connected magazine - issue 7
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Connectedmagazine I ssue 7 13th December 20 13
Have a story you’d like to share?
If so, note down what you’d like us to feature and send it across to us
with some pictures. You can reach the Connected team by sending
a mail to [email protected]
A word from our CEO, Barry McNicholas
It has been another incredibly busy, but extremely
successful year with our partner Virgin Media on the
Super South contract. I would like to thank you all
for your hard work, commitment and dedication to
making this contract a success. Each and every one of
us makes a difference and your efforts are much
appreciated.
It has also been a very good year for safety with a very low accident rate
being achieved both in the VM contract and across the wider McNicholas
group. Sustainability has been really embraced by us all and you will find
in this issue an interesting article on the subject by our Head of
Sustainability, Emma Ward. Remember safety is our number one priority
and whatever we do both at work and at home, let’s do it safely.
Sadly, in May my Father and our President Tommy McNicholas passed
away. Tommy was incredibly proud of the work we do with Virgin Media
and many of you will have met him on his many site visits, or indeed when
he met Red at the Super Van launch in Hounsdown earlier this year.
Tommy was instrumental in the Cable TV boom of the 1980’s and many of
the VM networks we work on today were originally constructed by the
team he then led at McNicholas. His lasting legacy will be the respect he
always showed to all McNicholas employees, at all levels in our
organisation.
Next year is already looking positively busy, so please do enjoy the
Christmas break so you can come back fully refreshed and invigorated for
a successful 2014.
Thank you and Merry Christmas to you all.
Barry McNicholas, CEO
It’s Christmas It’s that time of year again! And we’d love to know what you’ve done to celebrate with McNicholas!
Christmas is a period to celebrate and this year, McNicholas will be
contributing £15.00 per person towards your Christmas celebrations! Your
Manager will be in contact regarding your local festivity arrangements.
We’d love to know what you and your team have planned for your
Christmas event. If you’re heading out and about, then make sure to take
plenty of pictures and send them to [email protected]
Our respects are
paid to Tommy
McNicholas on
page 2
More about the
Lighthouse Club on
page 3
Keeping London up
to date on page 4
NPS is flying high on page 6
Duncan
Clayton is in
the spotlight
on page 8
Meet some of our
new starters on
page 9
How to get involved in
Decembeard on page 10
2
It was with great sadness that the
Directors of McNicholas Holdings and
the McNicholas family recently
announced the death of their President,
Tommy McNicholas.
Tommy passed away peacefully on the
8th May, after a sudden and brief illness.
Tommy had served McNicholas for 60
years and had led the business to be a
leader in the utilities and infrastructure
sector.
A legendary figure in the construction
industry, who dedicated 60 years of his
life to “Green Macs”, he had an uncanny
ability to identify potentially lucrative
new markets. This talent, together with
his vision and his wholehearted
commitment to what remains a family
firm today, made him a highly effective
business leader.
A people person, he liked nothing better
in his later years than to visit sites to talk
to the teams, reflecting his belief that
“the money was on the shovel.”
His father, Pat, escaped the poverty of
rural Ireland during the Depression by
moving from Bohola in County Mayo to
London where he took a job as a farm
labourer in Barnet.
Tommy, who had been born in London
in 1934, was at Finchley Grammar
School when his father founded
McNicholas Construction with Tommy’s
uncle, Michael, in 1949.
After school Tommy worked for
McAlpine’s, joining his father’s fledging
firm in 1953 where he learned the
business from the ground up – by
digging trenches. Tommy’s uncle
Michael left the business a few years
later to start McNicholas Cable &
Engineering (“Brown Macs”) but Tommy
was fully committed to the firm,
travelling all over the country often
working on contracts for the Post
Office’s burgeoning telecommunications
business. On a work trip to the East
Riding of Yorkshire he met Margaret,
the woman he was to marry in
1958. Tommy’s younger brothers Kevin,
Brian and Colin all joined the company
in time and its success as a family
business was cemented.
Tommy worked his way up to ganger
man and finally became Managing
Director in the mid-1960s, a time when
the London-based business began
expanding into the utilities sector. After
his father’s health began to decline,
Tommy became Chairman in the early
1970s.
This decade saw the company
increasingly involved in innovations in
civil engineering, for example exploiting
a licensed tunnelling system for sewers
and cables, and also for a period
dipping its toes into house building. It
also led Tommy to Brussels where he
lived for a time, heading international
expansion in Belgium and Holland
where the company’s new encapsulation
process to repair gas mains with resin-
impregnated wrappings was attracting
serious interest. In years to come
McNicholas was to become a major
player in the UK gas industry.
In 1980 his father died and Tommy
returned to the UK to lead the
expansion of the business into the gas
and water fields. Unlike his competitors,
Tommy saw the potential of cable TV,
then dominated by TV companies with
regional franchises. He had the courage
of his convictions and persuaded the
banks that this was a lucrative,
sustainable market worthy of serious –
and profitable – investment.
McNicholas became the leading cable
TV contractor in the UK, laying up to
80,000 metres of cable a week at the
height of the boom, enough to stretch
from Cornwall to London four times.
Expansion continued to dominate the
McNicholas agenda and the business
made progress not just in the UK but
also abroad, working in places as far
away as the USA and the Falklands.
In 2004 Tommy became the company’s
Life President and his son, Barry, became
Chief Executive in 2005. Barry said of his
father:” He was a modest man, like his
own father, who never lost sight of the
importance of spending time talking to
the teams on site. A common theme of
the tributes that we have received about
him is that he had time for everyone. He
was very well respected both for that
and for the fact that he was a successful
businessman without ever having to be
a ruthless one.”
His brother Kevin added:” He was a
strong character. It is no exaggeration to
say that he was the heart and soul of the
company”.
Away from work, Tommy was a keen
golfer. He developed and built the Ring
of Kerry Golf Course at Kenmare, near
Killarney in the same county where he
had a second home near the coast at
Glenbeigh where he spent most
summers with Margaret and their dog,
Kerry. He was a member of Hendon Golf
Club and Treasurer of the London Irish
Golfing Society.
He leaves a widow, two sons, a daughter
and eight grandchildren.
Tributes have been paid to Tommy
McNicholas, the man described as “the
heart and soul” of McNicholas
Construction, who has died aged 78.
Death of an Industry Legend
Tommy McNicholas
connected 3
McNicholas is an active member of the Lighthouse Club, The Lighthouse Club is
the construction industry’s charity and the Benevolent Fund provides financial
help to construction workers, and their families, who have fallen on hard times
through accidents, bereavement or ill health.
Steven McNicholas, Compliance Director, is a
member of the welfare team who assesses how best
The Lighthouse Club can help the families of these
construction workers, providing them with financial
assistance until they can get back on their feet.
In 2012 and 2013 McNicholas pledged to donate £1
for every near miss that was reported, to The
Lighthouse Club. In the financial year 2011-2012 we
received 2223 near misses. That’s the equivalent of
every employee taking the time to help prevent an
accident, with some reporting 2 or 3 potentially
unsafe situations.
2013 also saw the launch of the new Near Miss Feedback Boards. The boards,
designed by the lookout for safety group, have been implemented to provide all
sites with individual feedback on their near miss reports submitted, and have been
in use for approximately 6 months.
Since the launch, we can confirm that the number of near miss reports being
received continues to increase. 829 Near Miss Reports have been received from
the Comms Business Unit so far this year. This is excellent news.
Currently, as a Group for the year 2012-2013, we have received 1,555, but we still
have until March 2014 to beat last year’s total. So your near miss card will not only
help your own site, but also your fellow colleagues from the construction industry.
If you’d like to help the Lighthouse Club, you can buy a 2014 calendar using the form below:
Lighthouse Club 2014 Charity Calendar Order Form (alternatively, contact [email protected] to order)
Name:………………………………………………………… Contact Telephone Number:…………………………………….
Delivery Options: Collect from the Compliance Department at Elstree
Post to the following address:
Address Line 1 ………………………………………… Address Line 2 ………………………………………………...
Town/ City ………………………………………… Postcode …………………………………………………
Number of Calendars Required* ………………. Payment Method Cash** Cheque*** *calendars are priced at £5 each
**if paying by cash, your calendars must be collected, not delivered
*** if paying by cheque, please make payable to ‘The Lighthouse Club’ and enclose with the order form
The Lighthouse Club
4
In 2011 Virgin Media partnered with London
Underground to bring Wifi to a number of London
Underground stations, which means passengers can go
online in station ticket halls, corridors and platforms.
As Virgin Media’s partner, McNicholas have helped to
deliver 164 sites prior to the start of the Olympics. Our
civils and cabling work have also provided the
infrastructure for Wi-Fi and CCTV, used by the British
Transport Police, at key stations across London.
Post Olympics, McNicholas have delivered an
additional 59 stations to date with 49 still in the ‘work
in progress’ stage. Praise for the work undertaken by
McNicholas’ Communications business has been high
indeed with Transport for London’s CIO stating “The
work has seen collaboration between many individuals
and organisations, and has presented many challenges,
but the results you have accomplished and delivered
have been carried out in an extraordinary period of
time - doing in months that which would usually take
years. This has been a truly outstanding piece of
collaborative work”.
“Waterloo and Victoria terminals
handle 171 million passengers per
year, nearly 3x the population of
the entire UK”
Following this huge success with London
Underground, McNicholas have now been awarded
communications contracts for CrossRail, Europe’s
largest civil engineering project. We are currently
working at 13 delivery sites across the new CrossRail
network and have been tasked with running new fibre
optic cables for vital communications systems.
So how easy is it to work underground? Some of the
first sites the teams were tasked with installing were
Victoria and Waterloo terminals, collectively handling
over 171 million passengers per year (that’s nearly
three times the population of the entire UK). Because
of the huge numbers of people, all civils work has had
to be carried out over night.
Following the civils work, huge lengths of cabling
needed to then be routed and sent deep underground,
stretching from ticket halls, through corridors to
station platforms.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London had this to say about
the project; "We need to ensure London is able to
cement its position as Europe's leading digital city. Our
partnership with Virgin Media to make WiFi available
on Tube platforms will be of tremendous benefit as
building world class connectivity is critical to
supporting new businesses and the jobs they create,
especially in the high-tech and creative sectors,"
A fantastic project for McNicholas and another prime
example of great service to both Virgin Media and
Transport for London.
connected 5
In 2011 Virgin Media partnered with London
Underground to bring Wifi to a number of London
Underground stations, which means passengers can go
online in station ticket halls, corridors and platforms.
As Virgin Media’s partner, McNicholas have helped to
deliver 164 sites prior to the start of the Olympics. Our
civils and cabling work have also provided the
infrastructure for Wi-Fi and CCTV, used by the British
Transport Police, at key stations across London.
Post Olympics, McNicholas have delivered an
additional 59 stations to date with 49 still in the ‘work
in progress’ stage. Praise for the work undertaken by
McNicholas’ Communications business has been high
indeed with Transport for London’s CIO stating “The
work has seen collaboration between many individuals
and organisations, and has presented many challenges,
but the results you have accomplished and delivered
have been carried out in an extraordinary period of
time - doing in months that which would usually take
years. This has been a truly outstanding piece of
collaborative work”.
“Waterloo and Victoria terminals
handle 171 million passengers per
year, nearly 3x the population of
the entire UK”
Following this huge success with London
Underground, McNicholas have now been awarded
communications contracts for CrossRail, Europe’s
largest civil engineering project. We are currently
working at 13 delivery sites across the new CrossRail
network and have been tasked with running new fibre
optic cables for vital communications systems.
So how easy is it to work underground? Some of the
first sites the teams were tasked with installing were
Victoria and Waterloo terminals, collectively handling
over 171 million passengers per year (that’s nearly
three times the population of the entire UK). Because
of the huge numbers of people, all civils work has had
to be carried out over night.
Following the civils work, huge lengths of cabling
needed to then be routed and sent deep underground,
stretching from ticket halls, through corridors to
station platforms.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London had this to say about
the project; "We need to ensure London is able to
cement its position as Europe's leading digital city. Our
partnership with Virgin Media to make WiFi available
on Tube platforms will be of tremendous benefit as
building world class connectivity is critical to
supporting new businesses and the jobs they create,
especially in the high-tech and creative sectors,"
A fantastic project for McNicholas and another prime
example of great service to both Virgin Media and
Transport for London.
6
47.8%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
McNicholas Fujitsu Comex Kellys
For those of you that keep an eye on
our NPS performance you will have
seen something of a transformation
in the last 12 months. We’ve upped
our game and set new records not
only for McNicholas, but also for all
Partners working on the Virgin Media
Contract;
+48
OCTOBER
+36
So what’s changed?
Keeping things simple we immediately focused on
improving our internal communication. We’ve
listed below some of our steps to success:
Step 1 - We secured daily reporting from Virgin
Media instead of the weekly view. This immediately
gave us the opportunity to manage our customer
feedback and review our finding daily. We could
now give our field teams daily feedback on success
and areas of concern.
Step 2 - We started sending our
field technicians a text every time
a customer scored them a 10. Not
only is it great to get daily feedback from our
customers saying well done. It’s also a great
message for our technicians
as every 10 they score they
receive £10.
Step 3 - We introduced our
regional Champions League
tables to share the
successes of our field teams
with prizes for those at the
end of our season in
December this year.
Step 4 - our Cool Wall reporting was revamped to
again improve awareness of performance.
connected 7
+39
JUNE
MAY +48
+36 JULY
+31
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER +35
AUGUST So who’s the guy keeping everyone updated on a daily basis?
Our NPS Coordinator is Robin Baldwin based out of our Hounsdown office
“Hi, I took over from Abigail Martin in June 2013 and now look after everything NPS. I really enjoy
working with this team and hope that through great communication, clearer reporting and a better
understanding of NPS, everyone will be able to benefit. Moving into the closing months of 2013, I
look forward to assisting everyone on completing what has been a record breaking year for NPS”
Meet your NPS managers
Ensuring everything remains on track and everyone is following our processes are our NPS Customer
Experience Managers, Dave Sapstead and Geraint Davis. Dave covers the East of our region and
across to Surrey, whilst Geraint manages the West, along the M4 to Thames Valley.
Their objective is to ensure that each area manager has the information and tools to deliver a great
NPS performance through their team managers and technicians. Geraint and Dave hit the road daily
to offer support to technicians and make sure they are do everything needed to secure themselves a
10 score from their respective customer.
Geraint and Dave have also taken a part in rolling out the new Virgin Media ‘Voice of our brand’
launch. If you have any queries, or would like some help on how to achieve 10’s with your
customers, make sure to drop Dave or Geraint a call. Dave 07557 232 890 | Geraint 07717 631 190
Dave Sapstead
Geraint Davies
8
How long have you been a trainer?
Most of my working life has involved
providing training of some kind. At
Boots (aged 16) I used to train the
other staff on the new photographic
products and then later I used to
give lectures at local photographic
clubs and for local council run
photographic community groups.
However as a profession it’s now
been the best part of 14 years.
Who gives you inspiration?
For me it’s not just about whom but
also what gives me inspiration. I
think like many people immediate
family and friends often provide
inspiration and that’s true for me
but over the
years
I have been inspired by and drawn
inspiration from numerous areas
such books, people I’ve met, read
about or seen in the media, events
that have happened, Pictures and a
huge one for me has to be and
continues to be music.
What was your best work
moment?
I was quite humbled to be chosen for
this article, getting accreditation to
provide NRSWA training and
meeting people are all magic
moments for me however (and this
will probably read as being corny)
the best work “magic” moment for
me is in some way being able to
contribute to peoples development/
growth and all that can come for
that. For example, seeing people
joining the business, take on new
skills, start a new chapter in their life,
having them share information with
you and being let into their life for a
small moment in time is just magic.
Guess I get to have best magic
moments most of the time!
How has training changed over the
years?
Wow big question. Okay so if we
leave out the development of
theories and studies and I look
back over my time in training.
There has been a huge increase in
the use of ITC with in Learning and
development not only the equipment
we use for training but also in the
way that Learning & development
has been made accessible to people.
People are far more computer
literate which makes teaching them
about installing a wireless cable
modem and connecting to customer
devices so much easier.
Seeing the introduction of
“behaviours” into training was a
massive step forward and one most
welcome. One of those topics I won’t
go on about as it’s a bit of a passion
of mine.
The skill sets now required of certain
job roles has increased massively and
with that a change in training
expertise, back in the day if you
needed technical skills you were
taught by a technical trainer. If it was
interpersonal skills then it was a soft
skills trainer. Today the trainer needs
to be far more versatile in areas of
expertise.
Weren’t you in a band?
Yes, several during the 70’s,80’s and
90’s and had several singles, no real
chart success unfortunately, on our
own label via a distribution deal. Had
a lot of good times and met a lot of
good people as well as a few famous
ones!
Duncan on the Drums (Far Left)
SPOTLIGHT ON...
DUNCAN CLAYTON - SENIOR TRAINER
connected 9
New additions to the
McNicholas team and
Long Service Awards
DUNCAN CLAYTON - SENIOR TRAINER Pat Bowman - Head of Operations for Consumer
Chris Roberts - Business & Civils Supervisor
Long Service Awards
Pat joined McNicholas on 14th January 2013. Pat joined us from Virgin Media
where he spent over 20 years in numerous roles at Head of Department level. Since
joining McNicholas Pat has taken the lead for our Customer Experience Team which
has seen us deliver an improved performance across 2013 delivering a record score
of +48 in May. In July Pat also took the lead as Head of Consumer which again is
starting to see new performance records set. According to Gary and the senior
consumer team Pat has also set some records for eating. One tip for everyone don’t
invite Pat if you have a buffet ordered. When not at work you can catch Pat on his
mountain bike, watching his son play rugby or his daughter horse riding.
Chris originally joined McNicholas from an agency and supervised the civils element
of the LGFL project. He was a key figure and instrumental in the issues that we
endured in the Bexley borough and worked very closely with our client (VM) and
the local authority. Chris was subject to the need for reduction of staff and
unfortunately left us, however he was taken on by one of our supply chain and
continued to work on the VM contract in the South East area covering all civils
aspects. Chris then returned to us on a permanent basis in October, supervising all
work streams in the West London area.
Dave Wilkins
presents Aidan
Crowe with his
award.
Richard Horne
presents
Caroline Keal
with her award.
Gary Dunleavy
Donnie Whyte
David Mohide
Aidan Crowe
David Waters
Nigel Hobbs
Dominic Baines
Andrew Corness
Leigh Weir
Kenneth Litchfield
Arthur Parker
Caroline Keal
20 Years 15 Years
10 Years
10
McNicholas Rewards "Win your Christmas Dinner" Competition Winner! We are pleased to announce that the lucky winner of the McNicholas
Rewards competition was Barry Birmingham, who works on our Virgin
Media contract in Andover. Barry wins £100 on either a Marks and Spencer,
ASDA or Sainsbury’s card – congratulations!
For those of you who didn’t win, remember that with McNicholas Rewards
you can still have access to discounts and special offers from over 3000
retailers. With the ability to buy online, in-store or by phone you really could
be saving hundreds of pounds each year on those purchases you are already
making and, at this time of year, those special Christmas gifts.
Visit www.mcnicholasrewards.co.uk or call the McNicholas Rewards Helpdesk on 0845 299 0908 to register
and see how McNicholas Rewards can help your hard earned money go further.
Niamh Elizabeth Rose Pilgrim (top right) was born 6th June to Elly Steel
who works at the Hounsdown Office.
Rosalind Smith (bottom right) was born on the 15th October to Claire
Smith who also works at Hounsdown.
New Arrivals
Wedding Bells! Mark Reddaway, Project Co-ordinator
based in Rainham for the Comms
division has been with his girlfriend Louise
for 7 years. On the 6th of December the
couple were married at Gaynes Park in
Epping. 4x4’s were hired for travel in case
of snow!
Novembers GEM Winners Congratulations to November GEM winner, Michael Cooper, a consumer team manager for Guildford. Michael
wowed a customer with great product knowledge and fantastic customer service!
And congratulations Dave Waters, a commissioning engineer working with the business & civils team. Here’s what
a VM customer had to say about Dave: “Just a quick thanks for going the extra mile last weekend and finding ISDN
On Net availability in LD4 - which ever way you look at it you were instrumental in allowing me to provide a truly
diverse and redundant telephony solution for Asurion.”
Both winners will receive a certificate as well as £25 of shopping vouchers! Remember, if anyone has wowed
you or a customer by doing something fantastic, nominate them for a GEM by sending their details to
Congratulations to Adam Llewellyn and Duncan Hatch
Congratulations to Adam (top right) and Duncan (bottom right) for being
identified by Virgin as the best performers in their area. Adam and Duncan
have both received VM polo shirts from the area AFM to reward them for
their great performance! Well done Adam and Duncan!
connected 11
Your community need you!
Did you know that McNicholas offers all
employees one days paid leave per year to
undertake volunteer work? Here’s the lowdown
on what it’s all about…
Why do McNicholas offer this to employees?
Volunteering forms part of our Sustainability
Strategy, ‘The ‘S’ Word’. Sustainability is about
companies taking responsibility for their
environmental and social impacts and looking
for ways to improve. McNicholas decided to offer
one days paid leave to employees not only because
it helps the Company build relationships with the
local community, but people who volunteer can use
the skills that they have developed at work to help
the community; learn new skills and improve their
morale, physical health and work-life balance. Don’t
underestimate how great volunteering can make you
feel knowing you are making a difference.
I’ve chosen my charity, what next?
Employees who wish to take advantage of the one days paid leave per year should apply to their Manager using
the ‘Holiday and Other Leave’ booking form. This will then be reviewed in conjunction with a member of the HR
team. Remember, in order to make a successful application, you need to demonstrate that you are doing genuine
volunteer work so do your homework first.
Share your story
We would love to be able to share your volunteering story with others and create a case study on what you did
and how the charity benefited. Not only is it a great way of raising awareness of the good cause you have
supported but you may encourage more people to take the initiative.
For more information on volunteering, please speak to your HR Manager or contact Emma Ward, Group
Sustainability Manager; [email protected]
What can I do?
The Company supports employees who are
undertaking community or charitable activities
including:
community care work;
environmental work and conservation
projects;
fundraising for community projects or
charities; and
the administration of public events.
You may already have a charity that is close to
your heart, but if not, there are plenty of
volunteering websites to help you decide. Why
not take a look at www.volunteering.org.uk/
iwanttovolunteer as a starting point?
As you will all know, active participation and
support of registered charities is a key
deliverable of the McNicholas sustainability
strategy. As part of this, we have decided to take
part in this years’ Decembeard initiative.
The main aim of this initiative is to raise
awareness of bowel cancer whilst raising vital
funds for charities associated with the condition. You may not be aware but
Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in the UK. You can find
more information at their website www.beatingbowelcancer.org.
Thank you so much for our early contributors and those who are braving
the festive period with whiskers, we have raised an impressive £2,300 so
far and for every £1 raised through our JustGiving page:
www.justgiving.com/McNicholas | McNicholas will match the donation!
We already have a fine collection of submitted photos posted on our
intranet but obviously need many more! Keep in touch and submit your
photos through [email protected]