Category: News

Construction of New Loading / Distribution Canopy

On Saturday 02 May, the O’Brien project team at the Barry Callebaut site, undertook a very impressive triple crane lift!

The crane lift was carried out as part of our works on the Banbury chocolate manufacturing plant site, where we are now 29 weeks into a 52 week contract. The new 40 metre span steel frame building extension is for a new loading / distribution Canopy, at the factory.

This is part of 6 phases of work we are carrying out on site as part of upgrading works, within the 6 phases include new access roads, construction of a Weighbridge, the Construction of a new Utility building , an extension to the production building, major internal refurbishment to a further 2 buildings

The works were undertaken on a live manufacturing plant where works continue, with strict additional procedures put in place due to COVID-19.

The above works are following on from our:

Building Alteration and Upgrading Works for New Tank Farm Installation

The works which are to allow the client to increase their production by circa 20%, started in November 2019, with major alteration works on the new ‘Tank Farm Building’ completed. The works on this building have been carried out to ensure that the building is ready for the new product tanks to be installed within the building.  Our works on this building have included:

• Piling installation in the floor of the building to take the load imposed from the new product tanks to be installed
• Concrete reinstatement – reinstate around piles
• New resin floor installation
• White walling to stop any contamination of the product
• Installation of new steels – these were installed to strengthen the building, and for crane beams
• Painting and decoration of the building
• Brick up old roller shutter doors openings
• Tank Farm Delivery Yard Construction

We have also constructed a new yard around the side and the rear of the ‘Tank Farm Building’ which was previously a landscaped area. The new side access and new yard will allow deliveries to the rear of the building. Our works have included:

• Reduced dig around the side and to the rear
• Muck shift
• Installation of all drainage and ducting for the building
• Install Hauraton channels and kerbs
• Install concrete bases for canopy for the delivery area to the rear
• Stone up
• Concrete bays for the vehicle delivery area.

Other works to the yard area for the ‘Tank Farm’ included the installation of 3 no doc levellers at low level, installation of all new doors and windows for the doc levellers and installation of a building for the janitors, and installation of steel for the canopy.

Building Extension and Construction Works

Our works will be continuing on site until late 2020 with further works including building extension works, internal access roads and construction of a brand new 40m x 13m stand alone Utilities / Energy Centre.

Live Manufacturing Environment

All works are being carried out within a live manufacturing environment with a busy delivery and loading operation on the site. O’Brien have a carefully controlled regime and works phasing to ensure that manufacturing and deliveries on site are uninterrupted. Health and Safety standards are stringent to reflect both O’Brien and Barry Callebaut’s standards.

150 Year Old – World Leading of Manufacturer of High Quality Chocolate and Cocoa Products

Barry Callebaut is the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, and has been dedicated to this business for more than 150 years. The company operates out of more than 40 countries, runs about 60 production facilities, employs a global workforce of more than 12,000 people.

One in Four Chocolate & Cocoa Products Around the World Contain Barry Callebaut Products

With average sales of 2,139,758 tonnes of chocolate and cocoa products (2018/19), their products are present in one out of four of all chocolate and cocoa products consumed around the world.
The works are taking place under a 12 month programme of works.

O’Brien Charitable Trust are very pleased to donate for the first time to Wolverhampton Boxing Club, one of the oldest established clubs in the UK.  O’Brien donated £2,000 to this very worthy club at the heart of the local East Park community.

The club was founded way back in 1936 by a group of local businessmen. After a few moves to different premises, by the mid 80’s the club had moved to its present home on the corner of Colliery Road and Willenhall Road.

The club has three rings, along with an array of heavy bags etc that would be the envy of a lot of pro gyms! The club is recognised as being of enormous benefit not only to the local East Park community, but for the whole of Wolverhampton.

Various famous faces have visited the club, including in recent years Amir Khan, Joe Bugner and Earnie Shavers amongst others.

Other prominent boxers who have passed through the doors of WABC over the years include Tony Wilson, Bingo Crookes, Richie Carter, Nigel Rafferty and Dean Harrison to name but a few.

A lot of people have worked tirelessly to make the gym what it is today, and are still working hard to leave a legacy for future generations of Wulfrunians.

Any boxing fan or visitor to Wolverhampton would do well to take an hour of their time to visit WABC, it really is a fight fans’ dream.

Gary Bate from the Boxing Club commented on what the donation has meant to the club:

We are a voluntary run boxing club offering the opportunity to train and learn the art of boxing, in one of the most deprived areas of Wolverhampton. We welcome children and adults from the age of 8 and also have links with local schools and youth groups. We operate from a building which is over 100 years old and as you can imagine, it is in constant need of repair and maintenance. We rely on charitable donations to enable us to keep the building open for our community.

Your very generous donation of £2,000 has helped us to refurbish one of our rooms to be used as a class room to extend our theory teaching. This room was previously very damp and had dry rot in the floor boards. Your money contributed to the eradication of these problems along with new flooring and electric heaters to be installed. We send our sincere thanks for considering us and agreeing to donate to our cause. We wish you every success with your future projects.

http://wolverhamptonboxingclub.co.uk/

O’Brien Charitable Trust have donated £10,000 to the Warwickshire + Northamptonshire Air Ambulance for the third year running.

The O’Brien Charitable Trust consider the Air Ambulance donation to be a priority, due to the independent and self-funded approach they have, they also carry out recues on many remote construction sites.

WNAA attend around 1000 missions a year – each costing around £1700. They provide the best possible pre-hospital care and rapid transport to specialist hospitals, to those suffering serious injury and illness. WNAA receive no Government funding, relying solely on donations.

Lee Bunting from Air Ambulance said:

“This is the third consecutive year that O’Brien Contractors have donated £10,000 to our charity as a result of their fundraising activities. I am absolutely amazed at their dedication to our cause and the efforts that they go to, to raise these funds for us.

The air ambulance service receives no government funding and it is through donations such as this that we are able to remain operational and provide a consistent, world class life saving service. Each mission we undertake costs on average £1,700, so this donation is received with sincere thanks and gratitude. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed and to all at O’Brien Contractors for their continued support. I look forward to coming to meet with you all personally to say a huge thank you on behalf of the charity”.

https://theairambulanceservice.org.uk/our-work/

http://Photo credit to UK Emergency Aviation http://www.ukemergencyaviation.co.uk/G-WNAA.htm

O’Brien are very please to donate £4,000 from our 2019 fundraising to The Cyrenians Society, Coventry, who provide a fantastic service for homeless and vulnerable people.

Established in 1973, Cyrenians provide a comprehensive range of services to homeless and vulnerably housed people in Coventry and Warwickshire. Providing individualised support to promote and enhance the life chances of people who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness, and empower them to live as independently as possible.

The charity provides accommodation to the homeless people of Coventry and Warwickshire, providing more supported accommodation for single homeless adults than any other single agency in Coventry. They also provide considerable assistance in getting people back on the right path.

Services currently include the Coventry Supported Accommodation Service, Stratford Upon Avon Temporary Accommodation for Single Adults and Young Person’s Alcohol Intervention & Mediation Service. Providing nearly 200 units of accommodation within Coventry and Warwickshire for those in need.

• Over two thirds of the people they see are experiencing mental health challenges and more than one in five are     sleeping rough when we accommodate them.
• Over 90% of people leaving the Cyrenians service report improvements in one or more areas of their life.
• About one in five of their residents obtain paid employment by the time they move on from them, many benefiting from Cyrenians own employment and training opportunities.
• They generate 80% of income from accommodation charges but rely on public support and donations to enable us to continue their work.

A Cyrenian spokesman commented on the donation, “A sincere thank you for selecting us as one of your chosen charities for the foundation, we would be delighted to accept your donation and the amazing sum of money offered. I understand that you are one of our partners at Christmas time, where your organisation creates shoeboxes for the Christmas Appeal – it’s great to see that the relationship has developed into a financial donation.”

http://www.coventrycyrenians.co.uk/about

https://trust.obriencontractors.co.uk/

As we are all aware during this terrible coronavirus outbreak our NHS is being stretched to the limit on PPE equipment for their frontline staff.

On Tuesday a nurse in the intensive care unit at Walsgrave Hospital (UHCW Trust), contacted us as they have a shortage of goggles, with no current supply and desperately needed some for the frontline staff. Obviously due to the risk of infection, it was imperative that the staff had this equipment and they had 300 members of staff that required them.

As we don’t stock the required goggles within our business, we called upon our trusty buying department, who got on the phone to Lapwing a longstanding and key supplier within our business to see what we could do.  Lapwing were able to not only supply us, but offered to pay for 150 of the 300 pairs of goggles themselves and the delivery costs.

The goggles were dispatched and arrived at the hospital on Wednesday and were gratefully received. O’Brien and Lapwing are honoured to be able to do something to help a very worthy cause that is our wonderful NHS during this time of crisis!

A member of the nursing staff said “I just wanted to say a massive thank you for your kind donation to the staff at UCHW and supplying us with goggles.  The whole team here are so, so appreciative as we can now protect ourselves against covid-19 a little easier knowing we all have a pair of goggles and not having to share.

O’Brien Contractors has been awarded the RoSPA Gold Medal Award, which is our 7th consecutive RoSPA Gold Award and our 3rd Gold Medal Award!

The internationally-renowned RoSPA Health and Safety Awards, are the longest-running industry awards scheme in the UK and has been awarded to us in recognition of our practices and achievements, in helping staff and clients and stakeholders get home safely at the end of the working day.

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.

Managing Director, Peter O’Brien, said: We are delighted to have been recognised with a RoSPA Gold Medal Award again for 2020. As a company we are dedicated to making sure that all of our sites are safe both for everyone working on them and for members of the public. Receiving this award again is testament to how hard we all work to achieve that.”

O’Brien Contractors is committed to providing safe and healthy working environments for all of our staff. O’Brien provides ongoing training, information, supervision and advice so that all of our employees are competent to work safely and are committed to providing the resources necessary to support this provision.

Our industry-leading standards have also been recognised with many other occupational health and safety accreditations ranging from ISO45001 to CHAS, Achilles Building Confidence and RISQS.

Our project to build a 150 metre long by up to 11 metre high retaining wall, in readiness for the VLR project in Dudley is progressing at a pace.

On a very exciting note, the borough geologist discovered that the original land surface was from the last Ice Age 15,000 years ago and also that lower surfaces were made up of White bentonite clay (Volcanic ash) layers!

The works are being carried out in preparation for the VLR (very light railway) track to be installed on one side of the wall, whilst a building will be constructed on the other side of the wall.  When we visited the site this week, the works had progressed at quite a pace since our last report.

O’Brien Contractors were awarded the enabling contract on the project in Dudley next to the zoo to construct the retaining wall and carry out associated bulk earthworks.

O’Brien are acting as Principal Contractor on the project which is being carried out over a 35 week programme and our works are due to be completed by the end of May.

Creative Solutions

The client was looking for a contractor who could deliver creative solutions to provide an affordable scheme in line with their programme. The client also required a company with a robust supply chain procurement.

Having traded for over 60 years we have developed our supply chain to provide our business with the service required to meet our commitments to our clients. With long term trading relationships with suppliers of construction materials, aggregates, concrete, muckaway and recycling companies, we are able to select the most suitable option for each specific contract and operation which may not always be based on price, factors such as quality and performance also need to be considered.

WELL DONE TO RON COWLEY!

Our first winner of 2020 for our ‘Employee Outstanding Contribution Award’ is Ron Cowley, who was nominated by two of our Project Managers.  Ron was awarded a certificate of recognition and a cheque for £500.

Project Manager Guy Baker and Stuart Hopkins commented, “We nominated Ron due to his no hassle approach whenever he is asked to do anything and he can always be depended upon.

O’Brien values the skills, experience and dedication of our site teams.

In recognition of this, we have for many years run the ‘Employee Outstanding Achievement Award’. The award goes to a member of one of our site teams each quarter to coincide with our quarterly newsletter.

Project Managers nominate the operative that they think has gone above and beyond for the previous quarter and the candidate with the most recommendations wins the award. In recognition of their outstanding contribution, the winner gets a £500 cheque and a certificate in recognition of their hard work.

Today the O’Brien Charitable Trust Committee has presented the first donation from the monies raised in 2020, to the fantastic Freddie’s Wish Charity https://freddieswish.org/.

The Freddie’s Wish charity was set up by founder Charlotte Jolliffe whose son, 13 month old Freddie, was sadly taken in a tragic car accident in December 2014.

“Charlotte said: “Not long after I said my last goodbyes, I desperately wanted to seek help from other people that felt this intense emotional and physical pain I was feeling, but no one seemed to be willing to help me.”

Freddie’s Wish was set up with the aim to educate healthcare professionals and wider society in the importance of offering proactive support to bereaved parents to help them through the darkest of times.

Freddie’s wish formed a partnership with Child Bereavement UK https://www.childbereavementuk.org/ and also signpost bereaved relatives towards support that may be relevant to their specific circumstances or provide support to the family directly.

Freddie’s wish are also partnered with MDD First Aid http://www.mddfirstaid.co.uk/ to help fund first aid courses for parents/carers to give them the knowledge and skills to potentially save their child’s life.

“Sadly, Freddie ultimately lost his brave battle but the CPR administered by his Dad at the scene of the accident gave us all time to say our goodbye’s to him. This proves that doing something in an emergency first aid situation is always better than doing nothing!”

Charlotte said of the O’Brien Charitable Trust Donation:

“Thank you so much for offering a donation of £2,500 towards Freddie’s Wish, this is so incredibly generous and would make a huge difference to the charity.

In terms of how we would spend the £2.5k donation, we would wish to allocate it all towards the continued provision of free paediatric first aid sessions for anyone who looks after a child (parents, other relatives, friends, childminders etc.)

This contribution will help us to continue to provide free paediatric first aid awareness sessions throughout Warwickshire in conjunction with MDD First Aid .

So far, we have trained 650 people with essential paediatric first aid skills and the knowledge to be able to save their child’s life should they need to.

We are already fully booked until April with 2 courses running per month.

This funding could fully cover 7 paediatric first aid awareness courses at £360 per course, that would equate to approximately another 140 people being trained with vital skills for life.”

O’Brien were delighted to present a cheque for £4,000 to the Helping Hands Community Project this morning, as we continue to disburse the £30,000 raised in 2019 to good causes.

The Helping Hands Project is one which gets right to the heart of the community in Warwickshire, who work tirelessly to help the homeless and those less fortunate. This is a charity we have supported in previous years and we are delighted to donate to this great cause again this year.

HELPING HANDS COMMUNITY PROJECT

We believe
There is always hope for a better future
Everyone has a unique purpose
It feels good to do good
We’re in this with you for the whole journey
These are complex issues

The Helping Hands charity is all about local people helping local people in need. The charity gives people the support and opportunities to feel better about themselves, be more active in the community and get back into work.

Hand Up

The charity run a soup kitchen offering hot food and a listening ear. They like to give a hand up not just a handout through new skills, experience and qualifications.

House 2 Home Project

The volunteers for their ‘House 2 Home’ project support clients with goods, from fridges to furniture to recently homed and low-income families. People are referred to the charity by organisations like children’s centres, social services & domestic violence charities.

When people are re-homed, they are often given a place to stay but not all essentials like a fridge or bed. The generous community provides these goods that volunteers deliver to those who need it. This helps turn empty houses into homes!

Gateway Café

They run the Gateway Café where people can find a lovely welcome, and where they can enjoy coffee and cake to support the charity in helping people find a better future.

The Big Sleepout

The charity has organised the big sleep out for 5 years, with the latest taking place last month. ‘The Big Sleep Out’ helps the charity give the homeless and vulnerable adults in Leamington, Warwick and Kenilworth the chance of a better future.

To find out more about the Helping Hands Project: https://www.helpinghandscharity.org.uk/our-story/

Helping Hands said of the donation:

“A HUGE thank you to O’Brien who have presented us with a cheque for £4,000 for the second year running following all their fantastic fundraising efforts throughout the year. Their support in helping us to make a difference to local people in need has been phenomenal.  Thank you