THE KNOWLEDGE NEWSLETTER | SPRING 2020
03 ISSUE NO.
Welcome to our home for regular updates about Mackenzie Construction. Our team are at the heart of our success and this newsletter aims to ensure we celebrate our achievements and keep you informed of everything you need to know. #SafeInTheKnowledge
Contents Director’s message
02
Mackenzie 40th year
03
ISO27001
04
Drymen Road
05
Beyond net zero emissions
06 | 07
Annual training day
08 | 09
Scott Meenagh
10
Severn Trent Water
11
Chris’s House
12
Glasgow Claypits
13
Mental Health First Aiders
14
Scottish Canals
15
Staff spotlight
16
Message from Andy Dalrymple We had an exciting start to the year as we launched the ‘Celebrating our Foundations’ campaign in honour of our 40th year of business. We also rounded off our 2019 year of fundraising for Chris’s House with a grand total of £2,757. This is a fantastic effort and I would like to personally thank all of our team, their family and friends, as well as our clients and supply chain who participated in our many activities throughout the year. We are also delighted to announce the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation as our charity for 2020 – we look forward to being able to work together on raising awareness and funds for our chosen 2020 charity. In the first few months of 2020, Mackenzie Construction made strides towards its carbon reduction targets and introduced a number of green initiatives around our sites, as well as appointing our own ‘Carbon Champion’ - more of which is outlined on page 7. In addition, we recently achieved the ISO 27001 certification – an internationally recognised standard for information security processes. We achieved 100% in a recent audit conducted by Achilles, were awarded a new framework by ng homes and were extended on our framework at Faslane/Coulport for Babcock Marine (Clyde). We have continued to receive some brilliant feedback on our work for clients. Following the completion of our sewer investigation works in the Drymen Road area, Scottish Water commented, “we could not have asked for a better response in completing the works.” Additionally, we received excellent feedback from Severn Trent Water following their site visit to Overtoun Road. A huge well done to all of the teams involved. Your hard work and commitment to quality has not gone unnoticed by both our clients and our senior team. Finally, like many businesses, we have faced recent challenges that have come with the global COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to follow Government guidance and ensure that the safety of our people, and their families, remains paramount. Mackenzie Construction has always shown resilience and determination, and I remain positive that we will overcome these challenges together, as a team. Andy Dalrymple Managing Director
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In 2020, Mackenzie Construction is celebrating its 40th year of business. Since 1980, we have been focused on becoming the industry’s safest, most trusted and most progressive partner for clients, working at all times to provide certainty of project success in terms of quality and efficiency with safety paramount and core to all decision making. Mackenzie Construction was founded in 1980, primarily to develop the civil engineering potential in Central Scotland. Since then we have grown to the business we are today - with a dedicated team of approximately 300, offices in Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee, as well as sites across Scotland. Mackenzie Construction places people at the heart of our success. Our professional, highly skilled and engaged workforce and supply chain has helped us to become one of the leading civil engineering and construction firms in the country.
To help celebrate this milestone we are sharing a year-long campaign, ‘Celebrating our Foundations’, which highlights some of the elements of our business which have helped build and drive our success to date. With key themes such as employee engagement, our young people, business growth, safe working practices, innovation and our sponsorship of the Glasgow Warriors, we have organised a number of events and activities around these.
Managing Director, Andy Dalrymple, said of the campaign:
“I am delighted to be celebrating our 40th year with a dedicated campaign which will highlight our fantastic culture and our commitment to our clients, staff, supply chain and the communities in which we live and work.”
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Achieving ISO 27001 through enhanced information security We are thrilled to have recently attained the ISO 27001 certification, an internationally recognised standard for information security processes. As one of the first construction companies in Scotland to have been awarded this certification, we are very proud of our team’s hard work, at all levels within the business, to achieve it. ISO 27001 (formally known as ISO 27001:2005) is a specification for an information security management system – a framework of policies and procedures that include all legal, physical and technical controls involved in information risk management processes. This excellent result reflects the hard work everyone has contributed throughout the year to ensure our processes and systems are robust enough to meet, and exceed, the required standards. Having rolled out SharePoint in 2019, we are now advancing onto the next stage of improved information management. Amongst other things, this involves the creation of information flows and streamlined governance to enhance the agility of our delivery teams. This should facilitate more efficient communication and collaboration across our staff, clients and our supply chain.
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With a focus on progressive practice, we have also made strides in technological innovation, enabling us to maintain a stronger position in today’s digital landscape. We have been successful this year in regaining our Cyber Essentials Certification, which assesses our ICT defences as satisfactory against a commoditybased cyber-attack. We have also been working on the development of a number of apps, which will assist us in more effectively meeting client requirements, whilst bringing clients and site teams closer together. The apps provide userfriendly access to real time data which shares key reports, updates and live data 24/7. One of the apps in development for Scottish Water assets focuses on prestressed concrete tanks and provides an interactive map with 3D data and visualisations.
This technology not only improves our communications with our remote teams working across Scotland, it also creates integrated working practices and gives clients peace of mind through sharing live data throughout the project life cycle. One app even supports our commitment to carbon reduction measures, offering video access to sites and reducing the need for client site visits.
Engaging with the community at Drymen Road We were delighted to recently complete our sewer investigation works in the Drymen Road area of Bearsden ahead of schedule, helping to reduce disruption to the local community. Following a manhole failure, we were required (as Scottish Water’s Delivery Partner) to investigate the issue and establish the further scope of work that would be required to rehabilitate or replace the assets. Due to the location of the works on Bearsden’s main trunk road, and the key rural route to Stirlingshire from the Glasgow area, we required early engagement and consultation with various stakeholders to begin the process of traffic management and road closure. This was part of a fourmonth engagement and consultation process that involved the creation of a strategic communications plan to manage the impact that the works would have on the local community. Working closely with Scottish Water, we distributed over 5,000 letters to homes and businesses in the surrounding area, as well as visiting the local nursery, GP surgery, businesses and schools. Prior to the commencement of works in early January, radio and social media advertising was also used to ensure everyone in the local community had been made aware of any potential disruptions.
Works began on 9th of January, with the road closure in place and site establishment banners and boards installed for the 11th of January. Works to repair the sewer commenced on 13th of January with Mackenzie Construction in full control of the site. As the works progressed, the extent of damage became apparent and a change in scope was required. Though the change brought challenges to the project team, the site was able to work in partnership with Scottish Water’s team and our supply chain to complete the works safely and ahead of schedule. This created an opportunity for Scottish Water to utilise the extra time to assess other areas of the sewer network within the closure. Further challenges in week three of the project meant that the layout of our site had to be altered. We engaged with the local businesses most closely affected to ensure good relations were managed and maintained. Throughout this project, the Mackenzie Construction team were acutely aware of the importance of community engagement and minimising any impact, so were delighted to receive
the following message from one local resident: “We appreciate your commitment to the job and congratulations on completing it ahead of schedule. Having experienced a flood outside our home last winter, at which you reacted very quickly, we do appreciate what you do for the general public.” After conducting another section of deep sewer excavation, we completed the project three days earlier than anticipated. Ross Mackay, Project Manager at Scottish Water said of the project: “Thank you for all the hard work that has gone into the completion of the works on Drymen Road. We could not have asked for a better response in completing the works. Your squads on site were more than capable of managing the customers on site, resulting in no complaints being received. I would be more than happy to use Mackenzie Construction for similar work in the future, based on the completion of this project.”
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Beyond net zero emissions
With the climate emergency and biodiversity loss being two of the most serious issues of our time, Mackenzie Construction recognises it has a responsibility to play a leadership role in the sector and has made the commitment as an organisation to reduce its carbon emissions over the coming years. Our team is fully committed to reducing the impact Mackenzie Construction has on our natural environment. We understand that this drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions cannot be achieved as a lone entity, but by working in close collaboration with our staff, clients, contractors and our wider supply chain to improve the environmental performance of our products and services. With this goal in mind, we have already implemented an ISO 14001:2015 environmental management system to establish a baseline and introduced Carbon Reduction Key Performance Indicators. Moving forward, we will look for a significant year on year carbon emission reduction, reaching 75% by 2030 and net zero by 2040. To achieve this, our Carbon Reduction Roadmap takes a holistic approach in considering the embedded carbon in the materials we purchase, the fuel we use, our products and materials, and the waste we generate from our activities. From this, we seek to establish more carbon effective solutions, wherever possible. We are focused on, not only minimising our impact on the environment, but also seeking continual performance improvements in our people and processes.
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To implement this, our HSEQ team and IMEA trained in-house ‘Carbon Champion’ are working through a 5-step integrated process with our staff, clients, delivery partners and supply chain. We understand the significance of our role in the water sector’s supply chain and are working within our geographic integrated hubs across Scotland to ensure clear, coherent, and focused development towards our sustainability and emissions goals. 1. Seeking ideas We recognise dedication to innovation and resource efficiency needs to be encouraged at all levels of the business in order to be implemented effectively, with the whole team on board. There are no expectations on one person to identify, test and improve a problem as we all have individual skills and attributes which need to be harnessed collectively in order to achieve the best results. New innovations in regard to carbon emission reduction, such as our Smart Surface service, will also continue to be identified through the use of Quality Improvement Request Forms. 2. Create the right environment For innovation to flourish in respect to carbon emission reduction, we need to establish and foster an environment that encourages participation, honesty and collaboration. Our commitment to deliver inclusive, triannual Carbon Reduction Lessons Learned and Innovation Meetings will support this process. Invitations will be extended to every area of the business and representatives encouraged to voice their thoughts, lessons learned, opinions and opportunities for improvement, so that ideas can be shared and explored in a safe and creative environment.
3. Nurturing the learning process As an organisation committed to learning and development, we will encourage all workable ideas to be tried and tested. All lessons learned will be shared openly throughout the business to ensure everyone feels part of, and invested in, the process. 4. Measuring success The success or failure of any carbon reduction process should be measurable. We will develop robust reporting in order to highlight the benefits, or potential drawbacks, that each process brings. This will be reported on our Monthly HSEQ Report and at the senior managers monthly meeting in order to monitor progress. 5. Sharing knowledge Central to our commitment to ongoing carbon reduction is the sharing of our knowledge with our own workforce, our clients and supply chain partners. Regular e-newsletters, HSEQ quarterly updates, our quarterly published newsletter, website and social media will all be used in order to ensure we update everyone with progress towards our net zero goal. We will also establish a programme and project specific SharePoint dashboard, which will include provision for carbon reduction. These will be available on our intranet to ensure everyone has a shared knowledge of our journey. At Mackenzie Construction, we are working to ensure that we do absolutely everything in our power to embrace the circular economy, transform our emissions and, ultimately - through our work in the water sector - play our part in protecting, replenishing and enhancing a sustainable natural environment.
As part of our commitment to lowering our carbon footprint and gaining a better understanding of the complexities and possible challenges associated with reducing our emissions, we have appointed HSE Advisor, Ryan Taggart, as our in-house ‘Carbon Champion’ and have been putting initiatives in place within our regional hubs across Scotland. As part of this, we have been trialling a zero emissions electric excavator on various site locations. The machine had a considerably lower noise output than its fossil-fuelled counterpart, as well as no risk of contamination to the local environment due to not containing any hazardous substance. Overall, we were impressed with how the excavator operated and consider it to be a much-needed alternative to fossil-fuelled machinery.
We have also installed a car charging point at our head office. Our electric car initiative provides the option for our team to consider using electric vehicles for getting to work, whilst also providing the option for using electric commercial vehicles in the future. Our team will be attending various training courses and conferences to further expand our knowledge of carbon reduction and climate change. We were recently in attendance at an IEMA certified Carbon and Energy Management course which was hosted by GEP Environmental. The course was informative, covering climate change, legislation, sources of carbon production, reporting methodologies, calculating a baseline using a footprint tool and how to set realistic carbon reduction opportunities.
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Annual training day: Introducing our Mackenzie Warriors Our annual Christmas Training Day took place on Friday 20th December 2019 at the Westerwood Hotel and was attended by all of our site-based employees. The day kicked off with Managing Director, Andy Dalrymple, extending a vote of thanks to all for making 2019 a very successful year for Mackenzie Construction. Contracts Director, Mark Wilson, then took us through the highlights of last year, focusing on how our people are the foundation on which our success is built. The day continued with various presentations and break out groups covering topics such as health, safety, environmental, wellbeing and quality. A key focus this year was behaviouralbased safety and a presentation from Eddie Woods of Karrdale. Eddie echoed our community focus, and the importance of maintaining the safety
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of everyone involved within our work. Following this, we outlined the events we have planned for 2020 to celebrate our 40th anniversary with an inspiring video from our People Ambassador, Scott Meenagh to close the event. We also used this event to recognise our ‘Mackenzie Warriors’ - individuals
and teams who have gone the extra mile throughout the year. As the official Civil Engineering sponsor of the Glasgow Warriors, players Matt Fagerson and Tim Swinson were on hand to present prizes to our award-winners.
We are delighted to announce the following winners: Young Person of the Year Award: Kyle MacLean Team of the Year Award: Fort Augustus Team SORs Staff Award: Craig Adam SORs Site Award: David McNiven Jnr SORs Foreman Award: Donald Sinclair Toolbox Talk Award: Frank Ferry Health, Safety and Environmental Award: Greenhills Water & Sewer Team Quality Staff Award:
Danny Brown
Quality Site Award: Mark Keegan Award for Staff Who Have Paul Dunne Excelled During 2019: ward for Staff Who Have A Gone The Extra Mile In 2019:
Keir Adrian
Awards for Site Employees Who Have Robert Keegan Excelled During 2019: ward for Site Employees Who Have A Andy Henry and squad, Gone The Extra Mile In 2019: along with Kevin Houston
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Driving engagement with our People Ambassador, Scott Meenagh As part of our commitment to our people and the creation of an inspiring, supportive and collaborative cultural environment, we have appointed a People Ambassador, Scott Meenagh. This important role will help us to drive engagement and inclusion across the entire Mackenzie Construction team. Scott is a Para Nordic Skier who competed for Great Britain at the 2018 Winter Paralympic Games - the first competitor ParalympicsGB has had in Nordic Skiing for 20 years. Scott first inspired the Mackenzie Construction team when he was one of the speakers at our foreman training course last year. Since then, we’ve been keen to collaborate with Scott on more of our staff engagement activities, and so the role of People Ambassador will ensure we can utilise his skills and experience effectively.
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In November, we had a fantastic day introducing Scott to the team, with him leading sessions on topics such as ‘dealing with change’ and ‘achieving your best’. He also made a visit to our site team, working on the Garscube Pedestrian Bridge project at Glasgow’s Clay Pits Local Nature Reserve.
HSE Advisor, Ryan Taggart, said of the site visit:
“Scott really engaged the group, which created positive discussions about our company, our culture and why we love working here. Going forward, I think Scott’s role as People Ambassador will be a great way of building morale across the whole Mackenzie Construction team.”
Great feedback from Severn Trent Water We received excellent feedback from representatives from Severn Trent Water after their visit to our site at Overtoun Road in Dalmanach. We would like to thank all of the team involved in the project for continually exemplifying good working practices and high-quality workmanship, which has been recognised by our client.
Happy retirement, Drew!
Managing Director, Andy Dalrymple said:
Our Bricklaying Foreman, Drew Nelson retired on 27th March 2020 after 33 years with Mackenzie Construction. Drew joined our team as a much smaller business and has helped us grow to where we are now having worked on areas all over Scotland. As a very skilful bricklayer, Drew should leave the company not only proud of his work achievements but of the knowledge which he has passed on to many of our trainees. Drew will always be remembered as a stalwart of the company with his sense of humour and legendary stories sure to be shared for years to come.
“Severn Trent Water are a valued client who we were delighted to host at our Overtoun Road site, providing the opportunity to see the fantastic work which our team carries out, day in, day out.�
New regional hub in Dundee February saw the opening of our new regional hub in Dundee which expands our capabilities in supporting our clients and their operations across Scotland. From this base we will be perfectly positioned to support the TWS Asset Repair Mission for our client, Scottish Water, as well as offering enhanced resources for any future works in the east of Scotland.
Our Achilles audit We recently achieved 100% in an audit conducted by Achilles. The audit covered health and safety, environmental, quality and corporate social responsibility (CSR), which each achieved 100% for both our management system and our site. Thank you to our Alexandria site team for their input during the audit, this is an excellent achievement for both our team, and the business.
We would like to thank Drew for his hard work, long service and commitment to Mackenzie Construction and wish him a long and happy retirement.
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Chris’s House 2019 round-up At Mackenzie Construction, we value our commitment to local causes. As such, we were honoured to support Chris’s House as our nominated charity in 2019. The Centre of Help, Response and Intervention Surrounding Suicide (Chris’s House) has been set up to offer a safe environment where people in crisis may have a respite from their current situation. Over the course of 2019, we held a number of fundraising events and activities that the entire Mackenzie Construction team were delighted to get involved with. From Easter egg
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We were delighted to receive the and Christmas jumper competitions, following message of thanks from to physical challenges like our 10k charity event and 348-mile indoor cycle, Chris’s House: everyone put in a fantastic team effort. Mackenzie Construction would like to take the opportunity to thank all of the team, their family and friends, as well as our clients and supply chain who have all contributed to our fundraising efforts for Chris’s House. At the end of the year we reached an outstanding total of £2,757, which was officially handed over to Chris’s House at our head office on Friday 7th February 2020.
“On behalf of Chris’s House, we want to extend our deepest gratitude for the fundraising that you did for the charity. Fundraising efforts from individuals like you have a significant impact on changing lives. Every donation we receive helps us to provide vital services to people in crisis and those who have been affected by suicide.”
Gavin Hall promotion Gavin Hall was promoted to Contracts Engineer, effective from the 1st of January 2020. This is reflective of our commitment to training, development and promotion within our business, and is testament to Gavin’s hard work, passion and dedication.
Congratulations, Gavin!
Glasgow Claypits update Work at our site at Glasgow’s Claypits Local Nature Reserve continues to progress well, with ongoing works on the Garscube pedestrian bridge. Originally the home of a clay quarry that was used when the Forth & Clyde Canal was first built in the late 1700s, it was also the site of a foundry, a glassworks and a boatbuilding yard. These industries are long gone, but the historic canal buildings the oldest in Scotland - still dot the banks. Community engagement in the area has been excellent. The site will provide the 75,000 residents who live within a 20-minute walk of the area with an important green space. Back in December, our site team displayed their festive cheer – donating to a local North Glasgow food bank.
ng homes framework We are delighted to confirm that we have been awarded the ng homes ‘Framework Agreement for Environmental Works’. The framework commenced in February for two years with an option to extend by up to 18 months. This is an excellent achievement and an area of our team capability that we are proud to showcase.
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Mental Health First Aiders We would like to thank those who have volunteered to become Mental Health First Aiders. This is a valuable role within the business and is important for removing stigma within our industry. Please see our full team of Mental Health First Aiders:
Robbie MacLean
Robert O’Neill
Fergus Fenwick
Steven Baird
Hugh McGuigan
William Cairns
Ryan Taggart
Lauren Docherty
Alison Irwin
Leighton Hay
Clair Ferguson
Ryan Dukes
Conor Larkin
Luke Summone
Bobby Telford
Michael Kelly
Robbie Coleman
Kevin Fisher
Gary McCann
Lewis Montgomery
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Commemorating our success with Scottish Canals
Following our shared success with Scottish Canals at the 2019 Scottish Civil Engineering Awards for our work on the replacement of the Fort Augustus and Kytra Locks
on the Caledonian Canal, we have commemorated our award with a framed copy of our certificate along with images from the project and awards ceremony.
In January, Managing Director, Andy Dalrymple and Contracts Director, Mark Wilson presented a matching framed award to Catherine Topley and Richard Miller of Scottish Canals.
Our 2020 charity announcement Following a successful year of fundraising for our 2019 nominated charity, we are delighted to announce that we will be supporting the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation in 2020. The charity was set up by Scottish rugby personality Doddie Weir, who also suffers with Motor Neurone Disease (MND). The foundation aims to raise funds to aid research into the causes of MND and investigate potential cures as well as making grants to individuals suffering from the incurable disease to ensure they can live as fulfilled a life as possible. We are excited to be working together with our staff, clients and supply chain to raise awareness and funds for this incredible charity throughout 2020.
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Staff spotlight: Kyle MacLean, Young Person of the Year
Kyle MacLean won our Young Person of the Year award at last year’s Christmas Training Day. Since Kyle joined us last February as one of our trainee engineers, he has demonstrated a willingness to take on more and more responsibility with minimal supervision and has excelled in everything he has been tasked with. As part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week in March, we caught up with Kyle to discuss his role and the benefits of apprenticeships. When did you first consider working in construction? “I always knew I wanted to work in construction, but around this time last year I had a conversation with someone I know who works in the industry. He talked me through the possible career options, and it seemed like something I would be really interested in. The opportunity to work on real projects and have responsibility for managing your own paperwork, making sure everything is running smoothly was something that excited me.” How did you hear about Mackenzie Construction? “I know a few people from my local area that work for Mackenzie Construction. I also spoke to one of the Mackenzie Construction apprentices to get more of a feel for what an apprenticeship involves. He explained that you get thrown in at the deep end and have to work hard, but the support, skills and career experience you can achieve is hugely beneficial.”
What does your role involve? “I’m a trainee engineer and I’m currently shadowing a site engineer, so the role is hugely varied. I have been responsible for making sure our paperwork is up-todate and organised correctly. On other days, I could be out on site talking to the team and learning from their knowledge and experience. I’ve now worked on lots of different sites, and even worked away from home at a site on the east coast of Scotland. I shadow Thomas McGuigan and it’s great because he started his career with an apprenticeship, so has been in the same situation. We get on really well which makes the job easier to learn and he’s always happy to help.” How do you find studying alongside working? “It’s definitely manageable. At first, I wasn’t great at managing the competing workloads, but the experience I’ve gained from spreading my time across various jobs has helped to develop my time management skills hugely. Thomas has been supportive as well – making sure I’m spending enough time doing my college work, as well as the practical side of things.”
How did you feel about winning the Young Person of the Year award? “I wasn’t expecting it at all. We had all been attending our training sessions and then when the awards were announced I was totally taken aback. I’d just come over to the tanks team, and the feedback from Thomas and the management team was that I’d progressed really quickly and always tried my best.” What would you say to someone else considering an apprenticeship? “I’d say 100% take an apprenticeship, if you can. If you’re not an academic person and don’t want to go down the University route, there are other options. With an apprenticeship, you can earn whilst you learn and also get to experience the many wide-ranging benefits from hands on learning.”
Join our brilliant team At Mackenzie Construction, we are always looking out for talented people to join our team. If you know someone who may be interested in joining our business, please ask them to forward their current CV to HR@mackenzieconstruction.com #SafeInTheKnowledge