We are delighted to announce the winners of 2023 Go Beyond Awards.
Head Office
We achieve potential
Winner – Dilan Patel
Dilan Patel, Management Accountant – has had a huge impact within the finance team providing a clear and proactive link between operational delivery and financial reporting whilst providing timely and accurate figures and detailed commentary. He has gone a step further in terms of business improvements and introduced Power BI reporting and realising the wider benefits of this has coordinated training for teams across the Group to adopt this business tool including his own course work prior to the training to ensure everyone got the most out of it.
Highly commended – Abbas Hussain and Anna Bieda
Abbas Hussain, Labour Manager– people have said that Abbas always goes the extra mile for both his clients and his colleagues. He is supporting the wider team in managing the EKFB project and helping to grow the midlands region. A works manager commented that he is always available and able to help solve problems whilst a QS said that he sources excellent and staff has brilliant communication skills.
Anna Bieda, Labour Manager – received a lot of nominations from the staff she has placed on site. They have said that she is responsive, polite, and friendly and has helped them in securing great employment opportunities. A recuring comment was that she always goes the extra mile. From a social impact point of view, she has been supporting various colleges and local organisations with engagement of students, young people and those looking for work within the construction sector.
Site
We achieve potential
Winner – Damien Belle
Damien Belle, Supervisor, BBV HS2 – Since joining VGC, Damien has been a motivation to all around him to better themselves. He started with VGC as a traffic marshal and has since progressed to the role of site supervisor having achieved a Level 3 NVQ in site supervision and his SSSTS. Damien is also fully engaged with several local charities and events aimed at preventing youth violence and knife crime within the community. Damien was the speaker at the second chance charter event held by the Office of the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner and West Midlands Combined Authority and received the rising star in construction award at the Building the Future awards in Birmingham.
Head office
We deliver on our promises
Winner – Richard Wheeler
Richard Wheeler, Head of HSQE – The feedback is that Richard has had a great year. He is calm, pragmatic and continues to offer unwavering but objective support to his team. No question or query is too big, whether people seek advice on professional or personal matters – even when he is really busy himself. He has worked hard to ensure we have a voice within our client’s organisations, delivered training as far north as Carlisle, and provided critical support & leadership to the business following a serious incident earlier in the year. He really supported his colleagues (including his senior managers) during this time and these positive behaviours are truly appreciated and won’t be forgotten.
Highly commended – Anna Slavova
Anna Slavova, Senior resourcing and compliance specialist – Put simply, Anna makes sure that the recruitment and compliance gets done. She is proactive and supportive to her team and maintains a level of trust and confidence, so that they know the job is being done correctly and accurately. During the recent merge she went above and beyond to ensure that everyone felt part of the team and understood what was expected.
Site
We deliver on our promises
Winner – Andrew Iwute
Andrew Iwute, COSS, Balfour Beatty – Andrew not only demonstrated fantastic technical and professional knowledge, but he also demonstrated behaviours that were in line with the VGC values. Andrew delivered his COSS briefing and was commended by the Network Rail safety team on site for his great attitude towards safety and compliance. They said that ’the best coss briefing I have heard in a while was delivered by the coss, excellent communication, he asked questions at the end to ensure he was understood.’
Highly commended – Mihai Gligor
Mihai Gligor, Groundworker, Costain A30 – Mihai was booked to be practically assessed on site for his slinger/signaller approval and as such a wheeled 360 machine with an operator would be arriving at our site location to commence the lifting operations (our 809.11.23 track machine with operator did not have a lift plan). Once the machine arrived on site, we were expected to commence immediately without the assessor present, whilst he could have done this in good faith to look pro-active, he declined until the assessor was present. It’s not always easy to challenge a situation when there is awareness of production pressures, but Mihai ensured that the correct process was followed, and our client was impressed with his professionalism.
Head Office
We look after each other
Winner – Cole Hire Team
Cole Hire team – Eddie Long, Kesh Walia & Raj Walia – Eddie and Kesh were walking to collect vans from our parking area and noticed a fire upstairs in a nearby house and that it seemed that no one was aware of this. The fire escalated very quickly. Eddy, Kesh, and Raj knocked on windows and doors to alert the occupants. They managed to get 3 people out from the house safely. Eddy kept them safe as the windows were smashing. Kesh guided them out along with Raj and Raj called the Fire Brigade. The occupants were unaware that their house upstairs was on fire. The fire was caused by leaving glasses on paper by a computer and popping out of the room whilst making a coffee. Their quick reactions and immediate response prevented a potentially life-threatening and tragic incident.
Highly commended – Nick Wells
Nick Wells, Labour manager – This is not the first time we have heard about Nick going above and beyond to help people. One of our workers had many challenging things going on his life. He had no permanent accommodation, was suffering from mental health issues and failed a drugs and alcohol screening. Realising the impact that the loss of employment could have, Nick worked with him and the client to find a workable and safe solution for all. The worker has since passed a D&A screening, a regular random screening programme has been put in place and Nick has taken time out of his weekends to ensure that this person is truly supported.
Site
We look after each other
Winner – Jogi Singh
Jogi Singh, Supervisor, BBV HS2 – Jogi noticed an exposed open access chamber without any protection. Jogi stopped what he was doing and immediately arranged to get some barriers. He remained at the area until the barriers were delivered and then set them out. We were impressed to see that Jogi had the confidence and support to stop the works until he was satisfied that the site was safe, looking after hs colleagues and adhering to the VGC be Safe Rules
Overall Go Beyond Winners
These awards are for those that have demonstrated exceptional performance to deliver of the VGC values. We are not sure what we do without these people!
Whilst these people are all part of wider teams who they are dependent on to deliver our services, it was felt that these people personified the values of the VGC Group in going above and beyond.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to these people.
Steve Kenny – Operations Director
Steve is an all-rounder with experience spanning tendering, business development, commercial, client relationships and finance as well as recruitment! Covering probably more miles than anyone else he provides support to multiple teams and regions. He leads from the front, is always looking to innovate and ensures we deliver what we say we will do for our clients. He is a key member of the operations, digital, commercial, and leadership teams. He is pragmatic, solutions focused, and he goes about his business quietly with no fanfare. He is well respected internally and by our clients and we are very grateful to have Steve on the team.
Laura Perry – Head of Human Resources
Laura Perry is an unsung hero. Having been with VGC for over 20 years, it is hard to imagine what the place would be like without her. During this time, she has upheld the highest standards in the professionalising of all employee related issues – something that VGC is recognised for across the industry. This year alone, she has delivered some very important projects that benefit all including the flexible benefits platform, Hi Bob, GDPR ROPA, recruitment compliance training – in addition to the day job! She can turn her hand to most things and is very measured and professional in how she approaches every project. Her colleagues have referred to her as a ‘source of inspiration’ as well as people really noting about how approachable and caring she is. Laura is such as asset to our team.
Elaine Ryan – Payroll Manager
When Elaine started working for VGC, we processed a payroll for just under 400 people. Today she is running the payroll for over 2000 people and the rules and systems are far more complex, with increased time pressures. Elaine puts in lots of additional hours and effort to make sure that the payroll is run accurately every week, because she cares about our people being paid correctly and the overall success of VGC. It is fair to say that the timesheet platform is due a significant operational upgrade, and in addition to this day job, Elaine is currently working with our digitalisation team to prepare for what will be one of the most significant changes to VGC in a generation. We are incredibly grateful to Elaine for all she does for VGC.
