December 2008 - Halcrow

There was some serious monkeying around
for a number of the York’s signalling and
telecomms engineers when they swung into
action at the ‘Go Ape’ adventure course at
the Dalby Forest visitor centre in Yorkshire.
On yer bike
Burderop Park (BP) employees dragged their
bicycles out of storage and dusted off their lycra shorts to
win the Swindon Workplace Cycle Challenge.
The Go Ape attraction saw the team fooling
around on rope bridges, Tarzan swings and
zip slides all suspended from the forest
treetops. Once back on terra firma, they
enjoyed a range of other activities such as
mountain biking and walking.
In 2007, Halcrow won both an
award and a commendation at
the British Construction Industry
Awards for the Halcrow Yollesdesigned
Dalby Forest visitor centre,
also scooping the prime minister’s
better public building award. The
visitor centre serves as a learning
facility to enhance awareness of the
environment and the forest itself.
Monkey business
Open to all organisations in the area,
the competition aimed to get the largest
number of people on two wheels. Halcrow’s
employees ditched their cars in favour of
bikes in impressive numbers, with 13 per cent
leaping into the saddle – a grand total of
65 hardy riders.
Many participants were reacquainted with
their bicycles after long absences, with the
challenge serving to coax people back to
leg-power. Efforts ranged from a one-way
slog from Bristol to four keen riders from the
geotechnical team who each clocked up over
160km. One brave cyclist took to the road on
a 50-year-old relic, wheeling into the BP car
park after a bone-shaking commute through
Swindon’s streets.
Swindon rises to the challenge
The Swindon Workplace Cycle Challenge got 850 people
out of their cars and into the saddle. Participants
collectively cycled 56,500km, saving
3,157 litres of fuel and
£3,630 by leaving their
cars at home. Some
35 million kilojoules
of energy were burnt
– that’s roughly
equivalent
to 1,060kg, or the
total weight of ten
heavyweight
sumo wrestlers.
Burderop Park’s two-wheeled crew
(Table) Socc it to ‘em
Visitors to Burderop Park on 15 August could
be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled
down a rabbit hole, ending up in C S Lewis’s
Alice in Wonderland.
A life-size table-football pitch – with
humans replacing the traditional plastic
men – dominated the outdoor space, and the
shrieks of teams frantically kicking the ball
towards the opposition’s goal pierced the air.
With Ian Roland wearing the captain’s
armband, ‘Smelly Trainers’ passed and shot
superbly in the closely contested match.
But it was ‘Damage Limitation’ that took top
honours in BP’s table football tournament,
with skipper Alan Warren leading the charge.
Winners: Alan Warren, Tom Bryant, Robin Wood,
Matt Scott, Alex Lane, Charles Grice and Sam Warren
Runners-up: Ian Roland, Laura Thompson,
Gemma Harris, Annie Virgilio and Claire Mackenzie
Make mine
a pint
Selfless souls at Halcrow’s Glasgow City Park office have
donated almost 200 pints of blood in the last year, following
several visits from the Scottish Blood Service’s mobile units.
Organiser Mary Love said: “So far this year, we have donated
a fantastic amount of blood and the response has been
overwhelming. We started off sharing a bus with
another company, but now there are now so many
of us willing to give, we get a dedicated one.”
Connections | July 2008
Donating blood
takes just
15 minutes.
Three different
patients could
be helped from a
single donation
and just three
teaspoons of
blood can save
the life of
a premature
baby.
Glasgow team-mates roll up
to help others