Pride for Willmott Dixon at 10k run

  Willmott Dixon, the building contractor for all the Middlesbrough BSF schools sponsored and took part in this year’s Middlesbrough Tees Pride 10k Road Race which took pace on Sunday 4 September 2011.

Antony Dillon, Managing Director, who ran the race in a very respectable time of
56 minutes and 38 seconds, also presented prizes to the winners at the end of the race. 

Willmott Dixon also sponsored a community training programme run by the Council to encourage people to take up running and take part in next year’s 10k run.

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Middlesbrough Tees Pride 10k - September 2011

The Willmott Dixon Community Training Programme is aimed at inexperienced runners who want to do the Middlesbrough Tees Pride 10k.

The programme is led by qualified leaders and is informal, fun and friendly. It enables people over the age of 16, no matter what their previous running experience, to get fitter, raise self-esteem and lose weight with the ultimate goal of crossing the 10k finish line.

The weekly sessions are taking place at four venues in the town with around 80 – 90 runners are taking part every week and more are welcome. People just have to turn up to register.

Jimmy Wattis, Race Director, said: “The Willmott Dixon Community Training Programme is encouraging people of all abilities to take up running and help them achieve the fantastic goal of running in the 10k.

“Participants are gaining confidence, improving their fitness and losing weight all with the help of qualified running leaders.”

Anthony Dillon, managing director at Willmott Dixon, said: “We think this is a fantastic idea and are delighted to be given the chance to sponsor it.”

More information: visit www.runmiddlesbrough.com  or call 01642 515672.

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Smarter user of natural resources

Society continues to consume natural resources at an unsustainable rate, with the majority of developed nations now consuming more than the planet can provide each year.

Willmott Dixon is committed to sending zero waste to landfill by 2012:-

What?
Skilful management of renewable and non-renewable natural resources underpin all our construction activities and apply to materials, water and waste.

Why?
Consumption of natural resources in an unsustainable way has a heavy
environmental, social and economic cost.

How?
Through careful planning and continual learning to ensure that materials, water and waste are minimised, recycled and reused as efficiently as possible.

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Tees Pride 10k road race

Willmott Dixon have built on their presence across Middlesbrough by sponsoring this year’s Tees Pride 10k road race. On 5th September, more than 4,500 runners took part in the annual event and for the first time, the Willmott Dixon Elite Mile was also held.

The Elite Mile attracted international athletes with some amazing performances including eight athletes finishing within the 4 minute mark. Bruce Raeside running for the British Milers Club came first in a staggering 3m 52s. Helen Clitheroe beat the competition in the women’s race finishing in an impressive 4m 25s.

Willmott Dixon have signed up to sponsor the event in 2011, by which time they will be part way through construction of Oakfields which is on the 10k route.

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A message from Willmott Dixon

Willmott Dixon was the best performing company in the Sunday Times Top Track 100 list after it saw a 69 per cent jump in sales from £592 million to £999 million in 2009. The company was also listed as the 45th biggest private company in the country, and the third largest contractor. 

A key factor behind the Willmott Dixon’s growth includes its success on the National Academies Framework, where is has secured work worth over £500 million. Also, its support services business now provides repairs and maintenance to 60,000 properties for Birmingham City Council.

The company recently announced a joint venture with Carisbrooke to develop Woking town centre. It also developed Dee Park estate in Reading to create 763 homes over eight years.

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Willmott Dixon Awards

Willmott Dixon hold a quarterly regional staff meeting. The meetings are a chance for the region staff to get together, share and discuss ideas and thoughts on many topics such as current and future projects, preconstruction and safety and environmental matters.

The meeting also has a team bonding quiz and a question and answer session. The evening is finished off with an awards presentation.

Two members of staff working on the Middlesbrough BSF projects were awarded.

Clair Dolan, site secretary for Acklam Grange won the Exceptional Customer Services Award. Clair was nominated for the award for her contribution to events and tours with Acklam Grange School, community engagement and her friendly helpful approach to members of staff, client, school and subcontractors.

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The ten point plan to sustainability

Willmott Dixon recognises that its operations have both direct and indirect impacts on the natural and human environment. Our aims are to minimise the negative impacts as far as practicable, undertake all our operations on a more sustainable basis and promote the beneficial effects of our activities.

To achieve this aim, a ten point plan has been developed to monitor the sustainability of our projects and set challenging targets for continual improvement. Each year the percentage compliance increases until 2012 when 75% of all projects will comply fully with the ten point plan.

A minimum score is expected on each project and individual projects are allocated an overall target score depending on the scope of works.

For 2009, the target was for 30% of projects to sign up to the ten point plan. Some of the criteria in the plan for 2009 are more than 80% of waste diverted from landfill and a score of more than 32 out of 40 in the Considerate Constructors Scheme.

By 2012, the target will have increased to 75% of projects using the ten point plan and the criteria will also be increased. 100% of waste will be diverted from landfill and the target score for the Considerate Constructors Scheme will be 34.

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Asbestos

Asbestos has been used for centuries and its use became extensive from the late 19th Century. In the 1980s, it was identified as being harmful so its use in new buildings was banned. However, it is still within many existing buildings, including schools. If left untouched, it is not harmful however the demolition of buildings must be carried out carefully.

Despite its toxic nature, asbestos has good heat resistance, chemical resistance, flexibility and insulating properties. Typical uses have included fire protection, pipe insulation, floor tiles, boiler seals and garage roofs.

A building such as the existing Acklam Grange School will inevitably have had elements of asbestos used in its construction. Over the years this has been extensively surveyed, any hazardous asbestos removed and any remaining asbestos recorded on an asbestos log. This asbestos has been deemed as safe to leave in the place because, when left undisturbed, the toxic microscopic fibres are not released.

However, as we start to consider the demolition of the existing school and the associated disturbance to the asbestos, we have to amplify the asbestos log to be sure that, before mass demolition of the building, all the asbestos has been identified and removed under controlled conditions.

To this end, asbestos surveyors have been in the school over the summer holidays and half term and will return for a final more intrusive visit after the school has been emptied to check behind fuses, electrical sockets, window frames and other inaccessible cavities.

All the asbestos will be safely removed before demolition.

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Building a sample classroom

Within the Acklam Grange building, Willmott Dixon is currently preparing a sample room that will be a true representative of a finished classroom. The sample room will be fitted with carpets, furniture and IT equipment including an interactive whiteboard, supplied by RM.

The sample room that has been chosen is a typical classroom, located in Block D on the first floor. The room will be finished in October 2009.

When complete, the sample classroom will be a full size example room to allow staff, students and visitors to chance to see a what their teaching spaces will be like almost a year in advance of the new school building opening. It also allows Willmott Dixon to test the ease of construction of the room and highlight any problems that may recur in other rooms.

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Who is Willmott Dixon?

In 2008, Willmott Dixon was appointed as the building contractor for Acklam Grange, Ormesby and Priory Woods Schools and they have since started construction of these schools. This section of the monthly bulletin will be dedicated to an update direct from Willmott Dixon.

Willmott Dixon Construction (WDC) is part of the Willmott Dixon Group, one of the UK’s largest privately owned construction, housing, property care and investment companies. WDC is proud to be part of the Middlesbrough BSF project and we have assembled a top team to deliver the schemes.

To find out more about Willmott Dixon, visit www.willmottdixon.co.uk

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The Considerate Constructors Scheme

The Considerate Constructors Scheme started in 1997 and covers all construction activity within the UK. Companies can sign up their sites to a voluntary Code of Considerate Practice which commits those contractors to being good neighbours as well as environmentally conscious.

Registered sites are visited at least once and are scored under eight headings:
· Considerate
· Environment
· Cleanliness
· Good neighbour
· Respectful
· Safe
· Responsible
· Accountable

Willmott Dixon Group currently have one hundred sites registered in the scheme including Acklam Grange School. The Acklam Grange School site was monitored on 23rd March and received a score of 4.5 out of 5 in every category except environment, which was scored as 5. This exceptional score was awarded for the attention given to the protection and future reinstatement of the sensitive meadow through which the temporary access road runs.

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A day in the life of the Construction Project Manager

I get up 6:15am (after one too many snoozes on my alarm) and drive to the site for 8:00am. My first task is a walk round the site to make sure everything is going as planned. My morning is spent meeting with the building manager, quantity surveyor and design manager to plan work for the site team.

After lunch, I take another walk round the site before spending the afternoon meeting with subcontractors and the client, Middlesbrough Council, discussing details of the school. Sometimes I show students round the site and it is great to see their excited faces. I leave the site at about 5pm and spend the evening relaxing after another hard day.

Being a construction project manager is a tough job but very rewarding.

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Management Trainee Scheme

The Willmott Dixon Management Trainee Scheme was established in 1979 with an initial intake of 20 Management Trainees. Over the past 25 years the scheme has now grown and developed to become one of the leading management trainee schemes within the construction industry.

Our management trainee scheme now recruits on average 30 trainees annually, within the disciplines of site management, quantity surveying, estimating, buying, design & build, business development and mechanical & electrical engineering.

The trainee scheme is available to people from a variety of different academic backgrounds. Applicants can be:·

• Non-graduates with university matriculation
• Graduates with an industry or non-industry related degree
• ‘Year out’ who are graduates studying an industry related sandwich degree

The length of the Management Trainee programme depends upon the initial academic qualifications but will generally be two, three or four years duration.

Along with a robust structured training programme trainees attend a two week residential training course provided by the CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) to experience “hands-on” trade skills; eg. bricklaying, joinery and painting. Willmott Dixon is the only UK construction company to offer such a training course.

Management Trainees also organise and participate in annual Trainee Activity Weekends. Past activities have included clay-pigeon shooting, gorge-jumping and paintballing. Each year, the company’s management trainees are recognised at the ‘Trainee of the Year’ awards.

Typical starting salaries range from £14,000 for a non-graduate Midlands based 4 year programme to £22,000 for a graduate London/South East based 2 year programme.

Graduate trainees are immediately eligible to choose between a fully expensed company car and a monthly car cash allowance. All trainees are eligible to apply for an interest free loan of up to £2,000 and up to £200 towards the cost of books related to studies.
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A great performance

The Considerate Constructors Scheme is a national initiative set up by the construction industry to improve its image. Construction sites and companies that register with the Scheme are monitored against a Code of Considerate Practice, designed to encourage best practice beyond statutory requirements.

The Scheme is concerned with any area of construction activity that may have a direct or indirect impact on the image of the industry as a whole. The main areas of concern fall into three main categories:

* the environment
* the workforce
* the general public

Schemes that score four or above in each of the eight sections of the Code receive a certificate of Performance Beyond Compliance. The Certificate rewards sites for outstanding performance and is a sign of a considerate, safe site.

Willmott Dixon has been awarded a Certificate of Performance Beyond Compliance for the Acklam Grange School project.

The certificate demonstrates Willmott Dixon’s commitment to be considerate contractors through its consideration of every possible impact on neighbours and the environment.

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Considerate constructor award

The Acklam Grange site recently had a visit from a Considerate Constructors Inspector. The Inspector was very complimentary about the site and scored the site a massive 38.5 out of 40 which is the highest score ever achieved by any Willmott Dixon construction site.

Particular points of note in his report were:

• Visits onto site by students
• Proposed Bluebell Beck project with the council and school
• Mock student interviews.

The Inspector’s comments following the visit read as follows:

"This really is a splendid site and the score suggests as much. Many more items could be logged of the good works carried out by the contractor's site management team. From the erection of a hemispherical greenhouse won by the school in a competition to producing regular newsletters for the neighbours to keep them abreast of progress and contributions to the local Middlesbrough bulletin, everything that is good about construction is demonstrated here".

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