This week, our proud partners at the Howarth Foundation held their annual Charity Golf Day in Cleckheaton! Not only were we one of their key sponsors, but also got the chance to take part as one of the competing teams! Assistant Site Manager Ewan Bromely led our team as one of the best local amateur golfers in the region (playing off a handicap of +2!). Scott Leather, Operations Director at our sister company Erris Homes, was also there, calling it a ‘highly fun’ day – also noting that it contributed significantly to the Howarth Foundation’s running costs.
The Howarth Foundation is a leading charitable organisation that changes the lives of homeless individuals by getting them back on their feet and into employment. Their work is life-saving for many, and a key reason why we have continued to support them over the years. Howard Civil Engineering prides itself on its CSR responsibilities and sustainability efforts, and the Howarth Foundation forms a big part of that.
Over the course of the day, over twenty teams competed against one-another in an effort to come out on top, and our team certainly didn’t disappoint! Out of everyone, HCE came in fourth place – more than deserving of a pat on the back! There was also no shortage of celebrities making their way down to the course, with famous faces like Jermaine Beckford, Adam Pope, Eorl Crabtree and Simon Grayson also in attendance!
The event wasn’t just for showing off your golf skills though, the ultimate purpose was raising as much money as possible to support the Howarth Foundation’s crucial work. This goal was certainly achieved too, with the overall amount raised being in excess of £9,000 – a resounding success for the charity that will no doubt put that money to great use.
We asked CEO of the Howarth Foundation, Andrew Howarth, for his thoughts on the event. Here’s what he had to say: “The Howarth Foundation is a self-funding charity and relies heavily upon its twelve fundraising events throughout the year, as well as the support and sponsorship of businesses who actually care about their CSR work. Howard Civil Engineering plays a massively proactive role in supporting The Howarth Foundation, and without genuinely caring and supportive companies like HCE small charities like ours would not be able to exist.”
To learn more about what Andrew Howarth and his charity do, visit their website here.
In May, our proud partners at the Lighthouse Club paid a visit to our workers at the HMP Millsike site, tackling the difficult subject of mental health and engaging with the crew about a range of experiences they could be facing. Kier very kindly organised the visit, as well as providing some sweet treats to all the workers in attendance!
The Lighthouse Club prides itself on providing emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing support to construction workers and their loved ones. This is a massively important area for us at Howard Civil Engineering in our never-ending pursuit of creating a comfortable, open, and healthy work environment!
The Lighthouse Club delivered a number of important ‘Tool Box Talks’ to our workers, where individuals discussed their own personal mental health experiences in an effort to encourage more openness and conversation on the subject matter. They also took some time to engage in more casual conversations with the team throughout the morning. During their stay, they handed out some goody bags, and Kier even kindly stepped in to give attendees some free ice-cream – not a bad way to start the morning!
Our partnership with the Lighthouse Club is an incredibly rewarding one for us, and we’ll continue to support their crucial work as we aid in the fight for a mentally healthier workplace across all our sites and projects! You can read more about the charity here.
In celebration of World Environment day, we wanted to talk about our various accomplishments from the last six months regarding our environmental and sustainability efforts. We are always pushing forward in our goal to create a cleaner, more sustainable work environment, and that’s why we kick-started 2023 off by installing solar panels at our head office in Leeds – a venture that has already proven to be a great success!
The solar panels were commissioned by Path Energy, a solar panel fitting organisation who aim to create sustainable, affordable, and most importantly clean energy across various markets. Their work with us has done exactly that; not only benefiting our organisation, but the wider environment as a whole.
In just the first few months following their installation, the numbers have spoken for themselves: since the end of January this year, their performance has matched that of planting nearly 10 trees! This equates to saving a huge 16.68t of CO2 emissions, a great step forward for us as we try to cut down on our environmental impact as a business!
The panels have also generated 16.729MWh of electricity (16,729kWh), which is set to grow massively in the coming summer months. Over the course of June, July and August, 70% of the solar panels’ annual generation will be harvested, meaning the already great numbers will only become greater!
On the topic of the new solar panels, our sustainability manager Sophie Henderson had this to say: “The investment in the solar panels only reinforces our commitment to reducing our emissions as a company. We have already started to see tangible benefits from the recent installation; not only has it helped increase our energy independence using natural resources, but we have also seen a drop in our CO2 footprint providing real climate protection. There are exciting times ahead at Howard Civil Engineering!”
Our new panels are not the only thing we have been working on this year to advance our sustainability efforts, however. There are several other key areas that we have focused on as we continue to try and make as big of a difference as possible! These include:
- £19,756 in financial donations to communities
- 180 hours of volunteering efforts
- 901 school children educated on routes into construction and STEM
- 78 people support pre-employment
- 153 hours of work experience/placements provided
- 67% reduction is NOx emissions from upgrading our fleet of vans
- 16.68t of CO2 emissions saved through our new solar panels
- 16.7MWh of electricity generated in 2023 so far
And, as we progress further into 2023, we aim only to expand on these numbers! To learn more about our environmental sustainability efforts, click here.
Our fresh new fleet of vans are ready to go this week! In collaboration with Brandfixx, we’ve branded our vans using the latest and greatest modular branding technology. Not only does it look great, but the overall impact the process has environmentally is huge, and fits perfectly with our deep-rooted desire for improving sustainability and CSR targets at Howard Civil Engineering!
Our managing director, Michael Howard, chose Brandfixx for its unique modular approach to vehicle branding. Where other conventional wrapping companies take considerably more application time and resources, Brandfixx have developed a method that uses 40% less material, can be fitted in a matter of hours not days, and reduces CO2 emissions by a very substantial 73% whilst still giving full vehicle coverage, backed by DEFRA metrics! Brandfixx have also supplied our vans with the highest grade premium chevrons available, working with their sister company Chapter 8 Shop to ensure our vans are as visible as possible in all conditions; safety is one of our highest priorities. And last, but certainly not least, the new vans are Euro 6 standard, which results in a 67% reduction in NOx emissions compared to the previous Euro 5 standard.
Jack Thompson, business development manager over at Brandfixx, spent the day fitting our vans with the new branding. He spoke to us about how quickly the process of branding the vans was, with him and one other colleague managing to complete nine vans in just three days! With the regular process, he said, “two fitters would normally require an entire day with constant heat gun use to complete just one van properly in a traditional wrapping method”, which really speaks to the incredible efficiency of their new technology!
Speaking to us about the whole operation, Jack Thompson said “It’s been a pleasure to deal with Michael and the team here at Howard Civil Engineering. In particular Ryan, Gavin and Sophie have been fantastic to liaise with in terms of getting their new design and requirements nailed down, so a special thank you for all their efforts! We’re really excited to start the journey of the Howard Civil Engineering rebrand with these initial 9 vans – completing three a day between just two fitters is a real demonstration of the efficiency of our product. Each van took on average just an hour and a half to complete with no heat guns required, ensuring true sustainability of vehicle branding, backed by definitive DEFRA metrics. Thank you for choosing Brandfixx!”.
To read the full report by the University of Hull on Brandfixx and their unique modular process, click here.
We are pleased to announce that Sophie Henderson has been promoted to the new position of Sustainability Manager!
Sophie has been a member of the Howard Civil Engineering team for nine years, and has an intricate knowledge of the company thanks to her progression from Health and Safety Apprentice to Estimator before she accepted the role of Pre-Construction Coordinator in 2020.
Sophie will be focussing on how the business can make a positive impact to the communities and regions it works in, prioritising areas such as environmental sustainability and social value.
Pre-Construction Director, Peter Howard, oversaw the internal appointment: “As a longstanding member of the Howard Civil Engineering team, we believe Sophie is the ideal candidate to embody our vision, values and attitudes towards sustainability in 2023,” he said. “Her passion, her drive, and her excellent communication skills are an asset to the company as a whole, and I am eager to see how Sophie can transform our ambitious social value and CSR targets into tangible results that benefit our clients and, most importantly, the communities in which we operate.
“The landscape of the construction industry has changed significantly in the past five years, and rightly so,” he continued. “Delivering commercial value and a quality product is no longer enough for clients who are actively working to improve their local communities and are targeting Net Zero emissions in the next 30 years.
“The appointment of a Sustainability Manager is Howard Civil Engineering’s statement that, although we may be an SME, our company has the understanding and the capacity to deliver this additional value for our stakeholders.”
Sophie, who received the promotion after returning from maternity leave, is thrilled with her new role. “I am incredibly pleased with promotion to sustainability manager and am grateful for the support I have received throughout the transition, especially just after returning from maternity leave!”
“The role is very versatile and suits me perfectly” she continued. “I thoroughly enjoy meeting and getting to know the people and organisations in the communities in which we work, and giving back to them whilst promoting the industry. I also enjoy looking at ways to reduce our CO2 and keep ahead of the curve!”
It’s hard to remember a time when he wasn’t a part of Howard Civil Engineering’s Senior Management Team, but when James Page joined us as a fresh-faced 23 year old in 2005, he was simply working on the tools as a groundworker.
We caught up with James to see how he views his 18 years at Howard Civil Engineering, and why he’s excited about the construction industry’s newest generation.
Why did you decide to join Howard Civil Engineering?
I worked for another civil engineering company with Steve Poulson (Project Manager) and unfortunately they went bust about three years after I started with them. Steve used to work with Mick (Howard, Managing Director) who had founded Howard Civil Engineering two years prior, so was able to get in touch and see if there was anything we could help with at his new company.
It was around 2005 when this happened and I was just a groundworker at this point, but Mick took us on and we’ve both been here ever since.
What interested you about construction?
I was 20 when I started my first job in construction. When I left school I worked in a factory with my uncle making windows, but I knew Steve because we played football together and he offered to see if there were any vacancies for a general labourer on the job he was working on at the time. He told me what he did, told me that I could work my way up, and informed me of the different routes I could go down with a career in construction just by starting as a labourer.
It was more chance than anything rather than me being set on a career in construction while I was in school.
How did you go progress to Contracts Manager?
I worked on various projects to start with and then started learning more things and getting more tickets, and it just went from there. I demonstrated my capacity when working on the tools and my eagerness when I was asked to take on more responsibility, and then I gradually was trusted to be left supervising my own jobs and sites once I’d got my SSSTS and SMTSS.
From there I was promoted to Site Manager, then Project Manager, and I’ve been a Contracts Manager for nine years now.
What is your favourite part about being a contracts manager?
The satisfaction of seeing some of the younger team members progress from new apprentices and graduates to qualified and competent professionals. Some of our more ‘senior guys’ who have ten, twelve years of experience and are running their own projects are still only in their twenties because they joined us as apprentices when they were 16, straight out of school. For example, Patrick Furlong joined us as a graduate nine years ago and has since successfully managed several projects for clients such as Esh and IHP; George Bagnall started when he was 16 and has been with us about ten years now, and he’s a senior engineer.
We have a very good crop of current young talent within the business and I’m excited to see them grow and progress into their roles.
It is also very satisfying when you complete a particularly challenging project, as it is then you really take stock and look back on certain complexities and achievements to get it where it is. A lot of hard work is put in and these projects are part of your life for a few years solid in some instances. It is rewarding when the project is a success.
Why have you stayed for 18 years?
I think my values are fully aligned with the values of Howard Civil Engineering, and I know I’m looked after. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes my work is challenging, but Mick has an open-door policy and nobody’s better than anyone else here. Everyone’s very down to earth and we’re all aiming for the same end goal.
What advice would you give to someone considering entering the construction industry?
The main thing is having the right attitude. There are so many different avenues you can go down when you start a career in construction, so keeping an open mind is important. There have been several times where a new team member has started with the goal of becoming an engineer and found they actually have a passion for another aspect of construction. We’ve had people move from being Quantity Surveyors to Estimators and Groundworkers to Engineers – don’t put yourself in a box early on.
Get stuck in, work hard, be willing, and it will be recognised.
TRUST US TO DELIVER YOUR PROJECT ON TIME AND ON BUDGET