Winvic Scoops Six Considerate Constructors Scheme Leading Lights Awards

Winvic Construction attended the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) Leading Lights Awards in London on 27 November and was presented with five winner’s trophies and the overall winner of the Environment category. The Leading Lights Awards celebrate organisations, sites and ultra sites registered with the Considerate Constructors Scheme, and individuals within workforces, that have significantly raised the bar and gone above and beyond the CCS Code.

The awards span four categories with the SEGRO Logistics Park Northampton project winning three.

Ian Goodhead, HSEQ Director, commented: “Winvic has strived to meet the standards of the Considerate Constructors Scheme for seven years as safety, the environment, our workforce, the community and the appearance of sites are all important elements in doing our job right. Thirteen sites – and 17 audits in total – have achieved full marks from CCS assessors in 2023 and we have now been highly commended with six Leading Lights Awards – a testament to our people’s commitment across every department. I want to sincerely thank the team for their dedication, belief in collaboration and being at the forefront of considerate construction.”

Community – Community Enrichment – SEGRO Logistics Park Northampton (SLPN)

The social value strategy drivers for the SLPN project were Winvic’s social value commitments, the SEGRO Community Investment Plan and the Development Consent Order (DCO) requirements, which specified the creation of an Employment and Skills Group. Winvic’s collaborative approach ensured outcomes across the five themes were excellent at the time of the award submission (June 2023), have since increased and will continue to until the project is completed in 2024. The themes are ‘local employment, training and upskilling’, ‘work experience, placement and apprenticeship opportunities’. ‘curriculum enhancement engagement’, ‘supply chain opportunities’ and ‘community engagement’.

Highlights included:

• 30 Apprentices, Year In Industry students and work experience students undertook placements on site
• 2 student site visits
• 4 community talks
• 6 school engagement activities and employer talks
• 6 careers fairs attended
• 11 community projects supported
• 361 local employees on the project (within 30 miles)
• £23.3m spent with subcontractors located within 30-mile radius of the site

Community – Community Enrichment – Winvic Enrichment Programme

Winvic devised a four-to-six-day programme of activity for college students, giving them the chance to get hands on site experience, learn about the wide range of activities and jobs within the industry and to improve their soft skills. The on-site education not only upskills and improves the confidence of students in further education, but it also contributes to projects’ social value commitments and education providers’ enrichment activity aims. The first programme was delivered in April 2023 and most recently Walsall College students undertook their sessions across three Winvic sites in the West Midlands.

A typical programme includes a site tour, an overview of contractor, subcontractor and developer roles and health and safety awareness training, and teaches CV writing, interview and presentation techniques. The programmes are tailored to the students’ courses, whether that’s engineering, design or construction management. Furthermore, the Programme has led to Winvic providing Continued Professional Development (CPD) training to tutors, supporting them to gain knowledge about the very latest construction technologies, materials and methods of construction.

Community – Community Engagement – Corkfield, Edgbaston

For this project – which has just been handed over to client PATRIZIA – the Section 106 agreement with Birmingham City Council (BCC) specified the delivery of a target number of employment weeks – across ‘job starts’, ‘apprentices’, ‘graduates’ and ‘work placements’ – and Winvic exceeded the goal. 4,773 weeks of employment were delivered to adults who live within BCC’s boundary who were previously unemployed.

Winvic created an Employment and Skills Plan and worked closely with BCC’s Employment Access Team (EAT) to promote vacancies and match candidates to roles, and to attend jobs fairs, in collaboration with supply chain partners. The next generation of industry professionals were inspired by Winvic and activity included taking part in a STEM Day with 120 students from City Academy. Birmingham City University engineering students also visited the site and Winvic offered virtual insight sessions to schools during the pandemic over Google Classrooms. In total, 407 Birmingham residents have been employed, one local man with a relevant degree became a Winvic Assistant Site Manager, and 7 apprentices and 7 work placement students from the local area have worked on the Corkfield site. Winvic also supported community groups by providing food, clothing and volunteering time to SIFA Fireside and St Basil’s and refurbishing a pergola outdoor kitchen and outdoor events area at Martineau Gardens, a local therapeutic community garden and charity.

Environment – Energy Efficiency – SEGRO Logistics Park Northampton (SLPN)
Environment – Overall Winner

As Winvic’s first Net Zero Civils and Infrastructure project, the company strategically went back to basics and proactively worked with its Green Supply Chain, which is critical in reducing the operational carbon of any scheme. An innovative site accommodation battery back-up was utilised, which has saved 12 tonnes of carbon per week in the set up at SLPN and solutions like solar powered temporary public highway lights have been used. Thanks to its strategy to retain 1,336,643.30m3 of material onsite for landscaping bunds and wetland areas, Winvic has negated 148,515 wagons leaving the site and saved 7,978 tonnes of Carbon during construction. The use of reduced-emission fuels has resulted in a saving of 607 tonnes of carbon (Jan 2023).

An onsite concrete batching plant was also created at SLPN to ensure concrete could be mixed to the exact specifications and quantities required – this has delivered a 50 per cent saving in deliveries to site. Drainage pipes are manufactured from recycled milk bottles and all steel has a minimum recycled content of 25-30 per cent.

Environment – Natural Environment Enhancement – AI-integrated Combined Noise and Dust Monitoring Equipment

Each of the artificial intelligence-enabled (AI) combined monitors that Winvic is using on site – a first for the technology being used in UK construction – captures audio clips when any noise exceedance limit is detected and sends an immediate alert to nominated team members thanks to the 4G SIM feature. The integrated AI also identifies different sources of noise; sounds are automatically analysed and categorised as noise being from construction activities, impact sounds, music or vehicles. The recordings and real time reports are automatically cloud stored if a noise exceeds the set level.

Winvic has seen a greater focus on potential noise and dust nuisance impacts through use of this technology, which has resulted in a reduction in complaints from the sites’ neighbours in comparison to sites utilising conventional noise monitoring equipment. Should any environmental noise be reported on a site using the equipment, the Winvic operational team can rely on the technology to correctly classify the source, negating the need for manual and time-consuming identification.

This is the second award for this innovative initiative – read more details about the technology and winning the Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice.

For more information on Winvic, the company’s latest project news and job vacancies please visit www.winvic.co.uk. Join Winvic on social media – visit X (formerly Twitter) @WinvicLtd – and LinkedIn.