Category: Next Generation

Future built environment leaders celebrated in inugural #G4Cawards

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 G4ctrophy

On Friday 13th February, the Mercure Hotel in Sheffield was the venue for the first ever G4C Yorkshire & Humber awards, a dazzling ceremony bringing together over 170 construction professionals from across the sector to recognise, reward & celebrate the built environment leaders of tomorrow & the companies who support them.

Capita

G4C (Generation for Change) was established in 1998 as the junior brunch of Constructing Excellence with the aims of harnessing the power of the up and coming construction professionals to drive industry change for the better. Sponsored by Capita, the #G4CAwards, the first of their kind in any of the Constructing Excellence sub-regions, awarded winners across six different categories, each representing the principle areas of work by G4C, culminating in the G4C Award which was won by Mark Lee from EC Harris. Mark said “I am honoured to have been awarded the G4C Award. Having not followed a traditional route into the industry I hope my achievement will inspire others who had not previously considered a career in the construction industry to enter the sector

Ian Buckley, Divisional Operations Director Capita commented: “We are proud to be a sponsor of Constructing Excellence’s Generation for Change – G4C Awards. We take great pride in having some of the best training schemes around for young graduates and will continue to support Constructing Excellence’s superb work.”

Other winners on the night included CGL who triumphed in the Commitment to Employee Development Award for their extensive employee training framework & ambitious goal of being one of the top 100 small businesses to work for in 2016. A full list of the winners can be found below.

The awards were the vision of G4C Yorkshire & Humber Co-ordinator, Caroline Key and supported in their delivery by Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber (CEYH) based at Leeds Beckett University. The winners in each category will now go on to compete in the Young Achiever of the Year category at CEYH Awards 2015 to be held at National Railway Museum in York on 17th July (more details here)

2015 Winners

Efficiency-North

Trainee of the Year (sponsored by Efficiency North)

Danielle Kirk, Henry Boot

FutureWorks-Yorkshire

Apprentice of the Year (sponsored by Futureworks Yorkshire)

Kwami Thompson, Constructing Housing Yorkshire & CITB

 

WD

Student of the Year (sponsored by Willmott Dixon)

Nyall Lee, M3 Ltd

 

Henryboot

New Professional of the Year (sponsored by Henry Boot Construction)

Mohammad Jariwala, WSP

 

CEYHclublogo

Commitment to Employee Development (sponsored by Yorkshire & Humber Best Practice Club)

CGL (Card Geotechnics Ltd)

 

SSE

G4C Award (Sponsored by SSE)

Mark Lee, EC Harris

Showcasing the next generation of construction professionals, the G4C Yorkshire & Humber Awards 2015

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G4C logo RGB

 

G4C – Generation for Change – was established in 1998 as the junior branch of Constructing Excellence and, following Constructing Excellence’s lead in collaborative best practice, G4C seeks to engage and inspire the next generation of construction professionals across disciplines.  The group holds events and initiatives to provide members with opportunities both for networking and access to the latest innovative thinking to equip them with the necessary skills to drive continual improvement throughout the industry.

G4C Yorkshire & Humber are holding the first annual G4C Awards 2015 in Sheffield. These brand new awards aim to showcase excellence and celebrate the achievements of up and coming young construction professionals in the Yorkshire and Humber region and the companies who support and train the future leaders of the industry.

There are 6 categories to compete for, which will be judged by a panel of local industry leaders and experts:

  • Apprentice of the Year
  • Student of the Year
  • Trainee of the Year
  • New Professional of the Year
  • Commitment to Employee Development
  • G4C Award for Young Achiever

The inaugural G4C Awards winners will be presented with their awards at a special ceremony to be held at 6.00pm on Friday 13 February 2015 at the Mercure St Paul’s Hotel in Sheffield city centre.

If you have any queries about any of the above or just want to discuss the awards further, please contact caroline.key@citb.co.uk

Changes to CDM Regulations 24th September 2014 , Leeds

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#CEYH14 – Changes to CDM Regulations update 24th September 2014

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Over 50 construction professionals including contractors, lawyers , architects, engineers and lecturers filled the seminar room at Addleshaw Goddard LLP in Leeds on Wednesday morning for a Constructing Excellence Breakfast event on CDM Regulations. CEYH is a network for the Yorkshire and Humber construction industry, committed to providing a programme of events that respond to the needs of industry, its customers and the government to make change happen and to deliver real useful informative events.

This event lead by Clive Johnson from Land Ssecuritiesdid not disappoint with some golden nuggets of information released relating to the forthcoming change to CDM regulations due to take place in 2015.

Clive Johnson (Land Securities ) drew on  real life practical case study evidence of Health and Safety responsibilities and the implications that the CDM  changes will have on construction  industry current practice.

Jim Barron (Faithful&Gould) provided the CDMc consultant perspective – delving into the issues raised within the consultation and focusing delegates attention around areas of ambiguity within the forthcoming changes.

Clive kick started the event with a strong client message of ‘ make it healthier , safer, happier and good for all ‘ pointing out the main points that  the  HSE’s evaluation process of the CDM 2007 had identified to be taken forwards including the replacement of the CDM Coordinator with the new role of ‘principal designer ‘ As chair of the CONIAC CDM working group Clive has been involved in the preparation of the guidance for one off infrequent clients which have been been signed off and submitted to the HSE , indicating these will be released in in April 2015.  Clive stressed that the role of principal designer will not be a role many architects will be keen to take on due to the nature of the role and existing skills gaps within architectural practices . Another change impacting on us all is the extension of Client health and safety responsibilities to domestic clients – if you are getting an extension built ‘do it now ‘ joked Clive .

Clive stressed the importance of  ‘Health’ as a key focal area for the industry stressing that the new principal designer role must ‘design out’ health issues too.  Clive questioned whether professionals felt comfortable with difference in definitions of health , wellbeing and ocupational health.

Clive ended his presentation on a positive note reminding us that leadership, co-ordination and communication is important but teamwork and working together is vital!

Jim began by stating it’s really important to understand the role of the CDM co-ordinator as a person facilitating communication between a cross section of disciplines and able to identify and assess risks from an impartial standpoint .  Jim pointed out that the HSE policy objectives are aimed at small construction sites and the need to tie into the EU directive.  The CDM co-ordinator role will be replaced by a principal designer .  Jim confimed there are concerns if SME’s will understand and engage with the new regulations and guidance.

A lively Q & A session followed.   Comments and observations from the audience included:-

 

  • Cost savings may not be clear and it may cost more – will fees be re-allocated
  • Concerns about the F10 notification process
  • The skill set of existing staff
  • Concerns about projects due to finish after the changes come into effect
  • The proposed legislation doesn’t hit what we need
  • Clients must reinforce the new regulations
  • It will only work if principal contractors and designers have that focus
  • It needs to filter down and upskilling is vital

 

 

 

Slides from the presentations can be found here (attach link to slides)

CE Forum 24 Sept 2014

CD261HSEReviewAug2014

Land Securities – CDM 2015 H & S Bulletin

“Spaghetti and Marshmallows” Youth Excellence Seminar

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Constructing Excellence in Yorkshire and Humberside started the New Years’ series with its Youth Excellence event yesterday at the Rose Bowl at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Caroline Key chaired the first event of 2014, Caroline is regional coordinator for G4C, Generation for Change part of Constructing Excellence, driving the change agenda and ensuring best practice for the next generation of construction professionals.

Caroline introduced the effervescent and inspirational Alison Watson who has gained wide respect among not only her peers but also influential decision makers in Government,  for raising the profile  of (if not introducing to some!) the concept of the construction professional as a fantastic career prospect as a healthy alternative to the overplayed ‘Bob the Builder’ message.

Alison has established Class of your Own  (COYO), a social business , focused on bringing the message of  what the industry has to offer to children of school age – a “constructive education for young people”

Alison’s presentation was not just a ‘pitch’ but a sharing of her voyage of discovery since she realised that the industry’s future health is dependent on targeting and nurturing the talent in schools. Her vision includes the need to inspire the thousands of boys and girls to think about the prospects of working in the industry, using their minds and intelligence to overcoming challenges and providing solutions. All too often the industry is portrayed dumbed down, and adding insult to injury those that have least ‘apparent’ academic ability only being channelled into the trades.  This is completely against Alison’s version of reality based on entering the industry with a love for maths and for Land Surveying! Examples of PhD students taking an age to solve simple application of Pythagoras versus the inherent ability of a bricklayer to do this intuitively brought home the message that all too often we allow the industry to be browbeaten down by the voices in other sectors;  many times down to the lack of awareness and knowledge in the schools themselves. So part of her journey is to equip the teachers with the passion she shares that can be passed on to the kids.

As a result Alison has worked tirelessly on developing these themes and was able to demonstrate the many and significant examples of the great achievements of schoolchildren from all around the country, some of which from backgrounds that are not conducive to such levels of attainment and which have led on to these children presenting their work at the highest level within industry and across continents – even meeting Prince Andrew!

Her work now is based on providing the formal context and developing a curriculum for teaching the principles for and encouraging the problem solving abilities that are required in our industry, this based largely on interactive and project based work. For more see www.designengineerconstruct.com

Before we leave Alison we need to reflect on the hard work that has been involved and still goes on to ensure that this approach is fully integrated into the schools’ operations – the alignment with all the policies and procedures that exist (KS4 etc), and the effort needed to ensure there is a clear legacy in place.

After such a dynamic presentation from Alison all eyes were on Rob Wolfe, and of course Rob rose to the high standard with a clear articulation of the achievements (and challenges) on delivering key social outcomes through his work with Construction and Housing Yorkshire (CHY) and in particular its  intervention on BAM’s Leeds Arena project.

Rob made it clear that whilst it was great to work with the council, the contractor and the supply chain, it is also very necessary to have the contractual ‘bite’ to ensure that the desired outcomes are met and achieved.

Rob started off  by taking us through his own journey from ‘call centre’ operator to looking to make the difference. Why do we bother?  For CHY it is about making sure that everybody can reach their aspirations. We need to create the right environment that can support people to achieve their aspirations.

On this basis the engagement started from ‘open door’ awareness sessions bringing in the local community to see the opportunities for work on the site (initially only a handful showed up) to the thousands of weeks of experience, and hundreds of job opportunities that exist in the city – even now.

Rob shared the initial plan for, the learning and the outcomes from the Arena, and apportioned a lot of the success down to the planning with the council and BAM, and also the engagement with the whole supply chain right through to the suppliers and manufacturers that were involved with the project.

But the challenges are still there. From a recent opportunity to fill 15 places for apprenticeships only 8 were taken.

A lively Q&A followed, reflecting on the effort it must take from all involved to make progress no matter how small and to keep building the picture that we need to set in the minds of young people.

Don’t encourage them to be a footballer , encourage them to look at engineering stadiums and say its lighting – how that relates to it being shown on Sky, or a DJ get them interested in the engineering and design behind the superficiality of the initial appeal of these roles.

Close to home Alison shared the thought of her daughter ‘If only maths could be more spaghetti and marshmallows ‘ i.e. Applied learning … That’s how we learn … and suggested that we should be thinking about “Let’s do maths … Big maths !” (not just the big Data being talked about now)

So………………..passionate and inspiring views … Still face mountains to climb … how do we clone  the Alisons , Robs and Carolines?

Please note: the next Constructing Excellence Event will be held on Wednesday 26th February and will focus on regulation excellence (further details here http://ckehub.org/events/116)