVID-19, we have reduced the numbers of personnel on site and have adapted our schedule to allow for supply delays.

Commenting on how Howard Civil Engineering are approaching challenges posed by COVID-19 on site, David Aspinall – Project Manager of the site for Bradford Council – said he ‘would like to praise HCE and the site team in particular for the way in which [we] are coping despite the many pressures that COVID-19 is putting on all of us.’

He also stated that he has ‘been particularly impressed by the neatness and tidiness of the site and the general good organisation resulting in work that is as efficient as it could be in the circumstances’ and recognised that ‘it must be a very uncertain time for all of the site team from Howard Civil Engineering down to the cleaning team, but everyone is keeping going and staying positive.’

These comments are just the latest in a string of praise from stakeholders regarding our improvements on Hard Ings Road. Our community liaison programme has been very well received with local residents who frequently use the road. You can read more praise from our stakeholders here.

From navigating constrained city-centre footprints in Leeds city centre to stabilising one of Yorkshire’s most beloved cliff faces, there’s never been a dull day on site this year.

There’s been plenty to celebrate in 2019! In more recent news we were presented with Wates’ prestigious Preconstruction Support Highly Commended award for our work on Leeds City College’s Quarry Hill campus, but we’ve also appointed two new Mental Health First Aiders and achieved multiple new accreditations for our health and safety performance on site (which reached a new record in September!).

The good news doesn’t stop there – both our completed and ongoing projects can’t keep out of the news:

And finally, we’re thrilled to be going into 2020 with a string of new contracts under our belt.

Whew – what a whirlwind of a year! We can’t wait to see what’s in store in 2020.

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