Building Briefs – July 22nd

• Story Contracting launches virtual Summer School for young adults

Every year Story Contracting welcomes young people into the business, providing them with opportunities to see first-hand STEM subjects brought to life, develop their employability skills and reach their full potential.

This year, to ensure no students lose the opportunity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Story has adapted its work experience programme to provide pupils with a week-long virtual business masterclass.

The ‘One of Ten Story Summer School’ will give ten young adults, aged 15-18-years-old, the chance to join the business throughout August 2020.

The students will spend the week virtually working with various departments across the business, as well as having the opportunity to visit one of Story’s critical projects. At the end of the experience, the Story Ten will each receive a £50 Amazon voucher.

The programme is open to young people across Story Contracting’s operational areas in Scotland, Yorkshire, Birmingham, Chorley and Cumbria.

Jason Butterworth, CEO of Story Contracting, said: “During the pandemic a lot of work experience and placement opportunities for young adults have sadly been suspended across the country.

“At Story Contracting, we want to make sure our investment in the next generation can continue even during these most challenging of times, so we have created this new concept to allow our work experience programme to safely go ahead.”

• APM appoints Professor Andrew Davies as newest honorary fellow

Project profession chartered body the Association for Project Management (APM) has awarded honorary fellowship to professor Andrew Davies, RM Phillips Freeman Chair and professor of innovation management in the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex Business School.

Honorary fellowship is awarded by APM to individuals who have made exceptional, demonstrable and significant contributions to project management or to the project management profession, in their own professions and careers.

Professor Davies began his career at SPRU, Sussex University before moving to Amsterdam University, Imperial College and University College London (UCL). He returned to SPRU in 2019 and continues as honorary professor at the Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment at UCL and visiting professor in the Department of Business and Management at Luiss University in Rome. 

He is a researcher, educator, consultant and advisor who is fascinated by understanding and making innovation happen in complex projects, with a focus on large-scale infrastructure in the built environment.  Over the past 15 years, he has collaborated with leaders of some of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects including Heathrow (terminal 5, terminal 2), the London Olympics, Crossrail, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, High-Speed 1 and 2, and the Westminster Palace Restoration and Renewal Project.

• Glasgow approves events space plans for vacant land at Civic Street

Glasgow City Council has given the go-ahead for vacant land at Civic Street, just north of the M8 motorway, to be used as an events space with workshops.

A partnership between community interest company Agile City and landscape architects ERZ aims to re-activate the site in conjunction with existing activity at Civic House, pursuing themes of travel, energy, food, making and re-use.

Elements include re-purposing four shipping containers for use by Glasgow Tool Library, Bike For Good, as community project space and as a storage facility.

Yard space will be used for events and workshops and a polytunnel for urban food production, while new planting, pathways and signage aim to improve visibility, access and create a more welcoming environment.

The project ties in with wider ambitions for active travel as part of Connecting Woodside as it is a key gateway site for the Forth and Clyde Canal and is beside the new cycle route at Garscube Road.

• New shed for the Shedman as lockdown boost triples demand

Glasgow shed manufacturer manufacturer Shedman is to invest £450,000 to increase the size of its production shed from 7,000 sq ft to 12,000 sq ft, as well as installing new saws, extractors and health and safety equipment following increased demand.

The company has seen sales nearly triple in June, easily outstripping last year.

The expansion will create eight new full time and two part-time jobs, taking Shedman’s workforce to 25.

Bill Roddie, director of family-owned Spectrum Properties, which bought Shedman in 2019, said: “This new investment, which is bringing more high-quality employment to the East End, will allow us to increase capacity at the factory by 100%.

“While we have also invested heavily in marketing and smart use of social media, the increase in demand has been quite dramatic and it is hard not to believe that it is directly related to the pandemic quarantine.

“For the past three months, people have been using their unexpected free time to do jobs around the house and garden and a shed is a great boon for securely storing all kinds of DIY equipment.

“Many furloughed workers have also found themselves with extra money since their daily expenses were reduced, and we have seen a big increase in sales of dog kennels for people who have bought a new pet. Play hut sales are also up as parents try to keep their children occupied while they are off school.”