24 October 2017
Guest blog: Samaritans
James Woodcock, Samaritans corporate fundraising manager, writes: Statistically, construction workers across the industry are at higher risk of suicide than average. An ONS survey, Suicide by Occupation, released in March this year, found that manual workers in construction are at 3.7 times greater risk of suicide than their peers in other sectors. Some people find
4 October 2017
Supporting the EPIC programme
Kim writes: A few months ago the Mayor’s Fund for London asked me to participate in their ‘EPIC’ programme, run with Serious about Youth (SAY). ‘EPIC’ stands for Employment Preparation Intensive Course. It is a two week course held at the Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford, south London, for 16-25 year olds who have left
30 August 2017
Kim's mock interviews at Ruislip high school
Kim writes: In July, I supported Ruislip high school with mock interview sessions for year 10 students (aged 15-16). A number of us from various industries had volunteered to take part in the school’s ‘Inspire the Future’ campaign. The campaign aims to prepare students for their future: this session offered each student an interview with
24 August 2017
Mental resilience - Northern Hub safety meeting
Graham writes: I attended an excellent Step-up for Safety session earlier this week. It was one of four sessions this week to support health, safety and wellbeing of the workforce run by the Northern Hub Alliance. The hub has had 2.5 million working hours since work began in 2014, and is due to finish at
31 July 2017
Six-month company update
Our recent staff update meeting reported on progress in 2017 to date. Chairman Sean Fitzpatrick opened the meeting on 22 June. He welcomed ten new members of staff – nine of them to newly-created posts. He also congratulated senior resourcer Jana Romanova, section engineer Bobby Hayre and recruitment support co-ordinator Lewis Mould on their promotions.
30 June 2017
Developing young people - 5 per cent club
As part of our commitment to the next generation, we have joined the 5 per cent club. The 5% Club is an industry-led initiative focused on driving the recruitment of apprentices, graduates and sponsored students. The campaign aims to get the UK’s public and private companies to commit to raising the number of apprentices, sponsored
16 June 2017
Safety stand-down day planning
Will writes: I’m busy planning a safety stand-down day for everyone working in VGC Construction. 24 members of the team will get together next Monday (19 June) at Cardinal House for safety training by HSQE manager Richard Wheeler. It will also be good for us to get to know one another better. We’re really pleased
15 June 2017
My first year as a graduate engineer
Tahir writes: I joined VGC group on 26 September 2016 as a graduate engineer. Not having much experience as an engineer yet, I was unsure of what to expect from the company and the role as a whole. I work within the rail projects team at VGC. Rail is one of the most stringently regulated
6 June 2017
Local partnership helps people find new careers
Uxbridge students are on course with new careers in construction. Students on the ‘Hard-Hat-Ready’ course at Uxbridge College are about to start work for VGC. The two partners are helping people into new careers in construction and engineering. After visiting the college in May, labour manager Richard Bright interviewed candidates for local jobs including at
8 May 2017
Improving cable avoidance
Will writes: We’re working closely with client CVU to mitigate the risk of cable strikes. We have a major contract with CVU (Colas, Volker Highways, URS JV) to upgrade traffic signals, roads and footways in London. Unfortunately we often come across services which have not been installed to industry standards. Additions and ad hoc repairs
19 April 2017
Client commendations for John's teams
Graham writes: Recently teams led by labour manager John Daly received several commendations from clients. Manchester to Blackpool rail upgrade Gangs working on the Manchester to Blackpool line were thanked by our client Siemens. The first was an incident in Bradshaw Fields, where we are working on LOC bases on the PN21BR Manchester to Bolton
10 April 2017
Costain Blue status three times running
Our team at C412 Bond Street has achieved Costain Blue status for the third reporting period in a row. Blue status is awarded for ‘inspirational’ performance in areas including quality, safety, people, health and environment. “Well done to labour manager James Burke and the whole team for this achievement,” said Chris Ryan, director of VGC
