Congratulations to the winners of the 2021 Go Beyond awards.
Chief executive Laurence Mckidd announced the winners at last week’s six-monthly meeting.
He said: “Thank you to everyone who nominated colleagues for awards, and to everyone who was shortlisted for going above and beyond your normal roles. We even received nominations from our clients and suppliers.”
We achieve potential
Winners:
Opeyemi Osiyemi, site supervisor
- Opeyemi was nominated by both client management and his team on ITT for showing commitment and determination. He is a team player and motivator and ensures the job is done safely at all times. Our client said: “a real credit to VGC and an asset to ITT.”
HS2 north team – Steve Kenny, James Burke, Antony Iveson, Anna Bieda, Amy Wells, Kayleigh Boxley, Mitch Turbitt
- This newly-formed team has consistently delivered throughout the year, including supporting our client BBV’s sustainability team in helping previously unemployed people into work. The team have seen over 400% growth In 2021 and are leading on the establishment of collaborative labour desks in the region.
We deliver on our promises
Winners:
Elton Cala, site foreman on Crossrail C610
- “Loyal and reliable, Elton is a great ambassador for VGC”. After initially working for us in 2010 on the Olympic Park as a groundworker, he has continually focused on his self-development and is now a section foreman on ATC. He played a major part in the build and delivery of the Paddington siding and over the last 12 months has achieved his level 6 in Construction Site Management.
Richard Wheeler
- Richard has been central in the continued coordination of our covid-19 response plan. He also received thanks from the M4 Project Director for his “help, expertise and coaching” especially in taking around 250 participants through the Make Safety Personal programme in two days.
The payroll team – Elaine Ryan, Gina Holohan, Angela Holder-Brown, Melanie Clarke, Shalini Patel
- They have never let our workers down: the payroll is always run on time and accurately every week, and they continue to always put our workforce first.
Highly commended:
Kimberley McGinty
- Kimberley leads the award-winning Go Beyond the Gates programme for ex-offenders. She also leads our school engagement programme which has reached over 3500 students in 2021.
Sudarshan Deshmukh, IT Director
- SD has worked to help the company manage and develop new systems and software to create efficiencies and excellence in a series of key processes. Live projects include the payroll system, Access database and BMS.
We look after each other
Winners:
Mark Griffiths and Robert Brown of the Siemens Durham Coast resignalling team
- When they spotted a car stopped on a level crossing, fearing the driver was ill, they rushed to assist. Finding the car empty, they pushed it clear of the open line.
Conor McKeon, labour manager
- Conor always pays a personal interest in his staff on the projects he works on. An incident happened where he provided personal support to a young apprentice out of hours, supporting him financially, emotionally and reconnected him with his support network.
Outstanding achievement
This award is for the member of staff or team who has demonstrated the consistent application of the VGC values across the year.
- Craig Cronin – Manager
- Jason Elley – Works Manager
- Ben Higley – Assistant Works Manager
- Danny Andronache – Delivery Supervisor
- Ron Turnage – Logistics Manager
- Dave Matthews – Yard Manager
- Nathan Sullivan – QS
- Charlotte Lewis – Project Coordinator
The team received a series of nominations. Some were thanks from our client for their hard work and support with the prime minister’s visit. Others were for their work on the yard, offices and Fibre Academy street, where the client was very impressed by the standard of the work. Still more compliments were for their ‘can-do’ attitude, delivering throughout the past 12 months, despite a number of challenges. “They powered on through with minimal fuss, and usually a smile on their faces.”
See the 2021 award shortlist page for details of all the people who were shortlisted.
Group services director Ciara Pryce said: “Congratulations to you all, and thank you for the way you go beyond the day job to support VGC and our clients. It is incredibly hard to fully recognise all the amazing things that have been done. We would love to have given you all awards.”
Ciara acknowledged everyone who fed into the business continuity processes throughout the year. These include financial planning, HR, marketing and communications, health and safety planning, vehicle management, client support and labour management
We’ll shortly attach our 2021 year in review video here, and the slides from the meeting.
