Busy ... for Now

That was the overwhelming consensus of the construction and property professionals who attended Glovers' Construction Social on 20 January 2012.


Over 45 people turned up to the event which is hosted every 4 months by Mary Cross of Glovers at the John Gilbert Pub in Worsley.  There was the usual cross section of contractors, architects, solicitors, consultants and subcontractors and it was great to see some new faces as well as those who have been to every social since it started back in 2010.

Talking to those in attendance it was good to hear that everyone was busy but the major concern was the difficulty in forecasting workload for any significant period into the future.  The key cause of this uncertainty was the number of projects where the appointment had been confirmed but the project itself was on hold due to lack of funding.  In some instances, projects which had been almost imminently starting had been completely shelved.


Although the general mood was positive, many of those who had been previous economic downturns were in agreement that this had been the worst and that 2012 would be another extremely challenging year.


Glovers' next social will be held in May so if you'd like to be on the invite list, please drop Mary a line.

Construction - the world's your oyster!

As a grammar school girl I recall that there was a definite path assumed for all the students, namely GCSE's --> A-Levels --> University --> Profession.  We weren't really expected to deviate from this path and there wasn't much focus on alternatives such as vocational qualifications.  I certainly don't remember construction ever being put forward as a suitable profession.


It's good that times are changing and young people are now exposed to a much wider choice before making life-changing decisions about how their education and career might progress.  


To try and get construction and its myriad of professions added to the list of potential options, I recently arranged an event in association with my old school, Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar School.  The aim was to get together former students who were now working in construction with those who might be interesting in doing so.


Around 15 former students attended along with 7 current students ranging from years 10 to 13. After Development Director of BRGS, Emma Gauntlett kindly introduced me with a tale of my dramatic school performance in the Crucible (20 years ago), I handed proceedings over to John Boys who left BRGS in 1978 and is now a director of B&E Boys based in Waterfoot.  John recounted his fascinating progression from sweeper-upper in the family building business to where he is today and it certainly gave the students food for thought.  John said how his father had drummed into him that "the world's your oyster" and that's what had driven him to succeed.

John Boys talks to former pupil Phillip Hodson

Next to take to the floor was Gary Seed, a director of SBS Architects in Manchester.  Gary had been heavily involved with the design of the Eco Station at Accrington Railway Station and gave a great insight into the thought processes and skills required to bring the project to fruition.  Gary stressed the importance of sustainability underpinning the whole design process rather than being factored in as an afterthought.


I then opened the floor to questions and what followed what a lively debate about the vast array of construction careers and where they can take you.  The students were interested to hear that those of us working in construction had travelled to Africa, America, Europe and the Far East with our careers and I think this is a point often overlooked when considering a career.


We also covered the importance of social media for building a personal brand and discussions on job security prompted some wise words from those who had their own businesses.


It was useful to get feedback from the students who were considering careers in civil engineering and architecture and they were able to talk to people who were actually doing the job they wanted.

Architects of the future  Danielle Johns and Courtnay Ives

One student, Sam Wardle, had travelled back from Sheffield University to attend the event and afterwards sent the following email:


I enjoyed the discussion after about where a Civil Engineering career can go, and am really impressed that you can travel the world so much! The evening cemented the idea that Civil Engineering is the correct course and career path for me, as the evening confirmed to me the varied tasks and jobs you can work on.


It was great to hear that the evening had a positive effect although I'm not sure we convinced them on the benefits of becoming a quantity surveyor.


The evening was closed by an address from BRGS head, Marc Morris who talked of the importance of giving a wide variety of career options to students and updated the former students on the development of the school.

Glovers director, Brian Mason, demonstrates how to use a scale rule

Time and again when construction is mentioned as a career option, young people think that all it means is brick-laying.  If we can get to talk to more students like this one-on-one and let them know what's out there then I believe we can attract the very best of the future generation into construction to drive the changes we are already starting to see.

Civil Engineers of the past meet the future

My thanks go to Angela Wardle and Emma Gauntlett of BRGS for helping arrange this event and to all the former students who kindly gave their time to come and meet and talk with the students.

Blackpool rocks!

In February we were overjoyed to discover that we had been shortlisted for a Red Rose Award for Property/Construction Business of the Year in association with Lancashire Business View magazine.


We decided to submit an entry for the awards after having our two most successful quarters since the downturn began and to be stood up and counted as an SME operating in difficult times - and of course, you've got to be in it to win it!


I was thrilled to receive the email advising we had been shortlisted alongside 5 other consultants, contractors and architects and feeling optimistic we booked our tickets for the awards ceremony which was held in the Empress Ballroom in the Winter Gardens in Blackpool.

This was a fantastic venue the awards and it really made us feel part of something big!


The event was really well managed with a live tweet wall provided by Stage9 Marketing.  There were some interesting tweets as the wine flowed and the keyboards loosened! Here's our BDM Andrew doing his glamorous assistant bit to point out a Glovers tweet:

There was a rousing introduction from Richard Slater who praised the Lancashire spirit of 'cracking on' with it during these tough times and underlined the importance of businesses in Lancashire supporting one another  "If you can buy it in Lancashire then buy it in Lancashire".  It's true that all too often we don't know or don't think that the expertise we need can be found locally but with a bit of research there's a wealth of knowledge on our doorstep.


After a great meal provided by Heathcotes, we moved on to the main events of the awards which were hosted by Andy Crane (but where was the Ed the Duck!?).  The butterflies built as it came to our category and it was fantastic to see our name up in lights - could we really do it?

Unfortunately we didn't win but as the old saying goes it's the taking part that counts and that was never more true than in the case of being associated with these awards.  We definitely weren't sore losers:

As the designated driver for the evening I do have some interesting tales to tell but what happens in Blackpool, stays in Blackpool.  Suffice it to say - Blackpool Rocks!

Don't Succumb to the Gloom

As we enter the new year with tales of bad weather, a fragile economy and worldwide floods on a biblical scale, it would be easy to give in to the doom and gloom and become despondent.

However, there are still reasons to be cheerful and sometimes if you look at things positively it's amazing how things can turn around.

In the practice of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) there's a technique known as re-framing which is pretty much what it sounds like.  You re-frame the way you're thinking about something to achieve a different outcome.  It could also be described as seeing things from a different angle.  Have you ever been invited to a party or function and then when the day comes, you think "I'm really not looking forward to this".  Chances are if you go with that mindset you might not have much fun.  If you re-frame and think "I'm really looking forward to this, I wonder who I'll meet" you'll approach the event completely differently and probably have a much better time.

What's all this got to do with construction I hear you ask? Well it would be easy to listen to the news, believe that the construction industry as a whole is doomed and think that it's not worth trying any more, but if you speak to people on the ground, there are signs of improvement and there are many positive things happening.

Take the Roots project at Accrington Academy.  Assisted by A Class of Your Own, the school children have designed their own Eco Classroom which has recently been granted planning permission by the local authority.  This is no ordinary school project.  The pupils entered their ideas in the Council for Education Facility Planners International architectural Design Concept competition which saw them present to hundreds of Architects in San Hose, California.  They are now hoping to make the design become a reality by inviting local contractors and consultants to tender for constructing the building.  Glovers has already pitched to the students and submitted a PQQ and we are looking forward to receiving the feedback, although with slight trepidation - the kids don't hold back!


It's been fantastic to be involved with such a positive project and also to listen to how the children look at our industry - that really does give a different perspective.


So our message for the new year is a plea - don't succumb to the gloom and see what you can achieve.

September Update

"Time stand still, I'm not looking back but I want to look around me now....." wrote Neil Peart, drummer and lyricist with Canadian rock band Rush in 1987. As we commence the mad dash towards the end of 2010 I find myself feeling much the same way. The summer months were manic at Glovers - so hectic that we recruited extra staff to deliver the considerable amounts of work that came our way between June and August. The autumn promises to be similarly frenetic, but its worth pausing to take stock of where we're at in September 2010.

Alan Whiting, who runs our Oldham office, sent me pictures this week of the new 50,000 sq ft, £3m warehouse and offices we have just completed for Khanjra Foods in East Lancashire. A Design & Build contract with Barnfield Construction, Glovers acted as Employer's Agent. Considering its basically a shed, the completed building is quite stunning. I'm proud of the project because I feel Glovers added real value to the process - and saved the client a lot of money through our robust value engineering of the scheme. Its certainly a building I would take propsective clients to see.

We're also past half way on the construction of the £8m new Sixth Form Centre at Alder Grange Community Technology College in Rossendale. Alan is acting as Employer's Agent again, with our Director Brian Mason carrying our CDM Co-ordination. Our friends at Bardsley are on track to have the building -  which includes nursery provision, a multimedia conference centre, cafe bar, social lounge and careers library - completed for Christmas. Again we've showed our metal in terms of cost savings. The initial cost plan showed the scheme delivered for £8.9m. We should be bringing it in for £7.8m.

Elsewhere our "Quants Team", as we so affectionately call them, have been at full pelt for a while now. Production of Builders Quantities (and full SMM7 BQs) has long been a forte at Glovers. Many QSs say they can do it but few can do it well. Our Clients keep coming back because our guys prepare the quants quickly, cost effectively, and to the client's expectations. I hear a lot of contractors in particular struggling with QS firms who pass the "unsexy" quants prep work down to their junior staff, who can take off what's on the drawings but fail to spot what's missing. The quants are too detailed, or lack information to allow the supply chain to price accurately. Our Quants Team is made up of guys who can produce Stage D Bills based on Stage C information. They make the right assumptions every time. They are computer literate, and are used to transmitting quants that fit nicely into Conquest, C21 and other popular estimating packages. Some of our guys probably need to see daylight a bit more, but other than that they are on the money!

Brian Mason's CDM Co-ordination team has been run off its feet as well. We recently picked up work from a local authority we've been talking to for a while, delivered it superbly (if I say so myself!) and are now getting all their CDM-C commissions. Brian is the Church of Jesus Christ & Latter Day Saints CDM-C of choice so he's running around between their Runcorn meeting house (on site with Bardsley again), whilst working towards a start at an extension to the York meeting house and assisting with the planning for one that should go up in Manchester next year. Add to that Brian's favourite client (if you're reading this, you know who you are) who has him doing CDM-C work on serviced offices premises accross the North.

I haven't seen Nick White much recently. Nick heads Glovers Building Surveying, and has been out of the office for much of the last two months doing condition surveys of banking premises. On the rare occasions he's been at his desk Nick has been writing up Asbestos Survey reports for a PCT we work for, preparing Planning & Building Regs applications for local authority schemes, and looking after Party Wall matters on a contract in Bolton. The poor guy needs a holiday, but I'm not minded to let him have one!

I spend a lot of time these days working with Mary Cross, Glovers Head of Dispute Resolution. Mary gets called upon because she has the triple whammy of being (a) a non-practicing Barrister, (b) a QS and (c) able to see the wood for the trees. Whilst we handle dispute resolution and avoidance commissions for major firms of solicitors, national contractors and other household name firms, Mary is valued most by smaller contractors and subcontractors who need help. They like the fact she is always at the end of her phone, but doesn't start the clock when she answers it! Sometimes a quick chat and a bit of free advice works wonders.

So that's where we are now. Looking forward, I see long days and more recruitment ahead. We have so much coming up. Three new care homes in different North West locations. Pharmacies. A social housing scheme. Ecclesiastical projects. A private residential development in Atherton. A sports field in West Lancashire. A flagship project I'll tell you about at a later date, down in London. 

But for now I'm "looking around me now". Brian had a big birthday yesterday and bought the office bacon butties. Andrew Brown, our Director of Cost Management, has put his charitable second career as an Elvis Impersonator on hold to squeeze his wife's hand as she has her third child. Our Managing Director David Baldwin continues to nag me about a hair cut. Our head of Accounts, Ken Hacking, continues to take daily abuse for supporting Liverpool FC. We have the crack at Glovers, and it makes the busy times even better.

Times are tough but there is work out there if you go looking for it. I'm away to do some of that right now.

Ta ta for now!

Andrew Field

Business Development Manager