Category: Awards

In the latest of a long line of business award successes, O’Brien Contractors has won a prestigious Green Apple Environment Award alongside much larger companies, including Laing O’Rourke, Kier and Lovell.

The Bronze Award recognises the company’s achievement and long-term commitment to developing a sustainable business and sharing best practice within the industry to improve the construction sector’s overall sustainability and environmental performance.

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien said: “We are delighted that our commitment to sustainability and continual improvement of our environmental performance has been recognised by this internationally renowned environmental recognition programme.”

As well as recognising the financial stability that the company has created through its diversification programme, which saw it expand its service offering, develop new solutions, grow its client base and increase its workforce, the award recognises the commitment the company has demonstrated to being environmentally sustainable through a range of initiatives.

These include:

• Developing a comprehensive three page Environmental Policy
• Implementing a purchasing policy that ensures materials are sourced sustainably, for example:
  • Suppliers must be ISO14001 accredited
  • Timber must be FSC certified and a chain-of-custody certificate must be produced
  • Preference must be given to recycled stone/bricks where possible
  • Metal must have a minimum recycled content of 40%
  • Using Hanson EcoPlus concrete which incorporates waste blast furnace slag to reduce its CO2 content by 13.53 tonnes for every 100m3 of concrete

O’Brien’s has also introduced a comprehensive recycling system that segments waste recycling in the office and on site, with dedicated skips for timber, steel, rubble and cardboard. It is further developing this system in order to achieve zero waste to landfill.

Excavated earth is recycled whenever possible by incorporating it into the projects it delivers, for example at Hollyfast School, Coventry, it was used to construct a turfed mound in the playground. This not only reduced waste but also reduced disposal costs and the resulting cost to the client. If materials can’t be reused on-site they are transported to nearby projects for reuse if possible.

The move to a paperless office is now saving approximately 12,000 sheets of paper per year and the company’s entire fleet of vehicles has been updated to low-emission models.

Peter O’Brien said: “Implementing environmental best practices now and constantly striving to improve performance is vital for our business, and our industry, to remain successful.

In the latest of a long line of business award successes, O’Brien Contractors has won two more prizes at the 2014 Celebrating Construction Awards. The company was chosen as the winner in the Innovation category and also received the Value Award.

Both awards are for O’Brien’s Dove Project, which saw it deliver a £10m groundworks and civil engineering package in December 2012 for Nestle’s new production complex in Staffordshire.

What made the project stand out for the judging panel is that when O’Brien surveyed the site ready for their January 2013 start they discovered that the originally tendered design was no longer feasible, due to 2012 being England’s wettest year on record. Ground conditions had seriously deteriorated and both the cost and programme for the specified works had extended considerably. But Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, used his experience and value engineering approach to lead his team to an innovative solution that saved money and time as well as delivering the project to its original programme, dramatically reducing safety risks on site, saving tonnes of materials from going to landfill and reducing the whole life cost of the site’s infrastructure.

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien said: “We are thrilled that the dedication the team showed to resolving these issues in a way that didn’t cost the client more money, and also protected the environment, has been recognised. Our approach to business is one of continual improvement and we really put this into action with this project.”

The original design required OBrien’s vehicles to pass through Nestle’s existing factory complex intermingling with their own traffic and employee’s pedestrian routes. Specified works alone required at least 9000 20T lorry movements. Over 40,000m3 of spoil was to be taken off site and transported to landfill as it was not suitable for re-use, with an estimated 270,000 miles of haulage (16.5T CO2).

O’Brien’s value engineering experience led them to come up with a new solution that was the ideal option due to the changing water conditions. The new solution used lime stabilisation to avoid taking the spoil off site, created stable conditions for alternative site road access, working hard standings for the construction works and stable conditions for buildings, roads and yards required in the final development – and at a reduced cost with no time delays.

All stakeholders -– Nestlé, John Sisk & Sons, Faithful+Gould, and specialist subcontractor TR Stabilisation – agreed that the solution delivered benefits for the project cost and programme but also to the environment, safety and the local residential neighbourhood.

Peter O’Brien said: “We are looking forward to delivering more successful projects throughout 2014 and will continue to pursue our goal of continual improvement so that we can deliver the best possible service for our customers, and remain an employer of choice for the best construction professionals in the industry.”

O’Brien has struck gold in recognition of the way it protects its staff from accidents and injury.

O’Brien Contractors, based in Cubbington, has won the Gold Award in the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2014.

The company will be presented with the prize at a ceremony at the Hilton Metropole, at the NEC, on Thursday, May 15.

RoSPA, a national charity, aims to save lives and reduce injuries and in support of that mission, the awards – which date back 58 years – recognise the commitment to continuous improvement in accident and ill health prevention at work.

Through the scheme, which is open to businesses and organisations of all types and sizes from across the UK and overseas, judges consider entrants’ overarching occupational health and safety management systems including practices such as leadership and workforce involvement.

It is the latest in a string of awards for O’Brien Contractors including Contractor of the Year at the Building Awards 2014, a National Chamber Award and the SME Award at the Celebrating Construction Awards.

O’Brien Contractors managing director Peter O’Brien said the RoSPA award was particularly special.

He said: “Any recognition of the company’s qualities and practices is great news but health and safety is such a huge issue in construction and so to achieve gold in the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards is testament to just how seriously we take it.

“Credit has to go to our management team and all of our staff for ensuring that health and safety is a priority on each and every contract we carry out.

“Health and safety can, sometimes, be given a bad name because people see it as overly bureaucratic or unnecessarily restrictive on businesses but, in our view, it is vital that companies of all sizes and sectors – but especially in construction – do everything they can to protect staff and, indeed, the public.”

O’Brien Contractors was established by Peter’s father, Thomas O’Brien, 55 years ago. Peter and his brother, Michael, got involved around 35 years ago and, in 1995, took it from a partnership to a limited company.

The firm invested heavily during the recession and that has started to pay off with turnover rising and a range of awards.

David Rawlins, RoSPA’s awards manager, said: “The RoSPA Awards encourage the raising of occupational health and safety standards across the board.

“Organisations that gain recognition for their health and safety management systems, such as O’Brien Contractors, contribute to a collective raising of the bar for other organisations to aspire to, and we offer them our congratulations.”

In the latest of a long line of business award successes, O’Brien Contractors has won the 2014 Building Awards Contractor of the Year (up to £300m) prize. The award recognises the company for demonstrating improvements and excellence in all areas of the business.

The judges chose O’Brien as the winners as the firm has been involved in projects over the past year that have delivered outstanding features and innovative solutions. These include a £4m demolition and landscaping project for Aston University; and a £1.3m project for Nightowl Truckstop that saw 82 lorry parking bays installed, along with 10,000m2 of concrete hard standing, storm outfall drainage, CCTV cameras around the perimeter and a 2.4m fence with electrical topping. This project met “Secured by Design” standards and has been awarded a “Park Mark” safety certificate from the police.

Other criteria that the company was considered to have delivered outstanding results in include customer satisfaction, sound management of the difficult economic conditions, sustainability, supply chain management, health and safety improvements, impressive Corporate Social Responsibility approaches, R&D investments and staff satisfaction and development opportunities.

O’Brien has demonstrated excellence and improvements in all of these categories. The four-year, self-funded £1.7m diversification programme that it implemented in 2008 has seen it achieve a 203% increase in profits since 2012. The company has also expanded from just providing civil engineering and groundworks to offering a wider range of services, which include design, levelling, plant hire, sewerage, construction, internal finishing, road/car park installation, maintenance and facilities management.

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien said: “We are all absolutely delighted to have received this prestigious award in recognition of the hardwork and dedication that everyone in the business has put in to help us achieve our goals.”

Other achievements that have resulted in the shortlisting for this award include:

• Productivity increased by 8% (calculated by turnover generated per head)
• Client base increased from 50 to 54
• Repeat business increased from 80% to 85%
• Tender success increased from 19% to 24%
• Turnover increased 2.3%, from £13.8m to £14.1m
• Training hours increased by 21%

The company has also introduced an Apprenticeship programme and fast-track mentoring scheme, supported 15 ex-offenders on leaving prison to gain qualifications, and offers work experience placements to students. It has also partnered with software and machinery specialists Korec to develop the “Sensefly Singlet Cam” aerial camera, which allows photography and land surveys to be conducted from the sky, saving both time and money.

Peter O’Brien said: “We are looking forward to delivering more successful projects throughout 2014 and will continue to pursue our goal of continual improvement so that we can deliver the best possible service for our customers, and remain an employer of choice for the best construction professionals in the industry.”

O’Brien Contractors, a specialist civil engineering firm providing best-practice, cost-effective design and build services for a wide range of construction projects, has been named as Company of the Year in the 2013 National Chamber Awards, and its Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, also received the Outstanding Personal Achievement Award at the ceremony in November.

The Company of the Year Award recognises businesses that have excelled by increasing efficiency and turnover, providing staff development and improving standards for staff, clients, suppliers, the environment and the wider community. As well as creating 23 new jobs in 2013, the company has received several industry awards and accreditations, achieved its highest turnover ever and taken part in community events that have raised over £7000 for charity.

Peter O’Brien said: “To win the Company of the Year award is a wonderful endorsement of how hard everyone at O’Briens has worked to achieve our goals. We are all dedicated to delivering the best service to our customers while also striving to improve the efficiency and environmental impact of construction projects. It’s also very important to us that we provide the opportunities for our staff to realise their potential and that we make a positive impact on the communities we work in.”

The Company of the Year Award comes with a £25,000 cheque, which O’Briens will be investing in its apprenticeship programme to help more young people to enter the construction industry and into the company’s community fund that is used to provide free computer and playground equipment to local schools.

The Outstanding Personal Achievement Award acknowledges an individual who has demonstrated dedication, professionalism and integrity within their role resulting in a positive impact on the business. Peter O’Brien has been instrumental in transforming the business in the past four years – diversifying into new service areas, investing in new technologies and marketing campaigns, and helping the business to recover strongly from the recession.

Mr O’Brien said: “I am overwhelmed and delighted to have been given the Outstanding Personal Achievement Award. However, everyone at O’Briens has worked together to achieve our business transformation and this award really reflects our joint efforts and successes.”

O’Brien Contractors, a leading specialist civil engineering and groundworks firm providing best-practice, cost-effective design and build services for a wide range of construction projects, has won two more awards in a year that has already seen the company, and its Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, win several.

At the Building and Engineering 2013 awards in November O’Briens was named as Contractor of the Year (SME) for the impressive improvements it has made in every area of the business.

These improvements include diversifying into new service areas, such as sports, plant hire, sewerage installations and full design and build services. It is also one of a handful of UK construction contractors to provide full turnkey solutions for sports pitches. At the same time, O’Briens has invested over £900K in new state-of-the-art software and plant and machinery and significantly cut both its accident incidence and frequency rates.

Peter O’Brien said: “We are thrilled to have won this latest award that recognises how much we have done to turn the business around after the global recession. As a company we are dedicated to providing the best service to our customers while also investing in innovations to improve the efficiency and environmental impact of construction projects. It’s also very important to us that we are the best employer for our staff and make a positive impact on the communities where we deliver projects.”

This commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility has been recognised by the CSR Excellence Award which, in addition to awarding O’Brien’s a Silver International CSR Excellence Award in the Building & Construction Category for 2013, has just added the CSR World Leader 2014 award to their accolades.

Mr O’Brien added: “We have been overwhelmed and delighted with the level of our achievements in the industry awards this year. This recognition of our efforts shows that we are doing the right thing for our business, our customers and our staff, and that we are on the right track to achieve all of our goals.”

O’Brien Contractors, a specialist civil engineering firm providing best-practice, cost-effective design and build services for a wide range of construction projects, has won the Birmingham Post 2013 Business Award for Property including Regeneration and Estate Management, beating off prestigious shortlisted competitors such as St. Mowden Properties.

The award recognises O’Brien’s achievements in several key areas:

• Strong financial performance
• Job creation
• Investment in equipment and infrastructure
• Scale and complexity
• Product or service innovation
• Industry recognition, accreditation, accolades and commitment to customer service
• Commitment to the region

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, said: ‘We are delighted to have received this award. It’s further justification that the decisions we made when the business was facing tough times were the right ones.’

When profits were hit by the 2009 recession O’Brien’s took the brave decision of investing in a £620K diversification initiative, which has paid off and seen 2013 deliver the company’s best year ever.

As well as expanding the services it offers to its customers, O’Brien’s has invested £150K in people development providing progression opportunities and qualifications for existing staff, creating new jobs and starting a new apprenticeship programme.

This award is the latest success in a year that has seen O’Brien’s win several, including:

• Celebrating Construction SME Award for the West Midlands
• Diamond Standard for Customer Satisfaction
• Silver International CSR Excellence Award in the Environment Category

Peter O’Brien was also named as Business Person of Year in the Pride of Warwick District Awards.

O’Brien Contractors, a specialist civil engineering firm providing best-practice, cost-effective design and build services for a wide range of construction projects, has won a Gold International CSR Excellence Award in the Building & Construction Category.

The awards recognise companies that commit to making a positive, beneficial impact on their customers, their suppliers, their employees and their families, and the communities they work in.

The Gold level of award that O’Brien won was announced at the awards ceremony on HMS Belfast on Monday 29th July.

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director at O’Brien Contractors said: “We are delighted to have won this award. As a company we are completely committed to providing the best service to our customers, being the best employer for our staff and making a positive impact on the communities where we deliver projects.”

“So far 2013 has seen us create new jobs in the region and win the Constructing Excellence SME Award for the West Midlands region. This additional recognition of our efforts shows that we are on the right track to achieve all of our goals.”

O’Brien Contractors has continued its support of local communities with the sponsorship of both Leamington RUFC and Cubbington Albion FC, after a tough year both the clubs required financial backing to enable them to look to their seasons ahead.

Ryan Cranton, FA coach at Cubbington Albion Juniors FC said: “Unfortunately, due to running costs at our club were on the brink of folding all junior teams, however we are now looking to build a solid foundation this season with U11 and U12 teams which will see us move forward in forthcoming seasons to add additional age groups. This has only been possible with the support of local businesses such as O’Brien’s and for this we are hugely grateful.”

O’Brien Contractors, a specialist civil engineering firm providing best-practice, cost-effective design and build services for a wide range of construction projects, has won the 2013 Celebrating Construction SME Award for the West Midlands.

The Celebrating Construction Awards are designed to showcase excellence and reward the accomplishments of organisations and project teams that have achieved region-wide acclaim.

The SME Award recognises construction companies that employ 250 or fewer people and have made significant progress in their people development processes, and in adopting best practices alongside collaborative and new ways of working.

Winning the SME Award means that O’Brien’s have automatically made it into the finals of the National Constructing Excellence Awards, which is one of the leading built environment awards in the UK.

Peter O’Brien, Managing Director at O’Brien Contractors said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have won this award. It affirms our commitment to achieving continual improvement in everything we do.”

“As a company, we are dedicated to providing excellent service to our customers and an excellent working environment for our staff and this award shows that we are achieving this.”