Raymond Brown awarded RoSPA Gold Medal Award for Health and Safety Practices (Nine Consecutive Gold Awards)

We are delighted to announce that the Raymond Brown group of companies have been granted a prestigious award in recognition of our practices and achievements in safety.

Raymond Brown have achieved a Gold Medal (our nine consecutive Gold) in the internationally-renowned RoSPA Health and Safety Awards, the longest-running industry awards scheme in the UK.  We will be presented with the award during a ceremony at Hilton Birmingham Metropole hotel on Wednesday 4 July 2018.

The RoSPA Awards scheme, which receives entries from organisations around the world, recognises achievement in health and safety management systems, including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

Julia Small, RoSPA’s head of qualifications, awards and events, said: “The RoSPA Awards are the most highly-respected in the health and safety arena, with almost 2,000 entrants every year, and allow organisations to prove excellence in the workplace, demonstrating a commitment to the wellbeing of not only employees but all those who interact with it.”

Raymond Brown successfully pass interim Investor’s in People Review

Following the Raymond Brown Group’s Investors In People (IIP) Accreditation in February last year, Raymond Brown have successfully passed an interim review with IIP Practitioner, Dorothy Shrivell.

Dorothy visited the Raymond Brown head office to meet with Steve Clasby, Chief Operating Officer and Gemma Taylorson, HR Manager to see how the group businesses are progressing with their targets for improvement set with the initial accreditation last year, discuss key areas the businesses are focussing on and to look at developing an action plan for the next 12 months.

IIP is the mark of high performance in business and people management and as a result of this, the business has regular briefings, frequent feedback and review meetings about its performance.

Practitioner, Dorothy commented: “The team were able to confirm that a number of the recommendations highlighted within the IIP report had been implemented and it was helpful to remind themselves of these.  In particular, senior leaders have worked hard to improve communication across the whole business, created more team building opportunities to strengthen inter and intra team relationships and created better awareness of the new values.”

Gemma Taylorson, HR Manager commented said: “The recognition from IIP is very positive for us as an organisation, we have also found it invaluable working with them to ensure we are continually improving as an employer.”

Copyhold Quarry Phase One Restoration Complete

The first part of the Phase One Area at Copyhold Quarry has now been fully restored with mixed woodland.  The area, which sits next to the recycling facility is approximately 3.42 hectares in size and has seen a considerable agricultural restoration scheme undertaken over the last two years, which have included the planting of 4,700 trees and the installation of deer fencing. The next part in fully restoring this area will be once the recycling facility has stopped, the area is to be restored to a hard standing for woodland management.

Raymond Brown is fully committed to restoring all areas at Copyhold Quarry and the restoration seeks to create an enhanced agricultural area with additional woodland to welcome more species and wildlife to the site.

Fairisle Junior School Cycling Safety Lorry Visit

Accompanied by Sustrans, we took one of our HGV tipper lorries into Fairisle Junior School in Southampton, to increase knowledge of cycling, scooting and walking participation in the local area and to demonstrate ‘Blind spots’ etc as part of road safety for the children.

The children were invited to walk around the Raymond Brown lorry, pick out/spot any warning signs displayed on the lorry and to sit in the lorry cab to make them aware of what HGV drivers are able to view when driving.

‘Sustrans’ talked to the children in great depth about road safety, riding of cycles on the roads and what to be generally aware of when out and about. They also made them aware of the importance of reducing congestion and pollution around the school and the beneficial effects it would have on the children’s mental and physical health.

The children really enjoyed the visit and Headteacher, Peter Howard commented: “Thank you so much for coming to us today, it was brilliant to see the children’s faces especially when they were in the cab. I think we taught everyone a very valuable and potentially lifesaving lesson this morning.’’

Christmas Party for Raymond Brown Group Employees at new Solent Spark Building

Over 170 employees and guests across our businesses joined us for our 2017 Christmas Party at the new Solent University Spark Building in Southampton, which was decorated in an Enchanted Forest theme, with snowflakes floating down the walls, green lighting and wintery props and accessories, including a giant white unicorn surrounded by Christmas trees in the centre of the room.

The party started off with a speech by Chief Operating Officer, Steve Clasby, as he provided an overview of the business successes in 2017 and thanked employees, past and present over the past year.  Four individuals were also recognised for exemplifying our core values (Passion.  Responsibility.  Engagement.) within the workplace, having been nominated by their teams and colleagues and they received a John Lewis gift voucher and wooden plaque.  They were:

Passion – Tom Weeks, Customer Service Supervisor (Raymond Brown Distribution)

Responsibility – Vanessa Smith, Shift Manager (Raymond Brown Waste Solutions)

Engagement – Stephen Hall, Driver (Raymond Brown Waste Solutions)

One individual, Karl Reed, stood out across all three areas, with some outstanding nominations for his efforts at the A303 IBA Processing Facility:  Karl Reed, Site Supervisor (Fortis IBA)

All employees were given the opportunity to win a day of paid annual leave in our infamous ‘Heads and Tails’ game and congratulations to Justin Ebbutt (Site Manager at Nursling Recycling Facility), whose wife, Rebecca, won it on his behalf.

Attendees received favours in the form of an antler bottle opener for the men and a snowflake bottle stop for the women, along with an array of Hotel Chocolat treats in crackers on the tables.

After a three course meal of chicken terrine or soup, beef or vegetable wellington and a chocolate tart or cheese and biscuits, the teas and coffees with chocolate-covered turkish delight treats were served up on top of the red pod that sits suspended in the venue above the atrium.

Throughout the evening, employees and their guests were able to explore the impressive venue, wager with their funny money at the three casino tables, have their photos taken in the inflatable LED Photo Booth (on the following pages), snap  themselves in the Enchanted Selfie Area and dance the night away to the DJ.

Thank you to all who attended for a brilliant evening.

Employees Recognised in Core Value Awards

Last year, we introduced three Core Values to the business: Passion, Responsibility and Engagement.  As part of the Employee Satisfaction Surveys this year, we asked employees to nominate their colleagues under each of the core value categories.

As a result of these nominations, four individuals were recognised at the Raymond Brown Christmas Party earlier this month for exemplifying our core values within the workplace.  The four employees who were nominated repeatedly by their teams and colleagues were each presented with a John Lewis voucher and an engraved wooden plaque by Chief Operating Officer, Steve Clasby:

Passion – Tom Weeks, Customer Service Supervisor (Raymond Brown Distribution)

(4 years with the business)

Tom was commended on his passion for the business and his “solid enthusiasm and dedication to achieve” by fellow colleagues and that he is “always willing to assist”.

Responsibility – Vanessa Smith, Shift Manager (Raymond Brown Waste Solutions)

(1 year with the business)

Vanessa (pictured) stood out under responsibility.  She was described as “always helpful” and that she “always sorts things which need to be fixed, always worries about H&S and never ignores hazards”.

Engagement – Stephen Hall, Driver (Raymond Brown Waste Solutions)

(16 years with the business)

Steve was nominated for his engagement.  Colleagues stated that Steve is “always willing to help” and that he “believes in being honest to management if he can see a better course of action to implement”.

One individual, Karl Reed, stood out across all three areas, with some outstanding nominations for his efforts at the A303 IBA Processing Facility:

All Three Core Values – Karl Reed, Site Supervisor (Fortis IBA)

(21 years with the business)

Karl was one individual who stood out significantly and who was nominated repeatedly for all three values, his colleagues described him as; “committed and he cares a great deal about his team” and that he is “enthusiastic, driving the business forward.”  Other comments included that Karl is constantly “feeding back lots of ideas and coming up with brilliant solutions to issues affecting the operational areas of the business” and that he “makes you feel like part of the team and is looking out for your safety”.

Exciting News for Roke Manor Quarry

On 1 September, Roke Manor Quarry had the delivery of a new Bell B30E Dump Truck, a much improved, safer and more economic model.

It features a tailgate, wider tyres, rider control (to make it more comfortable for the operator), an onboard weigher, a device to restrict the tipping and telemetry, which updates daily to give the following information: loads tipped, cycle times, amounts in tonnes moved, litres per hour of fuel used and tyre pressures.

We are pleased to announce that an electricity cable has been installed at Roke Manor, with a sub-lease granted to Scottish and Southern Electricity. The electricity supply to the site had previously been running on diesel powered generators.

In November, the generators were removed from site and a transformer was installed.  Not only is this much more efficient, with less fuel being utilised, there has also been a considerable drop in noise levels now the generators have gone.

Raymond Brown Group’s Communications & Marketing Manager, Kerry Smith has been selected as a finalist in the Marketing & PR category of the 2017 Hampshire Venus Awards.

Raymond Brown are celebrating as Kerry Smith, Communications and Marketing Manager was announced winner of the Venus Hampshire Marketing and PR Award on Saturday 11<sup>th</sup> November in front of over 350 guests at the Venus Hampshire Gala Dinner, held at Solent University’s new Spark Building.

The prestigious Venus Awards were founded in 2009 to recognise, reward and celebrate women in business within regions across the UK and this year, nominees for the 15 categories were over 1,100.

Kerry, who celebrated her 10-year anniversary with Raymond Brown in the summer, progressed from Marketing Assistant to her current role within the business and has been supported on a day release basis whilst at university.

The award category, which was sponsored by Agency, bandv included a number of talented women but Kerry’s career progression, passion, enthusiasum and commitment to the business caught the bandv judging panel’s attention.

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<strong>b</strong>and<strong>v</strong>’s Chairman, Colin Breckenridge commented: “We are delighted that Kerry is the winner of this year’s Hampshire Venus Awards in the Marketing &amp; PR category and would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations.

Kerry’s progression through the Raymond Brown Group from Marketing Assistant to Marketing Manager and the story of her journey really caught our attention.  Her enthusiasm and passion for her role and the company is clear, and Kerry’s commitment to Raymond Brown’s community projects really impressed us.

It has been an honour to be a sponsor of the Venus Awards for the second year running as bandv are proud to help promote the role of women in ‘Marketing &amp; PR’. This year the category was once again full of some extraordinary individuals and tremendous talent but for us Kerry shone that little bit brighter and stood out as a clear winner. Huge congratulations Kerry!”

Kerry commented: “I am absolutely thrilled and so proud to be the 2017 Venus Hampshire Marketing and PR Winner, sponsored by bandv.  To be recognised for working hard and doing what I love and feel so passionate about feels incredible.  Behind me is the most amazing company who have been very supportive of my determination to progress and I am very fortunate to have worked with some very inspirational people over the last 10 years at Raymond Brown.

This award has given me more confidence to believe in myself within such a male dominated industry.”

Kerry will progress to the Venus Awards National Finals to be held in the summer of 2018.

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Top photo of Winners – Image Credits to Jack Valpy of Fingerprint Media.

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Martin Wooldridge promoted to Site Manager at Brickworth Quarry

The business is pleased to announce that as of November 2017, Martin Wooldridge has been promoted to Quarry Manager at Brickworth Quarry.  Martin has been with the business for almost five years, managing the Marchwood Wharf site in Southampton and has 20 years’ experience in the quarrying and aggregates industry.

Brickworth Quarry’s existing Quarry Manager, Mark Renault has managed the quarry for over 20 years and as part of the company’s drive to expand its operations, the Estates and Planning Team have recruited Mark as Environmental Permitting Manager for the business.  Mark will now be responsible for securing and maintaining Environmental Permits, protected species licences and biodiversity management.

 Colin Jones, General Manager commented: “The opportunity has been taken to review the operational management structure within Quarry Products with the objective to provide focus towards various ongoing and upcoming projects, to increase plant optimisation and operational efficiencies, promote cost savings through improved plant maintenance and bolster environmental and quality management within the division.  I wish both Mark and Martin every success in their new roles.”

 

Brickworth Quarry wins prestigious Biodiversity Achievement Award

The Mineral Products Association (MPA) ‘Quarries & Nature 2017 – Appreciating Assets’ event took place on Thursday 19th October at The Royal Society, London and was presented by BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today presenter, Sybil Ruscoe.

Expert speakers included a number of current issues related to nature conservation. They were Stephanie Hilborne OBE, Chief Executive of the Wildlife Trusts, Professor Steve Ormerod, Cardiff Professor of Ecology and until recently Chairman of RSPB and Tom Butterworth Associate Director of WSP.

The MPA’s 46th Awards recognised exceptional practice and showcased some of the best examples of quarry restoration and wildlife conservation anywhere in Europe.

Raymond Brown were presented as winners of the Biodiversity – Planned Restoration category by Sir Desmond Swayne MP who praised the restoration work and entrepreneurial spirit of the business.

The award was for Brickworth Quarry, where Raymond Brown recently gained permission for an extension to an existing operation. The area to be quarried is currently commercial coniferous plantation, but it was originally broadleaved woodland and the soil carries a rich seed bank. A robust handling strategy has been designed which relies on moving soils only once, using direct placement to the area of restoration.

The judges were impressed with the carefully planned removal of the conifer plantation, the management and conservation of ancient woodland soils and the planting of native trees to deliver a net gain in broadleaved woodland habitat.

In words of the County Ecologist who considered the planning application, “The total area of woodland within the restored site will be substantially increased. Areas of habitat creation will benefit species like bats, dormice, great crested newts, birds and reptiles.”

Commenting, Nigel Jackson, Chief Executive of the MPA said: “Once again MPA members’ have demonstrated what an environmentally responsible industry can do to both protect existing and create new habitats. We could not be more proud to showcase what can be achieved by an industry that is uniquely placed to make a net gain to biodiversity.”

Rob Westell, Estates & Planning Director at Raymond Brown commented: “We are extremely proud to win this award which is testament to the hard work of a small group of people and it is a great achievement for Raymond Brown to be on the same stage as the big multinational extraction companies in the UK. The new planning permission at Brickworth Quarry will ensure transformation of a conifer plantation to broadleaved woodland, providing enhanced habitat for a wide range of species, while protecting a valuable soil resource.”