HAVE YOUR SAY: BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE: A TEAM EFFORT:

MaG 

THE 

NEWS FOR MAY GURNEY EMPLOYEES/AUTUMN 2011 

HAVE YOUR SAY: 

Make a difference - Pg 3 

BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE: 

Delivering against our charter - Pg 14 

A TEAM EFFORT: 

Recycling in West Oxfordshire - Pg 24 

BEING 

THE BEST 

See Pg 16 

www.maygurney.co.uk Follow us on www.mgfoundation.co.uk

MAG/CONTENTS 

REGULARS 

03 HAVE YOUR SAY 

04 BUSINESS NEWS 

10 SERVICE 

13 HEALTH & SAFETY 

18 COMMUNITY 

21 FUNDRAISING 

22 PEOPLE 

27 BE THE BEST AWARDS 

28 ON THE FRONT-LINE 

FEATURES 

14 BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE 

16 AWARDS ROUND-UP 

24 RECYCLING IN OXFORDSHIRE 

26 NATIONAL EMPLOYEE FORUM 

MaG 

THE 

Next issue: Winter 2011 

Copy deadline: 14/11/11 

Copy to: David Kennett, editor 

t: 01603 727340 

e: dkennett@maygurney.co.uk 

Read The MaG online via MaGnet or 

www.maygurney.co.uk 

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02/MaG/AUTUMN2011 

On course to Be the best 

Welcome to the Autumn edition of The MaG. The 

highlights below show what a busy summer it’s been 

and demonstrate that we are making good progress 

towards becoming the UK’s best support services 

business. 

Contract wins 

We’ve signed a new contract with Bristol City Council 

for waste collection, street cleansing and winter 

maintenance for the next seven years, with a possible 

seven-year extension. At around £14m per annum, it 

is the largest contract that Bristol City Council awards 

(see page 5). 

East Sussex County Council has extended our 

highways maintenance contract for a further three 

years to 2015. The contract, valued at up to £60m, 

includes further improvements to the service and 

efficiency gains (see page 7). 

We’re also preferred bidder for Cheshire West and 

Chester Council’s long-term waste and recycling 

contract valued at up to £126m (see page 3). 

Mobilisations 

We are currently mobilising our new highway 

maintenance contract with Surrey County Council 

and our utilities contracts with Severn Trent Water 

and Scottish Water. The Turriff integration is going to 

plan and the business is performing well and busy 

tendering for contracts. This will provide a platform 

for growth in Scotland and new opportunities across 

the UK. 

Health & Safety 

Our Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) is still far too 

high. We are currently tailoring our MAD programme 

for different groups across the business, to make sure 

everyone knows what is expected of them and how 

they can make a difference. The CET (Chief 

Executive’s Team) and managers across the business 

are delivering on the pledges they made at the health 

& safety conference in January. I have visited a 

number of sites and depots to further understand the 

challenges our operatives face, and to question our 

safety processes and procedures. All CET members 

must make at least six such visits each year to 

reinforce the importance we place on safety. 

We are also starting to roll out health screenings 

and wellbeing checks across the company as part of 

our occupational health programme (see page 13). 

Awards 

It has been a bumper summer for industry award 

wins, thanks to your hard work and skill (see pages 

16/17). 

Code of Conduct 

A new Bribery Act has recently come into force and 

our Code of Conduct, which applies to everyone at 

May Gurney, has been updated accordingly. The 

£114m 

New business 

0.72 

Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) 

2.7% 

Reduction in CO2/Fuel costs 

3.4% 

Training days 

Board is committed to upholding our values and the 

highest standards of conduct expected by all of us, 

all of the time. 

National Employee Forum 

The Forum now meets twice a year to give employees 

even more opportunity to raise points of view with our 

most senior executives. In July we discussed pay 

review, profit share, PPE, desktop training, health & 

safety and the Be the best Awards (see page 26). 

Investors in People 

Following a recent audit we have been upgraded to 

Bronze status, an excellent result. Thanks to 

everyone involved in the audit process. 

Be the best Awards 

Congratulations to everyone who has received an 

award in the last few months (see page 27). It’s great 

to see so many positive examples and we look forward 

to announcing the annual winners in the next edition 

of The MaG. 

Charitable giving 

Thanks to those of you who continue to raise money 

for a whole host of charities and good causes, 

supported by match funding from the May Gurney 

Foundation (see page 21). 

Employee discount scheme 

We're delighted to announce the launch of our new 

shopping discount scheme for all employees (see 

page 26). 

We deliver smarter essential services for 24 million 

people across the UK; that’s a lot of work and a lot 

of people. You should be very proud of what you do, 

thank you for helping to keep the country running. 

Philip Fellowes-Prynne 

chief executive 

AUGUST 2011 KPIs 

We measure our business performance against key performance indicators (KPIs). 

7.4% 

Staff retention 

9.3% 

Operative retention 

GREEN - above or on target 

AMBER - just below target 

RED - below target

It’s time to 

‘Have your say’ 

You will know by now that we want 

May Gurney to be the Best place to 

work. A company where everyone 

works together, with openness, 

honesty and respect; where work is 

challenging, safe and enjoyable; 

where innovation and creativity is 

encouraged; where people are 

developed and recognised; and 

where everyone has a say. 

The annual ‘Have your say’ survey 

is a great opportunity for you to have 

your say, to let us know how you feel 

about your job, your manager and 

May Gurney. Your opinions are 

completely anonymous and will be 

used to help make improvements 

across the business. 

This year we have added four 

questions, one for each of our 

values, to help us better understand 

how we are living up to them. Your 

line manager should schedule time 

(it will only take 10 minutes) for you 

to complete the survey between 5 

and 14 October. 

The results will be published in 

the next issue of The MaG and on 

MaGnet. 

i 

If you have any questions ask your line 

manager or email the Have your say team: 

haveyoursay@maygurney.co.uk 

A new survey will measure 

our safety culture 

As well as the HYS survey some of you 

will also be asked to complete a Safety 

survey. This has been commissioned by 

the Health & Safety Laboratory to help 

us measure employees’ perceptions of 

health and safety at May Gurney. 

The survey will offer a unique 

insight into our safety culture and 

highlight our strengths and 

weaknesses, and how we can improve 

on these. It will also establish an 

external benchmark to measure our 

performance and improvements over 

time. 

The survey will be sent to a 

representative sample of employees, 

ensuring that each sector and level is 

targeted. The employee sample will be 

chosen by ORC International who are 

administering the survey on our behalf. 

i 

Karen Nicholson t: 01603 727417 

e: knicholson@maygurney.co.uk 

BREAKING NEWS 

Preferred bidder for 

new £126m contract 

On 21 September it was formally 

announced that we have been named 

preferred bidder for Cheshire West 

and Chester Council’s long-term 

waste and recycling contract valued 

at up to £126 million. 

The contract is for an initial 14 

years, with potential for a seven-year 

extension. Beginning in April 2012, 

it involves collecting waste and 

recycling from 147,000 households 

across Cheshire West and Chester 

(CWaC). We will carry more news 

about this very important new 

contract in the next edition of The 

MaG. 

Social media - a 

new opportunity 

Social media presents new 

opportunities for us to reach out to 

our employees, clients, customers 

and shareholders. It is impacting on 

how we find, evaluate, promote, 

recommend and share information 

and services, and gives us a platform 

to make our brand more accessible. 

It also presents exciting opportunities 

to converse with the wider community 

and seek their opinions, and is a great 

resource for recruitment. 

We have undergone pilot activity 

on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, 

with You Tube to follow shortly. We 

have more than 467 Twitter followers, 

104 on Facebook and 681 on 

LinkedIn. With the Twitter account 

automatically updating LinkedIn and 

Facebook, we are talking to more than 

1,000 people each week. So far it 

has been all one-way, with links to 

latest news and opinion pieces. 

However, with the number of 

followers growing we will begin to 

engage in conversations. 

Phase three will be a May Gurney 

YouTube channel where we will be 

showing ‘shorts’ of the work we do 

across the country. 

These media are in addition to our 

current marketing channels and are a 

great way to increase awareness of 

May Gurney and what we do - but 

more importantly it’s a great way to 

listen to and engage in conversations 

with our customers. 

Why not join in! 

MaG/AUTIMN2011/03

Off to a flyer! 

We’ve made a flying start to our new 

highways maintenance contract with 

Surrey County Council, having 

completed more than 100 resurfacing 

jobs covering more than 80 miles of 

road in just three months. 

The road resurfacing would cover 

more than 140 football pitches, which 

laid end to end would stretch a little 

further than the distance from London 

to Portsmouth. 

The work has also involved repairing 

potholes and patching up broken 

stretches of road before a new surface 

was laid. 

In May, the first full month of the 

new contract, we fixed more than 

2,500 potholes at a rate of around 600 

a week. 

The Surrey Highways team has also: 

• Attended more than 1,500 

emergency response calls 

• Repaired more than 7,000 priority 

jobs and 2,500 routine jobs 

• Completed more than 300 small 

schemes 

• Cleaned more than 35,000 gullies 

• Received more than 10,000 calls 

reporting problems directly from 

Surrey residents. 

The team is demonstrating our 

values by bringing a safety first 

approach to every job, improving the 

quality of work by getting the job fixed 

‘right first time’, and introducing Surrey 

RoadZone, a collaborative worksite to 

help share information, ideas and 

documents. 

Ian Lake, Surrey County Council's 

cabinet member for transport, said: 

“We're working incredibly hard to 

improve Surrey's roads and this century 

of resurfacing projects bears testament 

to that. 

“We know there's a lot more to do 

but I'm sure that over the coming 

months and years Surrey residents are 

going to see a big improvement in the 

standard of their roads.” 

Our £60m maintenance contract with 

Surrey County Council represents a 

£4.1m annual saving on the previous 

highways deal while demanding higher 

standards. Under the six-year deal, all 

potholes are made safe through a 

temporary repair within 24 hours of 

them being reported. A permanent 

repair will be made within 24 hours to 

28 days, depending on size etc. 

Let’s work together (more often) 

RAIL SERVICES/CROSS-COMPANY 

PROJECT TEAM PULLS TOGETHER 


i 

David Short • t: 01273 482851 

e: dshort@maygurney.co.uk 

HIGHWAY SERVICES/CENTURY OF JOBS 

COMPLETED IN JUST THREE MONTHS 

Working on behalf of First Group and 

First Capital Connect, we successfully 

completed a challenging project to 

design and build a carriage servicing 

platform at Hornsey in North London. 

A cross-company project team was 

pulled together, with Rail Services 

acting as principal contractor supported 

by May Gurney Steelwork and May 

Gurney M&E (Mechanical & Electrical). 

A challenging programme gave the 

project team 12 weeks in which to 

design, build and commission the new 

240m long twin track servicing facility, 

which was scheduled to open to service 

trains on 22 May, the day the summer 

timetable commenced. 

The works included: installation of 

250m of new plain line track; 

construction of a reinforced concrete 

platform; installation of new 25kV 

overhead line electrification; and 

installation of new lighting, water, power 

supply and sewerage systems. 

The project team had to contend with 

a number of constraints including a site 

heavily contaminated with fuel oil and 

asbestos, and working within a depot 

providing 24/7 servicing arrangements 

for all Great Northern and Thameslink 

commuter trains. To cap it all, a burst 

fire main leaked 1,000 litres of water 

per hour into the site for the first three 

weeks of the project. 

i 

Hannah Rock • t: 07766 028188 

e: hrock@maygurney.co.uk

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES/NEW SERVICE FOR 189,000 HOMES 

A fresh approach for Bristol 

Bristol City Council and May Gurney 

have signed a flagship contract worth 

around £14m a year under which we 

will deliver Bristol’s waste collection, 

street cleansing and winter 

maintenance services for the next seven 

years. 

The contract, which starts in 

November 2011, involves the collection 

of residual waste, organic (food and 

garden) waste and recycling from the 

city’s 189,000 households, as well as 

street cleansing and associated 

functions such as graffiti and fly-tip 

removal, and winter gritting. 

The contract saves around £2.5m of 

council tax payers’ money each year, 

making it a much more cost effective 

service with potential to make even 

We’ve completed a major milestone in 

the £2.5m British Waterways’ project 

to reconnect communities in East 

London, with the laying of a 10 tonne 

bridge over the River Lea in Bow. 

The project - known as Bow 

Riverside - comprises a footbridge, 

access ramp and a suspended steel 

walkway to give walkers and cyclists 

improved access to the Olympic Park. 

The new bridge was put in place by a 

floating 50 tonne crane on 3 June. 

The project reconnects the severed 

north/south Lea Valley Walk along the 

Lea Navigation beneath the A11 road 

bridge. It improves pedestrian and 

cycle access to the waterways, 

reconnects communities with DDA 

(Disability Discrimination Act) 

compliant access to an enhanced river 

further savings due to waste reduction. 

Councillor Gary Hopkins, cabinet 

member for strategic waste, said: “May 

Gurney are committed to waste 

reduction, they have a good track record 

in other parts of the UK and have made 

it clear they want to help us make 

Bristol one of the country’s most 

sustainable cities.” 

Philip Fellowes-Prynne, CEO, said: 

“We're delighted to be working in 

partnership with Bristol to provide a 

quality, efficient recycling and waste 

collection service to help the council to 

meet its ambitious recycling and 

financial targets. 

“Our focus is on working with Bristol 

to develop better waste collection 

strategies to ensure we reduce the 

Athletes’ foot (bridge) 

corridor, new destination and improved 

natural habitat. 

Although the project has been 

commissioned by British Waterways it 

is jointly funded by London Thames 

Gateway, Transport for London and 

British Waterways. 

Mark Blackwell, British Waterways’ 

amount of recyclates that end up in 

landfill, and extract the maximum value 

from recycled materials. We are 

encouraged by Bristol’s unique incentivised-based 

contract.” 

Councillor Hopkins added: “Our 

waste strategy sets out challenging 

targets for the city that require vision 

and determination to reach. We believe 

we’ve made major progress this year 

with contracts in place that make sure 

that within three years, we’ll have no 

untreated waste going to landfill and 

two mechanical biological treatment 

(MBT) facilities to deal with it instead.” 

i 

John Sharkey • t: 07976 763394 

e: jsharkey@maygurney.co.uk 

A Architect’s impression 

principal project manager, said: “The 

bridge will connect to a suspended 

pathway, essentially creating a ‘flyunder’ 

the busy road junction. It 

means pedestrians and cyclists no 

longer need to leave the towpath and 

will be able to enjoy an uninterrupted 

journey.” 

i 

Eddie Quinn • t: 07887 692560 

e: equinn@maygurney.co.uk 

Footpath re-opens 

A popular thoroughfare in Norwich has 

re-opened following resurfacing works 

by Ayton Products, on behalf of 

Norwich City Council. The footpath 

gives access to the medieval St 

Stephen’s Church and Church Yard. 

Peter Carroll, churchwarden, said: 

“Everyone connected with St Stephen’s 

is delighted with the surfacing which 

enhances this fine old church.” 

Expanding in Scotland 

We’ve unveiled 

plans to double 

turnover at Turriff 

by extending 

relationships with 

the company’s 

existing long-term clients. Talking to 

The Scotsman newspaper, Philip 

Fellowes-Prynne, CEO, said: “Before 

the acquisition, Turriff was looking at 

the high costs of installing an IT system 

and future capital requirements. We've 

removed those barriers and so now the 

Turriff team is focused on growth.” 

Fresh-faced website 

MGWSP has revamped its website to 

make it easier for the travelling public 

in Northamptonshire to plan their 

journeys, look up interesting facts, 

learn about MGWSP’s current projects 

and services and see what new work is 

planned for the future. The rebuild is 

designed to make the website more 

customer engaging, user friendly and 

interactive. 

May Gurney joins NJUG 

May Gurney has become a member of 

the NJUG (National Joint Utilities 

Group), the trade association for street 

works. NJUG promotes best practice, 

self regulation and a two-way 

relationship with Government and other 

relevant stakeholders. 

MaG/AUTUMN2011/05

Bridgend is tops for recycling 

As Bridgend’s weekly recycling scheme 

reached its first anniversary, more than 

half of the borough’s household waste 

is now being recycled. 

Bridgend County Borough Council 

(BCBC) and May Gurney introduced the 

new initiative in June 2010 and the 

borough is now the most improved area 

in Wales for recycling - having leapt 

from being the second worst Welsh 

local authority to being in the top five. 

Bridgend also has the highest recycling 

percentage for dry recyclates and food 

waste from the kerbside of any Welsh 

authority. 

The performance is thanks to the 

way residents have embraced the 

scheme, which enables them to recycle 

a range of items including food, 

plastics, cardboard and tins. It has also 

led to a huge drop in the amount of 

waste being thrown away, meaning the 

borough is also one of the top 

performing in terms of landfill 

diversion. 

Local resident Jan Stockham was 

dubious at first, but now says: 

Bonus for Britain's bathers 

Bathers on beaches including 

Bournemouth and Weston-super-Mare 

are able to find out if water quality has 

been compromised by storm water, 

thanks to monitoring equipment we’ve 

installed on behalf of Wessex Water. 

Water and sewerage companies 


“I thought all the different boxes 

seemed really complicated at first so I 

wasn’t sure how I would adapt to it. 

From throwing away nearly everything 

I’m now obsessed with recycling. I only 

put one small black bag out a month 

and I’ve really cut down on my 

household bills, especially food, after 

seeing how much I was wasting.” 

Councillor Mel Nott, BCBC leader, 

said: “We had some teething problems 

at the start but then introducing 

something of this scale, and which 

affects every single home in the 

borough, was always going to be a 

challenge. 

“I’m pleased to say that our 

residents really came through. They are 

recycling more waste more often and 

the feedback suggests that they have 

got used to the new system very 

quickly.” 

i 

Owain Griffiths • t: 07584 706858 

e: ogriffiths@maygurney.co.uk 

occasionally use emergency and 

combined sewer overflows (CSOs) 

during times of intense rainfall, to 

prevent flooding of property, highways 

and open spaces. Wessex Water is the 

first water company in the country to 

publish information that shows when 

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES/BRIDGEND IN TOP FIVE 

storm overflows have been in use. Water 

quality can be checked for any of the 

47 bathing waters in the Wessex Water 

region through a new facility on the 

company’s website. 

We were set a challenging 

programme to install and commission 

monitoring equipment at 122 CSOs 

within the Wessex Water areas before 

31 March. 

The works were completed ahead of 

schedule, without incident, to 

programme and under budget. Nick 

Smart from the Environment Agency 

congratulated the project team 

(pictured) on the quality of work carried 

out, and Rob Henderson, technical 

manager Wessex Water, said: “Given 

the relatively short timescale and the 

large scope of work, May Gurney's 

performance on these two schemes was 

tremendous and surpassed initial 

expectations, particularly since it 

involved work at well over 100 sites. 

“May Gurney's well-planned and 

professional approach, detailed survey 

work, excellent technical capability and 

good working relationships with the 

Wessex Water automation team were all 

crucial factors in the successful 

outcome of the project.” 

i 

Dave Bateman • t: 01395 232302 

e: dbateman@maygurney.co.uk

World-class system 

xL to R: Richard Smith, Steve Izatt, Darren Gladden, Paul Brown, Rob Booty, Ian Cox, James 

Hall, Tony Lambert, Duncan Appleby. 

INFORMATION SYSTEMS/OUTSTANDING EFFORT 

The Information Systems (IS) team at 

Trowse has successfully completed the 

largest IS project ever undertaken at 

May Gurney, which provides an IT 

infrastructure that enables us to meet 

our needs and expectations, and those 

of our clients, now and in the 

foreseeable future. 

Our internal team - James Hall, 

Duncan Appleby, Paul Brown, Darren 

Gladden, Steve Izatt, and Tony Lambert 

- has worked with an expert partner in 

the field of IT and data management, 

East Sussex County Council has 

awarded an extension to our highways 

maintenance contract for a further 

three years to August 2015. 

The contract to maintain East 

Sussex’s roads has been re-worked to 

include further improvements to the 

service and efficiency gains. We are 

working with the council to streamline 

the service using new technology and 

working practices to save money and 

boost efficiency. 

Councillor Carl Maynard, lead 

cabinet member for economy 

transport and environment, said: “By 

extending the contract with May 

Gurney, residents will see an 

improved and more modern highways 

service that costs significantly less 

money, delivers faster response times 

and results in visibly better roads. The 

contract will see closer working 

and our core IT infrastructure is now 

externally hosted in two data centres, 

rather than hosted at Trowse. 

Ian Cox, director of IS, said: “This 

has been an outstanding effort by all 

involved. It has taken more than 600 

man-days of effort by our team, 

including more than 100 man-days 

worked out of hours. 

“As a result of this effort we have 

successfully migrated all of our core 

infrastructure to two external data 

centres without any major incidents. 

Highways contract extended 

between us and May Gurney and a 

restructuring will avoid any work 

being duplicated. 

“Central to our efficiency savings 

will be better use of technology. We 

will install a control hub to plan and 

manage work, create a full asset 

inventory and make the best use of 

our asset management system and 

roll out handheld devices for use on 

site. The modernisation of the service 

and restructuring will cut paperwork 

and improve efficiency.” 

Gary Mills, managing director 

Highways Services, added: “We are 

delighted to have been awarded the 

extension to this important East 

Sussex contract. We look forward to 

building on our successes and 

helping them deliver improved service 

and operational efficiency.” 

“The MGConnect TM technology 

platform is now built on the best 

available infrastructure and is hosted in 

a data centre that rivals anything 

worldwide.” 

The system has been built to enable 

us to grow to a £1bn company, while at 

the same time reducing our annual 

hardware replacement and hosting 

costs by more than £400,000. 

The ‘virtualised platform’ we are 

using produces an annual carbon 

saving of 150 tonnes and our IT 

infrastructure is now housed in carbon 

neutral data centres, our core IT 

operations are therefore carbon neutral. 

Ian added: “This robust, resilient 

system will meet the additional 

demands that we and our clients will 

place on it going forward, and by doing 

so support the growth of the business. 

“For our clients it will provide greater 

data security and enable us to meet 

their expectations, however complex. 

“For our employees the system 

provides greater availability and should 

eradicate down time, as a second data 

centre automatically kicks in if the first 

one goes down.” 

i 

i 

Rob Booty • t: 01603 727267 

e: RBooty@maygurney.co.uk 

David Short • t: 01273 482851 

e: dshort@maygurney.co.uk 

Parking review praised 

MGWSP has been praised by 

Northamptonshire County Council for 

completing the task of reviewing 

parking restrictions across the whole of 

East Northamptonshire in just 15 

weeks. The survey picked up the 

condition of the lining and signing and 

ensured that they were to the correct 

standard and regulations. 

Access for all 

We successfully completed a project to 

provide step free access to Haymarket 

Station, Scotland’s third busiest 

railway station, located at the heart of 

Edinburgh’s financial district. The 

works, carried out for First Scot Rail, 

comprised construction and 

installation of two steel framed, fully 

clad lift shafts and associated civils 

works. 

Top recyclers 

North Somerset Council remains on 

course to be named the top unitary 

authority for recycling based on recent 

national statistics. The improved 

recycling performance has produced 

budget savings for the council of 

around £500,000 in 2010/11, and a 

budget reduction of approaching £1m 

has been approved for 2011/12. The 

50% recycling barrier for 2010/11 has 

been broken and there is potential to 

reach 55%+ by the end of 2011/12. 

HOST 

launch 

We are one of 

a select few 

companies that will take part in a trial 

of a new programme called HOST 

(Hydrogen On Site Trial). This is 

designed as a first step in the creation 

of a hydrogen infrastructure in the UK 

and is perfectly suited to fleets such as 

ours that work out of central bases and 

return at the end of the day. 

Representatives from Plant and 

Transport were among the 300 people 

who attended the launch event at 

London Stansted Airport. 

MaG/AUTUMN2011/07

West Oxfordshire recycling 

rate doubled in six months 

The recycling rate in West Oxfordshire 

almost doubled in just six months after 

we introduced a new waste and 

recycling service at the end of 

November 2010. 

Before the new service was 

introduced, West Oxfordshire's 

recycling rate stood at 34%, while the 

figures for April 2011 show that 66% 

of waste was diverted from landfill. And 

to make it possible for residents to 

recycle even more we’ve added three 

more vehicles to the recycling fleet. 

Councillor David Harvey said: “The 

council hoped that the 34% recycling 

rate would be doubled within the first 

year of the new service. We knew that 

this was an ambitious and demanding 

target, so we are absolutely delighted 

that this has almost happened within 

the first few months. Residents in West 

Oxfordshire have responded extremely 

positively to the new service and we are 

very grateful to them - this impressive 

increase would not have been possible 

without their fantastic support.” 

Craig Cutajar, contract manager, 

added: "We're very pleased to have 

helped with increasing recycling in 

Working in partnership with Bure Valley 

Recycling, the team delivering the 

Anglian Water RMDS (Repair & 

Maintenance Development Services) 

and Metering contract has made a step 

change in its operations by recycling 

80% of excavated materials to create 

backfill material. 

The conventional method of 

excavating, as previously used, involved 

removing the material from site to the 

tip and importing GSB (Granular Sub 

Base) Type 1 stone to backfill 

excavations. This was labour intensive, 

expensive and had a significant 

negative impact on our carbon 

footprint. 

Richard Flintham, RMDS framework 

manager, and Jason Pettit, operations 

manager, explained: “Under the new 

process we clear excavated material 

from site in the normal way, but then 

West Oxfordshire and would like to 

thank local people for their support.” 

The three additional recycling trucks 

joined West Oxfordshire’s waste 

collection fleet at the end of July. 

Councillor Harvey added: “Although 

the new trucks are an additional cost, 

don’t have to send our grab lorries on 

50-mile round trips to the tip, and then 

back to the depot to collect Type 1 

stone. 

“Instead, we clear the site and the 

excavated material is taken to our local 

depot where it is stored in a large rolling 

skip. Bure Valley Recycling come to the 

depot and recycle the material through 

a mobile crusher and add the SMR, and 

the material is then stored for reuse. 

When a lorry comes to the depot to 

offload excavated material, it collects a 

full load of SMR to use as backfill on 

the various sites. 

“Over the next six months our goal is 

to recycle 100% of excavated material, 

and to share this best practice with 

colleagues across May Gurney for 

implementation where practical.” 

Bure Valley Recycling has been 

involved in this project from the outset, 

it is a small investment compared with 

income generated by higher recycling 

rates and less being spent on hefty 

landfill charges.” 

The new service gives residents more 

opportunities to recycle and reduce the 

amount of waste sent to landfill. In 

and has had the material approved and 

certified with the highway authorities in 

Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex. 

addition to the long-term environmental 

benefits, it will also save the council 

more than £500,000 a year, which will 

help it to keep Council Tax bills low for 

residents. 

Step change delivers big benefits 


ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES/TARGET REACHED IN RAPID TIME 

i 

i 

John Norton • e: jnorton@maygurney.co.uk 

Dave Bateman • t: 01395 232302 

e: dbateman@maygurney.co.uk

RAIL SERVICES/155-YEAR-OLD STRUCTURE REBUILT 

On time and under budget 

Arnside Viaduct reopened on schedule 

on 18 July after a 16-week closure 

during which we completely rebuilt the 

deck of the 155-year-old structure on 

behalf of Network Rail. 

Originally constructed in 1856, the 

viaduct is a 51-span structure carrying 

the Carnforth and Whitehaven line over 

the estuary of the River Kent. The 

structure had deteriorated over the 

years, resulting in its load capacity 

being reduced and a speed restriction 

enforced. The original budget for the 

project was £12m but efficiencies 

drove the final cost down to £10.7m. 

Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s route 

director, explained that passengers are 

now reaping the benefits of the work: 

“The first thing regular passengers will 

notice is how quiet the ride is 

compared with before. We have taken 

away the old jointed track and replaced 

A year into our contract to manage 

Household Waste and Recycling 

Centres (HWRCs) in North Yorkshire, 

customer satisfaction is at an all time 

high. 

The customer satisfaction survey for 

May 2011 recorded 100% 

satisfaction. While this is the first time 

the survey has recorded 100% 

satisfaction, for the past six months 

the figure has been more than 90%. 

One member of the public said: 

“This site is a credit to the operators 

and a valuable amenity for local 

it with continuous rails. Not only is this 

quieter but it also makes the ride over 

the viaduct a lot smoother. In due 

course we will be doubling the speed of 

trains over the viaduct which could lead 

to reduced journey times.” 

Arnside Parish Council expressed its 

appreciation for the way the work had 

been carried out, saying: “It has been 

on time with a minimum of mess and 

disruption to the village, for which we 

are grateful.” 

Site compounds were set up at 

either end of the viaduct, with old 

material taken away in one direction 

and the new decks brought in from the 

other. Working on one line at a time, 

the railway tracks were removed to 

expose the viaduct decks, which were 

cut into sections and then lifted out by 

special road/rail machines. 

Special gantry cranes were then 

100% customer satisfaction 

people. It is kept clean, safe, with 

friendly assistance if required.” 

Another added: “The staff at the 

site are very helpful and prepared to 

come to your help at the drop of a hat 

erected which moved along the viaduct 

lifting the new deck units into position 

before base plates were bolted in place 

to take the new continuously welded 

track. 

The 30 mph speed restriction is due 

to be removed after a settling in period, 

and the speed of trains over the viaduct 

is expected to be increased to 60 mph 

in the New Year. 

i 

which is much appreciated by this 

pensioner!” 

Sarah Chapman, regional 

operations director, said: “These 

results are fantastic news for us and 

our client – and a great tribute to the 

site teams. We work extremely hard to 

provide a professional, courteous and 

helpful service and these results 

confirm that the public appreciate 

what we are doing.” 

i 

Hannah Rock • t: 07766 028188 

e: hrock@maygurney.co.uk 

John Norton • e: jnorton@maygurney.co.uk 

HWRC re-opens 

A major milestone in Torbay’s recycling 

programme was celebrated on 24 June 

with the re-opening of the household 

waste recycling centre (HWRC) near 

Paignton. The HWRC was reopened by 

councillor David Thomas, Torbay's 

deputy mayor, Giles Chichester, South 

West England MEP, Philip Fellowes- 

Prynne, May Gurney CEO and Dr Sarah 

Woolaston, MP for Totnes. The centre 

is run by TOR2 and has undergone a 

£500,000 transformation. 

MG on ‘Witney TV’ 

A local TV 

channel, Witney 

TV, is making a 

d o c u m e n t a r y 

series about 

our recycling 

services in West Oxfordshire. The aim 

is to educate residents about how to 

present recycling materials and to look 

at what happens to it after it is 

collected, and what it gets recycled 

into. The programmes will be shown in 

Sept/Oct 2011. 

Corby transformed 

MGWSP has 

completed the 

transformation of 

George Street in 

Corby, a major 

scheme which is 

part of the wider regeneration of the 

town. The project has been carried out 

on behalf of Northamptonshire County 

Council and Corby Borough Council, 

through the North Northants 

Development Company. 

Green idea 

blossoms 

A board game about 

recycling, designed by 

pupils at an 

Oxfordshire primary 

school, has been 

produced with support from May 

Gurney. Pupils from the Batt School in 

Witney beat off competition from other 

schools to win the Oxfordshire 

Education Business Partnership’s 

Primary Enterprise Challenge. We 

funded a prototype of the ‘Recycle Me’ 

board game. 

MaG/AUTUMN2011/09

Proud to be part of the 

community effort 

Our street cleansing teams were proud 

to play their part in the community 

effort to clear up after the riots in the 

London Borough of Ealing. The May 

Gurney crews teamed up with 

volunteers from the local community to 

instigate a big clean up in the early 

hours of Tuesday 9 August. 

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, Ealing 

Council cabinet member for 

Environment & Transport, said: “I 

would like to thank your team for the 

excellent work carried out in cleaning 

up Ealing today. I would be grateful if 

you could pass on our sincere thanks 

to everyone who pitched in to ensure 

Ealing returned to some level of 

normality after the disturbing riots and 

vandalism. You responded quickly and 

mobilised the 'troops' to deal with the 

challenge at hand.” 

Martin Smith, chief executive of 

Ealing Council, added: “When I walked 

around Ealing town centre at 6.30am 

it was not only already remarkably 

clean and free of debris but the busy 

presence of men and machines greatly 

assisted the feeling of a prompt return 

to normality.” 

Hempnall gangs impress 

The gangs who carried out 

improvement and resurfacing works in 

Hempnall in Norfolk have been praised 

by a local couple. 

Amanda and Blair Brown said: “We 

would just like to say 'thank you' to all 

of the construction and road 

improvement staff who completed the 


work along the Street at Hempnall. 

Everyone worked so well and efficiently 

and they were all friendly, polite and 

helpful. Please do pass on our good 

wishes to all concerned and thanks for 

the work outside our property.” 

The names of the gang members 

are: Gary Waterson, Steve Gigli, 

Richard Hagger, Jason Brister, Trevor 

Brown, Melvin Murrell, Rob Skinner, 

Roger Eglen, Wayne Gilding, Mark 

Leeder, Ian Howes, Mark Mullins, Ben 

Howard, Mat King, Basil Woolston, 

Shaun (Archie) Elvin, Brian Woods, 

Rod Fuller, David Davis, Fred Atkins 

and Vernon Dack. 

Acclaim from 

Anglian Water 

Charlotte Munford, Anglian Water 

contract delivery manager, has 

congratulated Alan Wells (pictured), a 

plumber on the Anglian Water metering 

contract, for an ‘excellent’ health and 

safety audit in July. She said: “I was 

impressed by Mr Wells, not only on a 

health and safety level but also how he 

conducted himself with the customer 

on his WEMs visit.”

Big thanks to Bob and Ray 

Two of TOR2’s expert gardeners, Bob 

Read and Ray McGregor-Rennie, have 

received a big thank you for the part 

they’ve played in helping Young’s 

Park retain its Green Flag Award for a 

second year (see page 17). 

Speaking on behalf of Young’s 

Park People, the community group 

that helps maintain Young’s Park, 

Ruth Gorman said: “Bob and Ray 

take a pride in their work and keep 

1 

1 

To the rescue! 

Peter, a senior general foreman 

1 3 

Anthony Heffernan and Phillip 

Bowman, who work in the Telco 

maintenance team for the Midlands 

region, sprang into action after three 

females were involved in a road traffic 

collision on the M6. The ladies 

escaped from the car after it 

overturned, but suffered head wounds 

and minor cuts and bruises. The May 

Gurney duo was first on the scene 

and applied bandages and a sling 

before the emergency services 

arrived. Anthony and Phillip were 

later thanked by the police and 

victims for their quick thinking. 

2 Battling blazes 

Peter Harrod has been praised 

by Network Rail for responding to a 

call for help in dealing with a 

trackside fire. 

Young’s Park looking really good. 

Without their hard work the 

park would not have achieved Green 

Flag status for the second year 

running. 

“We really appreciate the advice 

and recommendations which they are 

always willing to offer and know that 

we are very fortunate to have two 

such dedicated gardeners tending 

Young's Park.” 

2 

with Rail Services, said: “When I 

arrived at the fire site there were 

approximately 20 sleepers on fire. 

Julie (a Network Rail employee) 

asked if I could help her extinguish 

the fire. I did an assessment on the 

situation and believed that I could 

help with little personal risk and 

without compromising the Network 

Rail infrastructure. 

“I arranged for a water bowser to 

be towed to the fire location from our 

site compound and Julie and I 

doused the fire. Three other Network 

Rail employees arrived to assist us 

and after about 45 minutes we 

managed to put the fire out.” 

Peter Jones, Group Head of Safety, 

Health & Environment, described 

these actions as “another example of 

an employee living our values”. 

Rising to the challenge 

Our recycling teams in Walsall have 

been working extra hard and in 

challenging circumstances following a 

fire at the transfer station in Fryers Road 

on 27 June. 

The site was closed as a result of the 

fire which resulted in more materials 

going through the Merchants Way site, 

putting the team there under greater 

pressure. 

Fryers Road has since re-opened and 

at the time of writing repair works are 

A L to R: Dean Bowen, Jason Barham, Jonathan Hawkins, Shaun Watkinson, Anthony Gaughan, 

Tim Mills, Wayne Bowen, Mick Watkins, Ade Evans & Lee Carr. 

HCIP team impresses 

The East Sussex highways 

capital improvement programme 

(HCIP) team has received a string of 

compliments from local residents. 

The HCIP is tasked with delivering 

high quality work while maximising 

efficiencies and savings on each 

scheme. The two-year programme 

aims to re-surface 20% of the 

county’s main road network. 

Patricia Gray, a Crowborough 

resident, said: “I would like to thank 

everybody who was involved in this 

project, the reduction in noise has 

been amazing and it is a good road to 

drive on now.” 

Douglass Bines, a resident from 

Bexhill, said: “May I congratulate all 

concerned on the manner in which 

this work was carried out, and the 

courtesy shown to local residents. I 

4 

expected to be completed by the end of 

August. In the meantime, co-mingled 

collections are being stored in outside 

bays and the team is working extra hard 

to ensure that there are no issues. 

Vicky Spink, assistant manager in 

Walsall, said: “Throughout this difficult 

time everyone has worked as a team and 

supported each other by doing 

everything required to get the job done 

safely and to the high standard that is 

expected of them.” 

do not think you can improve upon 

the way you carried out this work.” 

4 

Expectations 

‘more than met’ 

An engineering service manager from 

the National Express train operating 

company has praised the team 

responsible for carrying out a ‘quality 

repair’ on a fuel apron gulley, on 

behalf of Anglian Water. 

The engineer, P.J. Browne, said: 

“The artisans were courteous, skilled 

and communicated effectively whilst 

on site in interests of safety. The 

selected product has more than met 

my expectations and the May Gurney 

staff were, as ever, a pleasure to work 

with.” 

Pictured L to R: Steve Kerry, Rob 

Frost & Neil Scholes (supervisor). 

MaG/AUTUMN2011/11 

3

The ‘ambassadors’ 

The team responsible for carrying out 

regular maintenance and safety checks 

at South West Water’s methanol 

storage and dosing plants has been 

praised for their ‘sterling work’. 

Methanol is a hydrocarbon 

compound which is both toxic and 

highly flammable. The appropriate PPE 

and tools are essential while carrying 

out maintenance operations within the 

methanol dosing compounds. 

May Gurney has been looking after 

the two plants at Ashford in North 

Devon and Newham in Cornwall for 

more than four years. Earlier this year 

the team comprising Gary Jones, Paul 

Marlborough, Martin Yardley, Stuart 

Pace-Lane and Lee James undertook 

an extensive overhaul of both plants. 

This involved removing all methanol to 

allow gas free certificates to be issued 

by South West Water. 

Shayne Fielding, South West Water’s 

efficiency manager, said: “Due to the 

5 6 

5 ‘Above and beyond’ 

A MGWSP crew played an 

important part in dealing with an 

incident after a HGV carrying a large 

quantity of extremely hazardous 

chemicals overturned and crashed 

through a central reservation on the 

A4500 near Harpole in Northamptonshire. 

The team assisted the police and 

fire and rescue services throughout 

the nine-hour incident which started 

in the early hours of a Wednesday 

morning. Their role included placing a 

road closure, manning the gates, 

organising and assisting with waste 

disposal, and making safe damaged 

street lighting. 

Leo Plant, MGWSP area manager, 

said: “This is all in a day's work for the 

guys but in my opinion many of them 

went above and beyond. They dealt 

with difficult circumstances and irate 

drivers in a professional manner.” 

The out of hours team comprised: 

Stuart Mann, John Britten, James Kay, 


very volatile nature of methanol and the 

stringent rule surrounding this type of 

work, I feel the May Gurney team, led 

by Gary Jones, warrant special thanks 

from South West Water. 

“They have shown professionalism 

and delivered initiatives at an 

extremely satisfactory level. These five 

individuals are ambassadors for May 

Gurney and should be recognised for 

their work.” 

Jez Collins, James Price, Richard 

Malyszewicz, Andy Pettis, Martin 

Farrell, Ian Kitchen, Trevor Gray, and 

Dan Boyer. 

6 

Meadow compliments 

spread like wildflower 

Visitors to the new wildflower meadow 

at Armada Park in Torquay have been 

full of praise for TOR2 gardener Laura 

Gough, who has grown the meadow as 

a project for her NVQ3 qualification. 

Laura’s creativity and gardening 

skills have made an impression on 

those visiting the meadow, with a 

string of compliments through the 

local press and direct to TOR2. 

Eileen Salloway, from Torquay, said: 

“The meadow is a joy to behold and 

everyone who sees it loves it. It is 

giving so much pleasure at such little 

cost. Congratulations and a very big 

‘thank you’ to those who planned and 

created it.” 

Joan Muzumdar added: “Whoever 

was responsible for this planting is to 

Councillor ‘amazed’ by 

traffic light team 

A Norwich councillor was ‘amazed’ 

when a traffic signal, knocked down 

following a road traffic accident, was 

replaced by the time he went past later 

in the day. 

Councillor James Bremner’s praise 

was reiterated by Graham Samways, 

senior engineer for Norfolk County 

Council, who pointed out that the 

traffic lights had not only been 

repaired, but also upgraded. 

Councillor Bremner said: “I saw it 

(the damaged signal) at about 9.15am. 

I went past later that day and was 

amazed to see that the new traffic light 

was in and working. That must deserve 

some sort of praise.” 

Graham Samways added: “I would 

like to add my thanks and acknowledge 

the excellent response. Please pass my 

thanks on to all those involved - a great 

result.” 

7 

be congratulated. I wish we had more 

like this around Torbay.” 

7 Shock for recycling team 

One of our recycling crews came 

to the rescue after an elderly woman 

lost control of her car and crashed into 

their recycling truck. Driver Tyrone 

Smith, who was in the cab at the time 

of the collision, came to the lady’s 

assistance with help from a passing 

nurse. Meanwhile Rafel Gesiewski, 

recycling operative, directed the traffic 

until the emergency services arrived 

on the scene. Fortunately, the driver 

was only shaken up by the incident 

and was taken to hospital for a 

check-up. 

8 Residents appreciate NSP 

Norfolk Strategic Partnership 

(NSP) gangs carrying out resurfacing 

in two areas of the county have been 

praised by local residents. 

In a letter to Great Yarmouth 

Borough Council, Mr Fiddy praised the 

n L to R: Mark Davidson, Owen Marriot and 

Martin Norman. 

8 

‘sterling work’ of the gang responsible 

for resurfacing the road near his home 

in Caister on Sea, Norfolk. 

Mr Fiddy said: “I would like to 

express my appreciation for the road 

resurfacing work taking place in my 

area. The finished result is very 

pleasing to the eye. The workmen were 

well aware of the necessity of local 

traffic needing access to their 

properties, and promptly stopped work 

and allowed them to proceed. The 

work was carried out efficiently and 

the contractors cleaned up as they 

went along. This area is now tidier and 

the finished scheme gives a clean 

appearance to the estate.” 

Ben Du Brow, chairman of 

Framingham Pigot Parish Council, 

complimented the ‘slick team’ 

working on a local road, saying: 

“Congratulations on your very slick 

team who were doing the road when I 

walked by; they were extremely affable 

and very efficient.”

Health and 

safety matters 

Health and safety is a key focus at May Gurney 

and we want to make sure everyone goes home 

safe at the end of the day. Here’s a rapid round 

up of recent progress and new initiatives to help 

us deliver on this commitment. 

A new appointment 

Peter Jones (left) has been 

appointed to the position of 

Group head of safety, health 

& environment. Peter 

previously worked as the 

SHEA manager for Rail and 

Facility Services and brings 

a wealth of experience to 

his new post. 

Peter’s role is to ensure that the business is 

living and breathing our new management system, 

which includes the Group Business Assurance 

Manual (GBAM) and Group Standard Operating 

Procedures (GSOPs) and in particular our new 

health and safety GSOPs. 

Peter is responsible for the implementation and 

management of the audit function which will 

review all operational areas of the business and 

produce actions plans where gaps or deficiencies 

are found, as well as providing advice and support 

to make improvements where necessary. 

Peter also has a clear remit to engage with 

stakeholders, both internally and externally, so 

that we remain leaders for health and safety in the 

As previously reported in The MaG, we're working 

in partnership with Health Management Limited 

(HML) to roll out a fully inclusive health screening 

and wellbeing programme across the Group. 

The first occupational health screenings took 

place at the end of July in Manby, Lincolnshire, 

for the Highway Services' staff and operatives 

based there. 

The mobile health unit enabled the three 

occupational health nurses to perform hearing 

tests in a quiet environment to ensure that the 

best results were achieved. 

More than 40 operatives underwent health 

screening for various work related issues such as 

hearing, skin tests and HAVS (hand and arm 

vibration syndrome), during the two days that 

sectors where we operate. 

GBAM and GSOPs 

Since the last issue of The MaG there have been 

numerous briefings and awareness sessions 

around the Group to explain what the GBAM and 

GSOPs are, and where they can be found (see 

front page of MaGnet). 

The sectors are now producing sector specific 

procedures (SSOPs) for any activities they 

undertake not covered by GSOPs. These will be 

finalised and briefed out in the near future and 

you may be asked to assist in their production. 

Philip Fellowes-Prynne, chief executive said: 

“The GBAM and GSOPs are vital tools to help us 

achieve our vision. They are the basics that need 

to be embedded across the Group to enable us to 

deliver best customer service, best performance 

and best place to work.” 

Safe Systems of Work (SSoW) 

It is important that we provide information on the 

risks and hazards associated with our activities, 

and the necessary controls to carry out the work 

safely. 

SSoW are the next step in our plan to improve 

health and safety following the implementation 

and roll out of the GBAM and GSOPs. Aimed at 

our front-line operations, these easy-to-use 

reference tools detail the hazards and main risks 

associated with an activity, and the methodology 

HML were on site. Most also opted to have a 

wellbeing assessment to check their general 

health with tests including BMI, cholesterol and 

blood pressure. 

Our new GSOPs for SHEA and 

our new occupational health 

programme will ensure that we are 

market leading in the delivery of 

our services, providing a healthy, 

safe and sustainable environment. 

The Safe Systems of Work 

currently being developed by the 

SHEA team will ensure that all 

personnel, in particular our frontline 

teams, are equipped with the 

best information to undertake 

their works safely and with due 

regard to our environment. The 

SSoW will be out for consultation 

in late October 2011, with a 

commitment to implementing 

them Group-wide in the New Year. 

Gerry Duffy, Group SHEA director 

to carry out that activity safely. The topics 

covered include: 

• Main hazards associated with the works 

• Main risks associated with the works 

• PPE that must be worn 

• Method of doing the work safely 

• Qualifications/training you must have 

• What should be done in an emergency 

• Occupational health considerations 

• Protection of the environment 

• Important things to remember 

We are currently producing SSoW for our core 

activities, and each sector is producing sectorspecific 

ones. These will be available in hard copy 

and electronic format for use on site as a regular 

reference tool. The core SSoW will be available 

before the end of the year. 

Health screening programme gets underway 

Michelle Page, HR advisor for Lincolnshire 

Highways, said: “The OH nurses offered good 

advice and guidance to everyone they saw. I 

underwent the optional wellbeing assessment and 

was pleased with how quick and easy the tests 

were.” 

The HML mobile unit has travelled around 

Lincolnshire visiting depots in Boston, Bourne 

and Sturton. The screenings will continue in the 

South West with Waterways and Utility Services' 

employees. 

i 

To find out more visit the OH page on MaGnet (click on the 

icon on the front page). There's also a link to the Health 

Matters website where you can find information about topics 

such as healthy living, health at work and back pain. 

http://healthmanagement.org.uk/healthmatters/home/maygurney.aspx 

MaG/AUTUMN2011/13

Best customer 

service 

Waterways and Utility Services are in the 

process of launching a new Customer 

Service Charter. The MaG finds out more. 

14/MAG/AUTUMN2011 

While customer service has always been important to May Gurney and our clients, an increasing focus 

on this issue by regulators, and the ever-increasing expectations of customers, have really raised its 

profile. That’s why our new Customer Service Charter is both important and very timely. 

The man behind the Charter is Ben Bax, national customer & client services manager (pictured), who 

said: “The new Best Customer Service Charter is about treating the whole community as our customer; 

providing pro-active customer management in order to minimise the impact of the work we do is central 

to our customer service strategy. 

“The Charter formalises our commitment to customer service and recognises that as individuals we 

all have a responsibility to deliver excellent customer service with pride.” 

The Charter will be presented to all 1,700 Waterways and Utility Services employees, from Penzance 

to Peterhead, and includes an individual ‘pledge’ for each of them to sign to formalise their commitment 

to it. 

To date the Charter has been introduced to almost 450 employees including teams in the South West 

from H5O Capitol and MEICA Work streams, Rehab and Developer Services teams. It has also been 

unveiled to the Senior Management Team in Manchester, and teams working for British Waterways 

(Chorley), Severn Trent Sewer Services (Mansfield and Derby), Inspections & Testing (Manchester), 

Wessex Water, Western Power Distribution (Devon & Cornwall), as well as IWDS and metering teams. 

Ben concludes: “It’s not mandatory for 

employees to sign the Charter but once people 

understand the issues and how important 

it is that everybody takes responsibility for 

delivering customer service, they are very happy 

to volunteer their commitment. It’s great to see 

such buy in.” 

What the Charter says: 

• I will approach every job with a ‘right first time every time’ attitude 

• I will always be well presented and dressed in the correct branded 

work-wear 

• My vehicle will always be as clean as possible inside and out, with no 

personalisation visible to the public 

• I will always drive courteously and will never react aggressively to another 

road user 

• I will be friendly, courteous and professional at all times and I will go out 

of my way to help Customers and members of the community 

• Upon arrival on site, I will introduce myself to the Customer and explain 

what I will be doing. I will also explain what I have done and what will 

happen next, before I leave site 

• I will always escalate Customer’s issues if I can’t resolve them myself 

• I will never block access to properties or enter private property without 

permission from the owner first, no matter how long or short a time I plan 

to be there 

• I will take responsibility to stop and think about whom my work is going 

to impact upon and take steps to minimise disruption of any sort. I will 

approach every job as if it were my home and my family being affected 

by the work 

• My working site will always be safe and tidy with all of the correct 

signage, lighting and guarding in place 

• When leaving the site, I will ensure that all debris and litter is cleared 

away 

• I will always take ownership of commitments I make to Customers 

• Above all, I want Customers and members of the public to be impressed 

by the work I do and delighted by the way I approach my job

Delivering against the charter 

While the Customer Service Charter may be new, there is nothing new about 

Waterways and Utility Services teams delivering ‘Best customer service’ - as 

these testimonials prove. 

‘Polite’, ‘friendly’, ‘helpful’ 

Local residents praised the team responsible for installing new water pipes 

in the village of Feniton in Devon. Working on behalf of South West Water, 

we completed the work with minimum interruption to householders and the 

public. 

n L to R: Neil Wooldridge, Paul Main, Kevin Carhart, Barry Phillips, Nathan Keeps, Darren Hawken, 

Kevin Cobbledick, Mike Child & Ray Haffron. 

Mr Neville Marchent said: “The men working here were very polite, very 

friendly and kept us well informed.” 

Another local resident, David Rawding, added: “I would like to commend 

you on the works carried out in the area. The contractors portrayed concern 

and respect for the public, causing minimal disruption to their daily activities. 

The employees were most co-operative and went out of their way to be 

helpful. Credit where credit is due - thanks to all concerned for their full cooperation.” 

A sincere ‘thank you’ 

Sue and Chris Huke were overjoyed with 

the way Gary Packer and Steve May fixed 

the problem of no running water in their 

home. 

The couple said: “Your team ran a 

temporary pipe to give us constant water 

until we had a new water pipe laid. We would be most grateful if you could 

pass on to Gary and Steve our sincere thanks, it’s very hard to imagine how 

difficult life would have been without any running water (from 17/6/11 to 

4/7/11). 

“In today’s climate when customer service could be much improved, it’s 

really nice to write a letter that shows there are people that care and do their 

utmost to help and ensure the good reputation of your company.” 

Manhole team shows consideration 

Mark Whiting (left in pic) and Andy Barker received 

high praise when a job to replace a manhole cover in 

a garden at a property in Kessingland in Norfolk 

turned out to be more complex than first thought. 

Working on behalf of Anglian Water, the pair carried 

out a quick repair to ensure that the down pipe was 

working correctly and the customer praised them for 

‘going the extra mile’. 

Heron heroes 

Residents in Benwick, Cambridgeshire, 

praised Ian Poole and Martin Wilmott for their 

‘fantastic service’ while moving water meters 

underground. 

Speaking on behalf of the residents, Pat 

Cuthburt said: “We are extremely grateful for 

the fantastic service we have received. The work was carried out very quickly, 

efficiently and with great care. Please pass on our thanks to all concerned.” 

‘Wonderful job’ in Plymouth 

A customer thanked Ross Hambley and Brad 

Mielle for the ‘wonderful job’ they did while 

working on his property. Ross and Brad are 

based at our Crownhill depot in Plymouth and 

work on our South West Water contract. Mr P. 

Kingstone said he was “amazed that 

everything was left so clean and tidy”. 

‘Fantastic job’ in Essex 

Our team working in Rainham in Essex on behalf 

of Essex & Suffolk Water made a very good 

impression on one local resident. 

Ruth Moreline wrote in to say: “I am writing to 

say a big thank you and well done! Your workers were most courteous and 

worked extremely hard. When I walked along the avenue they paused and 

ensured that I could walk past. The pedestrian walkways were clearly marked 

and well maintained during work, never putting pedestrians or road users at 

risk. The pavement areas were left in better repair than they were before work 

took place. Please forward my thanks and congratulations to your team who 

have done a fantastic job.” 

Flood team goes the extra mile 

A caretaker praised the team responsible for 

dealing with a flood at the property he looks 

after in Derbyshire. 

Kay Baker and Martin Waldron responded 

immediately and made arrangements for 

supply chain partner R&K Contractors & 

Consultants to carry out the works. 

Gary Rand, the caretaker, said: “Thank you and your team for the excellent 

service you provided. Everyone was pleasant, approachable, and professional. 

I was extremely impressed that two guys waited for me to visit the site to 

ensure that I was happy with the work. Bearing in mind it was a Friday 

afternoon, most contractors would have made a run for it. Thank you once 

again for your excellent and professional service.” 

No charge for professionalism 

When Terry Franks and Ben Ashley fixed Paul and Dawn 

Doble’s leaking tap and water pipe their manner impressed 

the couple, who said: “We would like to thank them - it’s 

good to know there are still some companies that work in a 

professional way, with kind and helpful staff.” 

iDave Bateman • t: 01395 232302 • e:dbateman@maygurney.co.uk 

MAG/AUTUMN2011/15

GMaking an impact 

The May Gurney 

Foundation won the 

Community Impact 

Award in the Business 

in the Community 

(BITC) East of 

England 2011 

Awards. Mike Brophy, 

regional director for 

BITC, said: “I 

congratulate May Gurney on their award. There 

is a significant amount of business-community 

engagement happening across the region and 

the work that May Gurney undertakes is a good 

example.” 

Being the be 

It’s been a bumper couple of months on the awards front with a number of wins from across 

the business. Here’s a quick fire round-up of what we’ve won. 

n Edd (centre) received his award from Geoff Miller (right), ex England cricketer and now a selector for the England team. 

nAnother award-winning apprentice 


nMajor Commendation in BCE Awards 

May Gurney was one of only 12 companies to be recognised in the 2011 Business Commitment to the 

Environment (BCE) Environmental Leadership Awards, which were presented in London on 15 June. 

We received a Major Commendation for the Avon Water Treatment Works Support Scheme, carried out 

on behalf of South West Water and in partnership with Hyder Consulting (designer). 

Two May Gurney apprentices were nominated in the 2011 National Construction College Awards, with 

Edd Bell (centre in pic) ultimately being named Highways Maintenance Apprentice of the Year. Edd and 

Ashley Wren, who both work on our highways maintenance contract with Essex County Council, were two 

of only three nominees. Edd is the fourth May Gurney apprentice in the past seven years to win a top 

award at the National Construction College Awards. 

nThree Green Apples 

We’ve continued our remarkable run of success 

in the Green Apple Awards, winning three more 

in 2011. This year’s awards are for the 

recycling services we provide in Bridgend and 

Torbay, and for reducing the carbon footprint 

of MGWSP’s highways maintenance contract 

in Northamptonshire. Bridgend has improved 

from second worst recycling performer in Wales 

to one of the best (see page 6), and TOR2 has 

improved Torbay’s recycling rate by 9% in just 

eight months. MGWSP has achieved an 

impressive CO 2 reduction of more than 40% 

against a baseline figure. 

i 

Lorna Blackmore • t:01603 727107 

e: lblackmore@maygurney.co.uk

GSuccess in the 

Anglian Water awards 

Having been nominated for two awards, we picked 

up the ‘Best Scheme Award’ in the 2011 Anglian 

Water We Love What You Do Awards for Anglian 

Water employees and suppliers. Our nominations 

were for the efforts of the Anglian Water Repair & 

Maintenance Development Services’ (RMDS) 

team. The ‘Best Scheme Award’ was won by our 

main laying team for a scheme at Halstead in 

Essex. 

x L to R: David Grant (host), Steve Ellis, Mike Scully, Lee McBride, 

Richard Flintham, Doug Robson & Chris Newsome (Anglian Water) 

t! 

GFull house of Blue Flag Awards 

All six of the beaches maintained by TOR2 have 

been awarded the 2011 Blue Flag Award by Keep 

Britain Tidy, the anti-litter charity. The beaches are 

part of the record-breaking 16 Blue Flag Awards 

for beaches across Torbay, landing it the title of 

England’s clean beach capital. 

nEnvironmental award for 

MGWSP 

Northamptonshire County Council and MGWSP 

were acclaimed at the CIHT Awards 2011 for their 

innovative approach to saving money through environmentally 

sustainable work practices. The 

partners won the Sustainability category at the 

Awards ceremony in London on 15 June. 

nNational acclaim for 

Torbay parks 

Two of Torbay’s parks that are maintained by TOR2 

have retained their Green Flag status. The 2011 

Green Flag Awards are for Sherwell Park in 

Torquay and Young's Park in Goodrington, 

Paignton. The Green Flag Awards are handed out 

by the Green Flag Partnership, which is made up 

of Keep Britain Tidy, Greenspace and British Trust 

for Conservation Volunteers. 

nPartnership commendation 

for Victoria Station 

The Victoria Station project was Highly 

Commended in the Network Rail Partnership 

Awards, which were presented at the Natural 

History Museum on 13 July. 

GICE award for EA scheme 

The ‘Cannington Outfalls’ project to improve 

flood protection for 1,440 properties in 

Somerset was Highly Commended at the ICE 

South West Region Awards. The scheme was 

delivered on behalf of the Environment Agency 

by the Team Van Oord partnership comprising 

Van Oord, May Gurney and Mackley in 

conjunction with Black and Veatch (designers). 

Our delivery team was Martin Priest, John 

Scrivens and Andy Haley. 

GEnvironmental hero 

MGWSP has been awarded 

International Green Hero status 

for its environmental project, 

Gulley Waste Dewatering Bays, 

which received a Green 

Apple Award in 2010. The 

International Green Hero award was made by 

The Green Organisation at a presentation 

ceremony at the University of Westminster, 

London, on 20 June. 

GRegeneration in 

Wolverhampton 

A project to improve access to canals in the 

Wolverhampton area was commended in the 

2011 Waterways Renaissance Awards. The 

commendation was for the ‘ABCD safer and 

better access’ project, which we carried out on 

behalf of British Waterways. 

L to R: Richard Dewhurst (May Gurney), Adam 

Walker (British Waterways), Steve Richings 

(Halcrow), Paul Holden (May Gurney), John 

Harris (British Waterways) & Dean Hogarth 

(Halcrow). Also involved, but not pictured, was 

Bekki Eddy (May Gurney). 

MAG/AUTUMN2011/17

Who you gonna call... 

We’re supporting a Graffitibusters campaign in 

Norwich by donating tins of paint brought to the 

Ketteringham household waste recycling centre, 

which we operate on behalf of Norfolk County 

Council. 

The campaign, which is being led by the local 

paper (Evening News) and is supported by Norwich 

police and community groups, is urging people to 

donate money, paint or time to help keep the streets 

clean. 

Joe Mooney, deputy county council member for 

environment and waste, said: “We’re delighted that 

our recycling centre at Ketteringham has been able 

to help the excellent Graffitibusters project in such 

Quick thinking 

saves life 

Tim Cartwright, a 

manager with May 

Gurney Signalling, was 

in the right place at the 

right time to come to the 

aid of an elderly lady 

in a life-threatening 

situation. 

The lady 

inadvertently put her 

automatic car into drive 

instead of reverse, and 

as result drove through an old steel fence at Higham 

Station in Suffolk and onto the track, straddling 

both the up and down lines. With her car stuck, 

wheels spinning and horn at full blast, the lady was 

understandably in a state of panic. 

Tim stepped in to stop the trains from both 

directions until the emergency services arrived, 

probably saving the lady’s life in the process. While 

shaken by the incident, the lady suffered no 

injuries. 


a practical way. 

“Last year 30,000 litres of unwanted paint was 

collected at the council’s main recycling centres. So 

it’s great to know that what’s been left over from 

people’s home decorating projects isn’t going to 

waste, but will be reused to clean up the 

environment and keep more of Norwich’s 

communities looking tip top.” 

Sergeant Peter Sharples, of the City Centre Safer 

Neighbourhood Team, said he was grateful for the 

“very generous” donation which could prove to be 

the start of a long-term solution to graffiti in Norwich 

and elsewhere. 

CoastAlong 

support 

continues 

May Gurney was once again 

the main sponsor of the 

CoastAlong for WaterAid 

2011 event, for a third 

successive year. 

CoastAlong involved 

teams of two or more 

walking designated routes 

along the UK’s fabulous coastline on Saturday 

10 September 2011, to raise money for WaterAid 

projects. Water is essential for life, yet one in eight 

of the world’s population do not have access to it - 

and almost 40% of the world’s population do not 

have adequate sanitation. 

This year WaterAid aimed to have at least 2,000 

people participating in CoastAlong by walking 

almost 250 coastal paths in selected regions across 

Scotland, England and Wales. We will carry a full 

report on CoastAlong 2011, including the May 

Gurney teams who participated, in the next issue of 

The MaG. 

MaG/COMMUNITY/IN-BRIEF 

Road safety advice 

East Sussex Highways took part in the 

Uckfield Road Safety Day event, which was 

attended by more than 500 children from 11 

local primary schools. 

Colin Larkin, Colin Keeley, Lisa Mellett and 

Alex Santos, spent the day teaching the 

children about road safety and road works, 

with the help of a mocked up road with road 

works. 

Councillor John Carvey, mayor of Uckfield, 

said: “This event could not have happened 

without your support in driving home such a 

valid message in an enjoyable atmosphere to 

the children.” 

Setting a fine example 

Wesley Soloman, a 

trainee engineer with 

the Norfolk Strategic 

Partnership, has 

been praised for his 

contribution to a 

careers day at the Sir 

John Leman High 

School in Beccles. 

Jenni Carberry, area manager for the Suffolk 

Education Business Partnership, said: “Wesley 

is a fine example of a STEM (Science, 

Technology, Engineering and Maths) 

ambassador role model and is a credit to your 

organisation.” 

Wesley said: “It’s great to encourage and 

help young people, giving them an insight into 

possible career options in civil engineering. It 

helps give them the best possible chance of 

getting a job.” 

Building on this success, four more of our 

trainee engineers, Toby Miller, Shannon Scott- 

James, Stuart Dexter and Ross Barford have 

been nominated to become STEM 

ambassadors.

Wheelie 

good cause 

Ayton Products supported a charity event in Norwich, 

which saw students from the University of East Anglia 

touring the local pubs... with wheelbarrows. 

As part of the ‘Pimp my Barrow’ event 2,000 

students, kitted out in fancy dress, took their specially 

designed wheelbarrows to local pubs to raise £10,000 

for the Big C Cancer Appeal. 

Rachel Cullen, a first year Masters student, said: 

“We were grateful to Ayton Products and May Gurney 

for helping us to help the charity.” 


TOR2 helps with Volunteers' 

Week 

Volunteers from across Torbay and beyond headed 

to Brixham Harbour Breakwater on 4 June for a 

community litter pick, which was supported by 

TOR2. 

The event, one of many that took place across 

Torbay as part of National Volunteers Week (1-7 

June), was organised by councillor Alison 

Hernandez and Gareth Bourton, strategic 

development director at TOR2. 

14 international officer cadets from Britannia 

Royal Naval College, Dartmouth helped with the 

clean-up using equipment donated by TOR2 and 

Brixham Community Partnership. Volunteers’ Week 

is an annual event to celebrate the fantastic 

contribution that millions of volunteers make across 

the UK. 

Youngsters lead the way 

We are running a competition in West Oxfordshire 

in which young people can win a mountain bike by 

helping local residents learn how to recycle. The 

competition, for 8-11 and 12-16 year-olds, requires 

entrants to produce a poster or video about 

recycling at home. The winner from each age group 

will bag a mountain bike and £300 in book tokens 

for their school. For more information visit: 

recyclingwhizzkid.co.uk 

Building bridges at Wymondham 

A lunchtime BBQ proved to be a good way to get 

employees at the Wymondham site in Norfolk out 

of their workshops and offices and talking to each 

other. 

The site is used by many different departments 

that rarely come in contact with each other 

including Ayton Products, Plant & Transport, 

Steelworks and Environmental Services. The BBQ 

was held on 10 August and fortunately the rain held 

off and a great time was had by all. 

Buzz at Group Office 

When a swarm of bees was discovered at Group 

Office in Trowse, the solution lay in the hands 

of the Norfolk Strategic Partnership (NSP) which 

is located there. 

Steve Townsend, Group office facilities 

supervisor, said: “Our pest control firm told us 

it was honey bees and contacted the Norfolk 

Beekeepers Association (NBKA). We were 

surprised to learn that Guy Pettit, NSP’s 

commercial manager, has been a member for 

the last eight years. Ironically, when we 

contacted Guy he was with the NBKA at the 

Royal Norfolk Show, selling homemade honey.” 

The following day, suited and booted, Guy 

removed the bees from the yard, put them in the 

back of his car, and re-homed them in his 

garden. 

MaG/AUTUMN2011/19

Ewan conquers uphill struggle 

Ewan Barr, operations manager with Rail Services, 

did what even Lance Armstrong failed to manage in 

the 2000 Tour de France and conquered the Col de 

Joux Plane, a mountain so steep it has its own 

website. 

Ewan successfully scaled the 1,000m high and 

12.5km long mountain at the end of a 900-mile 

unsupported charity bike ride, which took him from 

the Hook of Holland to Samoens in the French Alps. 

He aimed to average 45 miles a day on his fullyladen, 

16 year-old mountain bike, but in the event 

Well-oiled team 

The MGWSP Berserkers did May Gurney proud at the 

annual Northampton Dragon Boat Festival on 17 July, 

despite perhaps enjoying the refreshments at the 

event a little too much! 

The event raises money for local charities, 

particularly the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire 

Air Ambulance, and this year fundraising is expected 

to exceed £30k. A BBQ and refreshments were laid 


arrived several days ahead of schedule. 

At the end of the ride Ewan, who has currently 

raised £3,140 for Cancer Research UK and McMillan 

Cancer Support, said: “It is hard to describe my 

emotions and feelings, other than no feeling left in 

my backside! Over the moon to be here. My body now 

needs a rest, although I have already enquired about 

a mountain bike trip and some white water rafting, 

maybe not that relaxing!” 

To make a donation or read Ewan’s blog, visit: 

www.virginmoneygiving.co.uk/ewanbarr 

on for rowers and visitors to the MGWSP/NCC gazebos 

and as a result the Berserkers never threatened to 

grace the leader board. 

Finishing third in all three heats the team deserved 

an award for consistency, and if there was an award 

for laughing the most while trying to row the 

Berserkers would have bagged gold, silver and 

bronze! 


Thirsty cows’ crisis resolved 

Working with Anglian Water, we were pleased to 

provide our services free of charge to reconnect 

a vital underground pipe which supplies water 

to cattle grazing on New Buckenham Common 

in Norfolk. The pipe had become fractured, 

leaving the cows, which belong to Norfolk 

Wildlife Trust, high and dry. 

The cattle are vital to enhancing the 

conservation interest of the site, as their grazing 

makes the grassland ideal for wildflowers. The 

two troughs on the common that serve them are 

connected by an underground pipe, but due to 

its age and the weight of the traffic on the road 

above, it fractured. 

More support for popular 

Roman dig 

We once again supported new excavations at the 

archaeological dig in the ancient Roman town 

of Caistor St Edmund in Norfolk, which took 

place between 13 August and 3 September and 

was open to the public throughout. 

May Gurney’s connections with the Caistor 

Roman town extend back to 1929, when we 

supplied tools for the original excavation. For 

this dig we once again provided heavy 

equipment and other items required for the 

project. 

Hazel Leese, who is helping to organise the 

dig, said: “The continuing help and support 

from May Gurney is much appreciated. It makes 

my life so much easier and enables us to stretch 

our funding much further. My heartfelt thanks 

go to you all.”

Match funding round-up 

The May Gurney Foundation oversees donations from an annual £15,000 employee match fund. Here’s a round-up of the support 

The Foundation has provided in recent months. All amounts raised include the match fund contribution. 

Name: James Shipley, finance manager, 

Highway Services 

Event: 200km bike ride (completed in 

6hrs 55mins) 

For: Prostate cancer 

Amount raised: £1,150+ 

Name: Holly Champion, administrator, Cartledge Event: Race for Life 

Amount raised: £370 

Who: Rebecca Sankey, IS Trowse 

Event: JOGLE (John O’Groats to Lands 

End cycle ride) 

For: Cancer Research 

Amount raised: £1,881 

Name: Nick Bean, Stacey Ledgerwood, Janine Daynes, Craig O’Brien, Shane O’Connor 

& Gay Thackery (Trowse ) 

Event: Three Peaks Challenge 

For: COINS Foundation • Amount raised: £4,900 

Names: Lee Hermann, Justin Whitelaw, Gavin Hirst, Matt Kuzemko, Amanda Scott 

Tabron, Steve Webb, Jim Macleod & Andy Holt (all Rail Services) 

Event: Three Peaks Challenge 

For: The Railway Children • Amount raised: £7,383 

Name: Eileen Pearson, administrator, 

Waterways and Utility Services 

Event: Race for Life (three-legged 

Smurf race) 

For: Cancer Research UK 


Who: Andy Muncer, general manager TOR2 

Event: Torbay Half Marathon (completed in 2hrs 5mins) 

For: National Society for Phenylketonuria (NSPKU) • Amount raised: £1,895 

Who: Mick Bracken, North Lincolnshire 

BSF 

Event: Ironman UK 

For: Scope 

Amount raised: £1,750 

Name: Denise Horton, SHE advisor, 

Environmental Services 

Event: Race for Life 

For: Cancer Research UK 


Who: Jason Smith, deputy commercial 

manager, NSP 

Event: Norwich 50-mile bike ride 

For: British Heart Foundation 


IN BRIEF 

Name: James Woodworth, IT senior 

developer, Manchester 

Event: Manchester 10k run 

For: Cystic Fibrosis 


Name: David Sarsby, steelwork 

manager, Wymondham 

Event: Norwich 50-mile bike ride 

For: British Heart Foundation 


Name: Garnett Scammell, West Sussex 

Highways 

Event: Climbed Scarfell Pike 

For: Chestnut Tree House 

Raised: £995 

iWant more info or to apply for 

match funding? 

Then visit: 

www.mgfoundation.co.uk 

or email: 

mgfoundation@maygurney.co.uk 

MaG/AUTUMN2011/21

Have-a-go hero proves 

his bravery, twice! 

Keith Manning has been awarded a 

judge’s prize for thwarting an 

attempted theft at a jewellery shop. 

Keith, a foreman with the Norfolk 

Strategic Partnership, was praised by 

judge Paul Downes at Norwich Crown 

Court after hearing how he chased and 

caught a man attempting to steal gold 

bracelets from a jewellery shop in Great 

Yarmouth. The judge awarded Keith 

£300 for his bravery and he picked up 

the award from the county’s high 

sheriff, Georgina Holloway. 

The ceremony was also told about 

another act of bravery carried out by 

Keith in Thetford. On that occasion he 

went to the aid of an elderly woman 

who was being mugged. He chased 

after her attacker and with the aid of 

others the mugger was caught and later 

brought to court. 

Keith played down his heroics, 

saying: “Both times I only did what I 

expect any other member of the public 

would have done in the same situation. 

It was a spur of the moment thing. In a 

way it’s a tribute to the way my mum 

and dad brought me up. They gave me 

the correct values in life.” 

Promising future for May Gurney graduates 

Five members of the Waterways and 

Utility Services commercial team have 

successfully completed further 

education courses. 

Ross Metcalfe has attained a BSc 

(Hons) in Construction Commercial 

Management at the University of the 

West of England. Ross has worked for 

May Gurney for just over three 

years and is a quantity surveyor on the 

South West Water rehabilitation 

programme. 

James Ringrose has attained a Post 

Graduate Diploma in Construction Law 

which will be upgraded to an MSc on 

completion of his dissertation in April 

2012. This course was undertaken at 

the University of the West of England. 

James has worked for May Gurney for 

just over five years and is a quantity 

surveyor on the Wessex Water rehabilitation 

programme. 

Jamie Roberts has attained an MSc 

in Quantity Surveying and Commercial 

Management. Jamie joined May Gurney 


Keith split the £300 award equally 

between the Riverview Day Centre and 

Mildred Stone House, both in 

via the graduate programme and 

transferred to Waterways & Utility 

Services nearly two years ago. Jamie is 

a quantity surveyor working on the 

British Waterways’ contract. 

John Peacock attained a Post 

Graduate Diploma in Surveying with 

the University of Reading after 

completing a two-year course. John 

joined May Gurney just over a year ago 

as a trainee quantity surveyor on the 

Anglian Water Repair & Maintenance & 

Developer Services contract. 

Finally, Mohammed Shafique has 

attained a BSc (Hons) in Quantity 

Surveying and Commercial 

Management from the University of the 

West of England. Mohammed joined 

May Gurney on the South West Water 

contract and transferred to the North 

West and Midlands Capital and MEICA 

Business Unit earlier this year as 

assistant quantity surveyor. 

Antony Martin, commercial director, 

Waterways and Utility Services, said: 

Gorleston, where his father Sam 

Manning was cared for before he died. 

“This is a fantastic result for the 

commercial team and the sector as 

well as being a great example of how 

we continue to support and develop 

n L to R: Mark Edwards & Roger Green receive 

their contract award. 

Mark and Roger 

‘truly deserving’ 

of NSP award 

Mark Edwards and Roger Green were 

the first recipients of the new Norfolk 

Strategic Partnership (NSP) reward 

scheme that dovetails with the 

company-wide ‘Be the best Awards’. 

Winners receive a gift voucher and 

certificate as well as being nominated 

for the Highway Sector award. 

Mark and Roger won the award for 

their prompt actions in assisting a 

gentleman who had inadvertently set 

himself on fire while burning waste 

material. 

Mike Thompson, NSP general 

manager, said: “Mark and Roger 

displayed the human characteristics 

that we all aspire to and ticked the box 

on every May Gurney value. Their 

actions almost certainly prevented the 

gentleman from suffering more serious 

injuries and are truly deserving of this 

award.” 

n L to R: James Ringrose, Mohammad Shafique, John Peacock, Jamie Roberts & Ross Metcalfe. 

people within the group. 

Congratulations and thank you all for 

your continued efforts which are very 

much appreciated.”

Back to the shop floor 

n L to R: Peter Sampson, Mark Wilson, Charlie Croucher & Mick Rothon. 

Two senior managers have recently gone ‘back to the shop floor’ to experience life 

on the May Gurney front-line. 

At a recent East Sussex Highways’ employee forum, ganger Mick Rothon 

challenged Mark Wilson, highways regional director, to spend a day back on the 

tools. 

Mark said: “The day gave the team a chance to discuss with me what could 

make their working day safer and more productive, and for me to share the vision 

for the future and demonstrate May Gurney’s commitment to ensuring all our 

people go home safely at the end of every day.” 

Following this success it has been agreed to turn this into a regular project and 

senior managers from across East Sussex Highways will spend a day working with 

the teams on the road. 

Plant & Transport restructure 

A restructure in Plant & Transport has 

streamlined the department and put it 

in better shape to support May Gurney 

as the business grows. 

As part of the restructure Plant and 

Transport has been split into the 

functions: Operations, Support and 

Development. 

‘Operations’ covers repairs and 

maintenance including workshops, 

mobile fitters and managing 3rd party 

work; purchasing of new vehicles and 

plant; and the hire teams. ‘Support’ 

covers driver services including fuel 

cards, company cars, parking/speeding 

offences and driver risk management. 

‘Development’ supports Plant and 

Transport and May Gurney in business 

development, work winning and 

innovation. 

Mike Thompson, Norfolk Strategic Partnership’s (NSP) general manager, 

assisted one of the patching gangs carrying out maintenance work in Norwich. 

Mike said “It felt good to get out and construct something, rather than sit 

behind my computer. It never ceases to amaze me how, despite the best 

endeavours of management, corporate policy and legislation that our guys actually 

get some work done. It’s not until you are actually physically doing work that you 

truly appreciate these issues. 

“On the whole this was a great experience, even with the blisters, and I’m sure 

I merged into the gang despite my pristine PPE! The guys did a very professional 

job, even down to Carl’s estimating that saw us left with ½ barrow load of hardened 

bitmac. No wasting the public’s money here!” 

Mike picked up on a few issues that need to be addressed and promised to take 

these back to the NSP management team. He is also considering making this a 

regular exercise for NSP managers. 

n L to R: David Seeley, Carl Saunders, Mike Thompson & John Smith. 

Andy Olie 

business development 

director, Environmental 

Services 

Andy leads the workwinning 

process, focusing on the 

challenges faced by local authorities 

and developing services to meet their 

current and future needs. 

Andy has more than 20 years’ 

experience in leadership positions 

within the waste management sector, 

including a spell as managing director 

of Wyvern Waste Services. 

Ciaran Kennedy 

finance director, 


Ciaran joined May 

Gurney in April 2011 

and is based at the 

Stevenage office. 

Prior to joining May Gurney, Ciaran 

spent 16 years with the quarries and 

aggregates business Ennstone, rising 

to the position of CEO in charge of the 

company’s operations in England. 

Ciaran also spent nine years as a 

director of Bear Scotland, the 

integrated services provider in the 

Scottish roads sector. 

Sheldon Yates 

regional director 

London, Highway 

Services 

Sheldon has more 

than 30 years’ 

experience in highways maintenance, 

in both the private and public sectors. 

Prior to joining May Gurney, he was 

service director with the Enterprise bid 

team responsible for the successful 

Kent County Council highways tender 

procured through competitive 

dialogue. Prior to that he spent 10 

years with Volker Highways (formerly 

Fitzpatrick), latterly as operations 

director. His brief at May Gurney is to 

develop a highways business in 

London. Initially he will be part of the 

work winning team focussing on 

London Borough and Transport for 

London term maintenance contracts. 

MAG/AUTUMN2011/23

Sunday papers… celebrity 

magazines…old Yellow Pages…junk 

mail…envelopes…office paper. Many 

of us recycle these items everyday 

through recycling collections; some in 

boxes, others in recycling bins. For our 

kerbside sort recycling contracts the 

quality of the material we collect is 

really important. The MaG talks to our 

West Oxfordshire crews about their 

work and a recent visit to Aylesford 

Newsprint. 

A team effort to 

Greg Finnemore, driver, explains how the 

paper is collected from households: 

“Before May Gurney took over 

the contract in October 2010 

all of the recycling just got 

tipped into the back of a truck 

and sent to a recycling centre 

over 40 miles away in Warwick 

to be sorted. We did not really 

know what happened to it and 

what went in the truck was not 

an issue as it was dealt with in 

the recycling plant. 

“Since we’ve returned to 

kerbside sorting, the quality of 

the material and our sorting 

has become really important so 

all of the paper is separated 

from other recyclates in a 

separate compartment on the 

new vehicles. We are now 

working with residents on our rounds to encourage them to help us by sorting 

their boxes into material streams so we can pick up the materials more 

quickly, thus minimising traffic congestion.” 


Nathan Clarke, loader, tells us about his 

visit to Aylesford Newsprint: 

“I didn’t know what to expect, 

but when we arrived the 

Aylesford Newsprint plant was 

huge! All of the paper is taken 

to a big hall where it is unloaded 

and graded. After that it is 

loaded onto a conveyor and 

passed through a series of 

pulpers, presses and machinery 

to remove the dye from the 

paper. It is then pressed and 

stretched and made into giant 

rolls of newsprint, which are 

then cut to the size needed by 

the customer and stored in a 

giant warehouse. 

“We could see rolls 

which go to make the Daily Mirror and other newspapers including our local 

paper, the Witney Gazette. It made me realise that the next time I put a 

newspaper out for recycling, I may have collected the paper which had gone 

into making it. That’s pretty amazing really!”

L to R: Emma Tilbrook (mobilisation 

operations manager), Nathan Clarke (loader), 

Danny Claridge (loader), Andy Cracknell 

(yard supervisor), Sam Thomas & Harriet 

Perkins (both West Oxfordshire District 

Council) & Pete Riesner (driver). 

recycle more 

Andy Cracknell, yard supervisor, explains 

what happens to the paper when it gets 

back to the depot: 

“When the trucks return to the depot at the 

end of their round the crew eject the 

cardboard and plastic and cans into their 

designated bays to be sorted and baled. 

“We use a forklift truck to empty 

the paper, glass and food waste stillages. 

Throughout the day we pick and turn the 

paper to make sure that all contaminants 

are removed and that the paper is the best 

possible quality. The yard team gives 

feedback to the crews on the quality of their 

material because if it is rejected by 

Aylesford Newsprint this can have big financial and operational impact on 

the contract. 

“When we have enough paper in the bay we load it into a bulker using the 

loading shovel and it is transported to Aylesford in Kent for reprocessing. It 

is then graded in Aylesford Newsprint’s reception hall, and the grades are 

collated to form a Paper Quality League Table which is published at the end 

of every month. In July we had the most improved paper quality of any May 

Gurney depot, a great achievement for such a new contract.” 

i 

In July we had the most improved 

paper quality of any May Gurney 

depot, a great achievement for such a 

new contract. 

Andy Cracknell, yard supervisor 

THE VERDICT 

It is clear that a lot of work goes into making sure that 

all of the paper we collect is made back into good 

quality newsprint, and that it is a contract-wide effort 

to achieve this. Our teams across all May Gurney recycling contracts 

are an essential part of this process and play a big part in making sure 

that we deliver the best performance in terms of sustainability and 

material quality. 

Emma Tilbrook • t: 07884 065515 • e: etilbrook@maygurney.co.uk 

MAG/AUTUMN2011/25

Meet your National 

Employee Forum reps 

The National Employee Forum has proved such a 

success that it now meets twice a year, once in the 

summer and once in winter. Here we profile the 

seven representatives who make up the National 

Forum, and ask what they hope to achieve through 

the Forum. 

Simon Rickarby, senior general 

foreman, Waterways & Utility 

Services 

“I’m in my 17th year with May 

Gurney, and currently based in 

Devon and Cornwall having 

come across from TJ Brent. I 

want to bring together employees and employer 

and make a difference in the way we work together 

by forging more trust and understanding. Seeing 

an idea put forward by a colleague actually 

implemented, for example, the Long Service 

Awards, is very rewarding.” 

Steven Kilfoyle, driver/loader, 


“I’m based at Evercreech in 

Somerset and have been with 

May Gurney for four years. I 

enjoy having the chance to talk 

to and meet the people at the 

top of the company, and give them feedback on 

what’s happened between meetings.” 

Eve Bailey, office manager, 

Highway Services (Cartledge) 

“I joined Cartledge in 2000, 

which became part of May 

Gurney in 2006. I’m based at 

West Hanningfield, near 

Chelmsford in Essex. I'm new 

to the Forum and am looking forward to being able 

to feed back positive news to my colleagues.” 


John Bevington, HGV driver, 


“I’ve been with May Gurney for 

three years and am based at 

the Greenford depot in Ealing. 

I joined the Employee Forum to 

make a difference, to have the 

chance to speak to other reps and exchange ideas, 

and to take back some new ones.” 

John Grainger, site manager, 

Facility Services 

“I joined May Gurney 2.5 years 

ago and am currently working 

on the Willowbrook Primary 

School project in Essex. I've 

recently been nominated to 

the Forum and am looking forward to improving 

communications ‘thru the line’.” 

Louise Petty, insurance officer, 

Group Services 

“I’m based at Trowse and have 

worked for May Gurney for six 

years. I was the longest serving 

rep on our local forum and was 

recently voted to be the new 

National Forum rep for Group Services. So far I'm 

enjoying the challenge and it is great to meet new 

people from different sectors.” 

Peter Hawkins, signalling 

principles designer, Rail 

Services 

“I’ve been with May Gurney for 

nine years and am based at 

Bedford. I enjoy having the 

chance to ask questions 

directly to Board members and hold them to 

account for their promises!” 

May Gurney discount scheme 

We're delighted to announce the launch of our new 

shopping discount scheme for all May Gurney 

employees. 

The scheme is designed to save you and your 

family money on a range of items from one off 

purchases to your weekly shopping bill, making 

your salary go further. The scheme gives you 

access to a wealth of specially arranged discounts 

and savings at all of your favourite retailers 

including Sainsbury’s, ASDA, Comet, HMV, 

Boots, Thomas Cook, B&Q, Argos and many 

more. 

The scheme is based on a card which can be 

reloaded online or by phone. Discounts are 

available online and in-store and most are on top 

of sale prices and existing promotions, so they are 

a genuinely unbeatable deal! Look out for details 

coming soon. 

What’s on 

the agenda? 

The most recent National Forum was held on 

20 July at which the following were discussed: 

• Be the best Awards: Following a request for 

an employee recognition scheme at the 

November 2010 Forum, the Be the Best 

Awards were launched in April 2011 and have 

to date received more than 100 nominations 

(see page 27). 

• PPE: Employee Forum reps have been asked 

to be part of a review team to assess suppliers 

and choose the most appropriate PPE provider 

for May Gurney. 

• Training: Training advisors have been 

introduced in each Sector to create stronger 

relationships and communications. As at 12 

July 97% of the 2010/2011 training plan was 

delivered. 

• Employee Discount Scheme: The scheme is 

based on reloadable cards. May Gurney will 

pay £10 per head per year for all employees 

to have access to a variety of discounts from a 

variety of providers; from one-off electrical 

items to your weekly shopping (see article on 

this page for more detail). 

• Safety, Health, Environment and Assurance 

(SHEA): Our Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) 

is still far too high with accidents and 

incidents happening too often. That’s why 

John London, head of assurance, gave an 

update on what is being done about it. Our 

SHEA team has a strategy to reduce the AFR 

(see page 13). 

The next meeting 

Items to be discussed at the next National 

Employee Forum in December include: 

MaGnet; Long Service Awards; Have your say; 

Toolbox Talks and PPE. 

iDavid Kennett 

Internal Communications Manager 

t: 01603 727340 • m: 07787 527 540 

e: dkennett@maygurney.co.uk

Be the best AWARDS 

Here’s the latest crop of winners from across the Group 

John Grundy - 

Environmental 

Services 

John has been with 

May Gurney for more 

than five years and 

has not had a single day off with sickness. He is 

hard working and passionate about doing a job 

well. What’s more, John is part of a service that 

has had only three complaints over the last five 

months. Value(s): ‘Collaborative’ 

Vanessa Charlesworth - Highway Services 

Vanessa provides administrative support to the 

highways and environmental services’ work 

winning teams. She successfully manages the 

varying demands of both teams, from booking 

hotels to co-ordinating diaries and helping edit bid 

documents, all done with energy and a 

determination to deliver. Value(s): ‘Collaborative’ 

Jim Boyd - Group Services 

Jim managed the IS transition from Turriff’s 

system to May Gurney platforms. There were many 

challenges to overcome, but he kept his team on 

track to complete a successful transition. He went 

the extra mile in terms of hours worked, was 

extremely customer focused and maintained 

business continuity. Value(s): ‘Collaborative’ 

Amy Hockaday - Plant & Transport (P&T) 

Amy has gone above and beyond her role to travel 

to Turiff for several weeks to help train and 

implement the P&T processes. This is a big 

commitment for an administrator to take on, but 

one that she has successfully delivered. 

Value(s): ‘Collaborative’ 

Matt Flint - Environmental Services 

Matt's supervision of the transfer station at North 

Somerset has improved the health and safety 

culture, reduced the waiting time for drivers and 

increased the quality of paper. The workforce now 

considers themselves to be a team. 


Alice Drewitt and Gilian Forster - 

Group Services 

Alice and Gilian have been working away from 

home for an extended period on the Surrey 

mobilisation contract. They have been 

commended by Gary Mills for their good attitude 

and excellent level of support they provide. 


Ian Fawcus - Waterways & Utility Services 

Ian was project manager for the Avon Water 

Treatment Works support scheme, carried out on 

behalf of South West Water which has won 11 

industry awards. It most recently received a 

Special Commendation in the Management for 

Resource Efficiency category in the Business 

Commitment to the Environment Environmental 

Leadership Awards 2011. To get such recognition 

against the Olympics and such stalwarts of ‘green’ 

such as Skanska, is recommendation enough. 


Leo Plant - Highway Services 

Leo showed great leadership following a chemical 

spill in Northamtonshire which happened at 

1.00am and was not resolved until 10.00pm. 


Luke Degville - Environmental Services 

We received a letter from a member of the public 

expressing how impressed they were with Luke’s 

hard work and pleasant and polite manner. 


Lucy Renaut - Waterways & Utility Services 

Lucy has been nominated for the hard work she 

has put into the integration of Turriff. She stepped 

into a situation late on and threw herself into 

making sure the integration went well, and all the 

functions were in place to ensure there was a 

smooth transition. Value(s): ‘Collaborative’ 

Richard Allen - 

Environmental 

Services 

Richard embraces health 

and safety with a great 

passion and awareness 

for everyone he 

represents. He is diligent 

in every detail and lives the values he preaches. 

Richard delivers a health and safety workshop in 

which he listens to our workforce and, as health 

and safety rep, raises issues at SHEA meetings. 

Value(s): ‘Safe’ 

Tim Cartwright - Rail Services 

After a woman accidently drove onto the train 

tracks, Tim acted quickly in stopping trains in both 

directions and calling the emergency services. His 

quick response probably saved the woman’s life 

and prevented a serious collision. (see page 18 for 

details). Value(s): ‘Safe’ 

About the awards 

The ‘Be the best Awards’ have been 

introduced to recognise the efforts of our 

employees. The awards are a direct result 

of feedback from all of you through our 

annual 'Have your say’ employee survey 

and the employee forums. 

They are designed to recognise 

individuals and teams for living May 

Gurney’s values: ‘Safe’, ‘Innovative’, 

‘Honest’ and ‘Collaborative’. Winners are 

selected from each of our services on a 

monthly and annual basis. 

Ian Hicks - Environmental Services 

Ian has helped train, guide and build a safe and 

competent team at Walford Cross and oversees the 

safe operation of the yard. His yard produces some 

of the highest quality product and is always clean, 

safe and tidy. He never tolerates breaches of 

safety. Value(s): ‘Safe’ 

Stuart Lowes - 


Stuart attended the first 

week long Lincolnshire 

Highways ‘depot 

improvement’ exercise 

in March 2011 (see The 

MaG, summer 2011, 

page 13). Stuart has helped ensure better waste 

segregation by designing easy to follow skip signs 

and the depot now has an audit score of 94%. 

Value(s): ‘Innovative’ 

Phil Adams - 

Waterways & 

Utility Services 

While Phil was fitting 

a meter at an Anglian 

Water customer’s 

property, the customer 

collapsed. Phil called 

for an ambulance, kept calm and put the lady into 

the recovery position and stayed with her until the 

ambulance arrived. His actions and attitude are 

something to be proud of. Value(s): ‘Honest’ 

MAG/AUTUMN2011/27

ON THE FRONT-LINE 

Meet Phil Elliott: dad to twin boys, classic motorbike and kit car 

enthusiast, accomplished cook with a love of fine wines and quality 

food, and by day bid co-ordinator with the Highway Services’ work 

winning team. After backpacking around the world with his wife, Phil 

joined May Gurney in 2007 as assistant bid co-ordinator. 18 months 

later he was promoted to bid co-ordinator, a role he relishes. 

The highest bidder! 

The day job 

I’m based at the Trowse and Stevenage offices and 

also work from home. As bid co-ordinator I’m 

responsible for a whole range of things including 

maintaining best practice case studies for use in 

bids; reviewing feedback from previous tenders to 

improve future submissions; market research and 

producing background information for strategic 

bids. I also manage the team’s assistant bid coordinator, 

Gregory Brown. 

During the tender period I act as project 

manager. Having established the requirements for 

the submission, I brief other bid team members 

and produce a programme. I also represent May 

Gurney at dialogue meetings with potential 

clients, and liaise with a wide range of internal 

and external contacts including our tender support 

services and estimating teams, external printers 

and graphic designers. 

Essentially, my role is working with the bid 

manager to manage the bid process from start up 

through to final submission. And if we are 

successful in being awarded a new highways 

maintenance contract, I can be part of the 

mobilisation team to ensure everything is in place 

for day one of the new contract. 


Best bits 

It’s got to be the people I work with (pic left): there 

are no big egos, everyone just gets on with the job 

and are great fun to be around. I also enjoy the 

variety and flexibility. While I have to work very 

long hours when a bid is coming to a close, I’m 

allowed to manage my own time, which means I 

get to do the school run when things are not so 

hectic. 

As a company, May Gurney is committed to its 

employees and invests in training and 

development to help people fulfil their potential. 

If you want to get on, you will be given every 

opportunity to do so. 

Away from work 

I’m passionate about quality food and fine wines 

and, even though I say so myself, am an 

accomplished cook. I keep the bid team supplied 

with treats. 

I have a well-equipped (and overcrowded) 

workshop and have restored several classic 

motorbikes and built a couple of kit cars. I’m 

currently restoring a 1965 Sunbeam Alpine 

convertible. 

I try to keep fit (and the weight off!) with 

badminton and the occasional run or 

cycle ride. 

i 

Want to know more? 

If you'd like to know more about the role of bid 

co-ordinator feel free to contact Phil on 

01603 727464 or: pelliott@maygurney.co.uk

HAVE YOUR SAY: BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE: A TEAM EFFORT:

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