Flipbook Novus 10 year anniversary

OUR 10th YEAR TOGETHER

Celebrating a decade of Novus!

2023 was an incredibly special moment in Novus’ history, as we celebrated our 10-year anniversary. As a business, we have a long and proud history dating all the way back to the founding of the first Seddon company in 1897 by brothers George and John Seddon. That business grew and diversified, right up to 2013 when Seddon Property Services rebranded into Novus Property Solutions.

To mark such a prestigious milestone, we had a full year of activities planned that recognised and rewarded our fantastic colleagues, give back to the communities we work in, and delivered loads of fun along the way!

Let’s get Together

Game On In It to Win It Raffle

Shinning Stars

Novus Awards

Happy Birthday to You

Charity Money-Match

January 2023 February 2023

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Adam Morris - Quantity Surveyor

2nd Prize - Chris Lear - Senior Quantity Surveyor

3rd Prize - Conor Morley - Bid Manager

Shining Star - Mark Emery

Mark Emery, contracts manager from Birmingham received thefirst Shining Star award and was chosen for supporting one of his team for a sustained length of time during a period of family crisis. Showing true leadership, Mark has stepped up personally to allow flexibility of working hours – often covering his colleague’s responsibilities himself.

Shining Stars - Sean Twigg & Paul Fox

Sean Twigg, Assistant Contracts Manager and Paul Fox, Senior Contracts Manager were double winners, living and breathing several of our values through supporting a member of their team whilst they were going through a particularly difficult period of poor mental health. Sean provided continued support for this individual, stepping up in his capacity as a Line Manager to cover workload where needed, while also being available 24/7 for help.

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Chad Simpson - Site Manager

2nd Prize - Lisa Richards - Commercial Administrator

3rd Prize - Sophie Astles - Lead Data Analyst

February 2023

The Teams

Let’s get Quizzical!

Speaking of the win, Five Towns House/ Interiors Team Captain Lee Spencer commented:

"It was great to see so many faces from around Great Britain at the BET365 stadium for our anniversary quiz - it was a brilliant atmosphere and hilariously funny!

I thank my fellow team members for this career-high moment, particularly Darren Fowler, whose knowledge of German Euro Rave music made the difference at the finish line!"

Healthcare Team

Midlands Region Team

Scotland Region Team

North Region Team

Five Towns House/ Interiors Team South Region Team

March 2023 April 2023

1st Prize - Malcolm Hillen - Senior Quantity Surveyor - Healthcare

2nd Prize - Sam Peckham - Supply Chain Manager

3rd Prize - Neil Simpson - Contracts Manager Raffle Winners

Shining Star - Kira Reeder

Kira Reeder, Site Supervisor was chosen for supporting our operations teams and customers, particularly when dealing with vulnerable residents. Kira has been praised for working cooperatively and enthusiastically within the team and encouraging others by making a full personal contribution. “Due to Kira’s positive, can-do attitude she raises moral within our team and builds relationships with our clients and their customers. Kira always thinks of how we have impacted on the customers journey, and thelegacy we are leaving them with”.

Shining Star - Brian Tonge

Brian Tonge, a Site Manager in our Preston office, has been chosen by our panel for displaying a number of our values in supporting a resident on a social housing project in Carlisle. While relaxing at home on a Friday night, Brian received a call from a colleague about a tenant who was unable to lock their front door. Knowing the resident was anxious, and not wanting to risk them having an unlocked front door all evening, Brian made the journey to site to successfully resolve the issue.

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Steven Axon - Stores Manager

2nd Prize - Garry Hirst - Gas Engineer

3rd Prize - Luke Crook - Multi-Trade Operative

10 Year Birthday Celebrations!

Last year we celebrated Novus’ very special 10th birthday! Colleagues gathered in our offices up and down Great Britain to mark the occasion with parties, games and fundraising activities.

Novus may have launched a decade ago, but the business is part of a family business with a rich 126-year history. Currently owned by fourth and fifth-generation Seddon family members, the business’ shareholders and Board played an active role in the celebrations alongside each of our teams.

We loved seeing Novus turning 10 in style, and we hope you all enjoyed the events across your local offices.

Birmingham

Basingstoke North Wales/ Wrexham

Leighton Buzzard

Warrington

Burton Whitburn York Scotland Five Towns House

April 2023

5-a-side Football

Speaking of the win, Midlands Region Team Captain Gary Clay commented: “We were delighted to come together as a diverse group from across the region and lift the trophy, after an unbeaten run through the competition. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, played in the correct spirit by all, in line with our company values. Congrats to all who organised anda took part in such a successful event, with a special mention to Murphy’s Law who were worthy adversaries in the final. We look forward to the next challenge and intend to keep our Midlands team at the top of the table!”

The Teams

Healthcare Team

Midlands Region Team

Scotland Region Team North Region Team

Five Towns House/ Interiors Team South Region Team

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Gary North - Trade Supervisor

2nd Prize - Eugene O’Callaghan - Operations Manager

3rd Prize - Aimee Hall - Customer Liaison Officer

Shining Star - Martyn Everett

Martyn Everett, a Site Supervisor in our Education team has been chosen by our panel for displaying a number of our values including living the purpose of our Say it Out Loud campaign. While attending one of our recent Wellbeing Roadshows hosted by the Lighthouse Club (our Employee Assistance Provider), Martyn look the opportunity to open up and share his own experiences.

Shining Stars - Jordan Harrison & Nathan O’Neil

Jordan Harrison, a Site Manager and Nathan O’Neil an Assistant Contracts Manager both from our Burton office, have been chosen by our panel for displaying a number of our Novus values during a medical emergency. While undertaking Site checks for Trent and Dove at 4pm on a Friday, Jordan and Nathan noticed a member of the public had collapsed and needed medical attention. The pair helped the elderly gentleman by putting him in the shade and tried to get him comfortable at the same time as calling for an ambulance. Nathan held his hand under his head to keep him comfortable and they stayed with him for over 2 hours until the ambulance arrived.

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Nick Rogers - Site Supervisor

2nd Prize - Harriet Lowe - Site Supervisor

3rd Prize - Simon Clegg - Supply Chain Manager

July 2023

The Teams

From left to right, in the orange shirts we have “Five Towns House/ Interiors Team”, in the white shirts are the “Healthcare Team”, in the green shirts are “Midlands Region Team”, and in the blue shirts are the “North Region Team”. Two of our teams, “South Region Team” and Scotland Region Team” were unabe to attendon the day.

Tough Mudder 5K

In a amazing show of team strength and resilience, every single colleague that took part completed the eventa statement of strength of character of our Novus colleagues.

Whilst everyone who took part in this challenge absolutely deserve their competitors medal, there can still only be one winner for our Ten-Year-Tournament Challenge, and on this occasion the winners are Five Towns House/ Interiors Team!

Sean Twigg, Assistant Contracts Manager wo was part of the winning team said: “I a honoured to be part of such an amazing and hardworking team, the resilience and determination that each in-dividual showed to complete the challenge was a testament to all involved”.

July 2023 August 2023

Shining Star - Jacquelyn (Jay) Evans

Jacquelyn (Jay) Evans, a Customer Liaison Office working in the North Region has been chosen by our panel for displaying several of our values by always going above and beyond for our customers, residents, and the communities we work in. Jay is always on hand to arrange community benefits, volunteering days and gather donations for worthy causes within the region both as part of her role and in her spare time.

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Leah Carr - HR Advisor

2nd Prize - Charlotte Darwent - Customer Liaison Officer

3rd Prize - Roxanne Dell - Senior Customer Liaison Officer

1st Prize - Ashley Wharton - Painter & Decorator

2nd Prize - Andrew Keates - Site Manager

3rd Prize - Mark Davies - Maintenance Operative Raffle Winners

Shining Star - Lee Simpson

Lee Simpson, a Painter & Decorator working from the Midlands Region has been chosen by our panel for displaying several of our values by going above and beyond the call of duty to help a resident in need. Lee came to the rescue of an elderly lady being attacked by a dog. Putting himself in harm’s way to help a vulnerable resident. Not only did he prevent any further harm, but he also helped the lady back home and waited with her until the emergency services attended. It goes to show that not all superheroes wear capes!

September 2023 Step Challenge

During September and October, our teams went head-to-head in the 10 Year Steps Challenge. There was lots of walking, jogging, and running to get those steps in!

We hope that all who took part have felt the health & wellbeing benefits of doing so.

The team which averaged the most steps between them and are the winner of the 10 Year Steps Challenge is:

MIDLANDS REGION TEAM

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Ciprian Cretu - Site Manager

2nd Prize - Amber Leese - HR Coordinator

3rd Prize - Ian Whitwell - Assistant Contracts Manager

Shining Star - Gary Johnson

Garry Johnson, a Painter & Decorator working for the Burton Operations in the Midlands has been chosen by our panel for displaying several of our values by always aiming to get his jobs right the first time and by delivering great service to our residents.

Shining Star - Lucy Makepeace

Lucy Makepeace, Head of Bid Management, has been nominated by her team on multiple occasions this year. Her commitment to be a compassionate and supportive leader has earned her October’s award. Her team know that Lucy will always be there for them, through the good times and the more difficult times on top of taking time out of her own annual leave entitlement to raise money for charities, taking part in CoppaFeel and Destination Florida this year alone.

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Alison Pennicott - KPI & Performance Manager

2nd Prize - Alan Potter - Painter & Decorator

3rd Prize - IAdam Jones - Data Analyst

November 2023 Bake Off Challenge

The final challenge was a Bake-Off event that took place at the Sylvester Community Centre in Stoke. The Sylvester Community Centre recently featured on the BBC’s DIY SOS (which Novus took part in), and the charity kindly allowed Novus to use their community kitchen for this event.

With the Midlands Region Team ahead of the race, they could only loose if they didn’t come 1st or 2nd with Five Towns House/ Interiors Team following right behind them!

The teams cooked throughout the day, each having 1 hour each to produce a cake of their own choice, and the final results were judged by Sylvesters Chairwoman Sue, Director Matt Hiley and Shareholder Helen Oakey from JSSH. It was a close challenge as all the baked cakes were of a very high standard. After much deliberation (and several retastes to ensure the judges were sure) the results were declared and the winners were Five Towns House/ Interiors Team with a Raspberry-Lemon drizzle cake baked by isabella Michael and Trudi Powell.

The Teams

Healthcare Team

Midlands Region Team

Scotland Region Team

North Region Team

Five Towns House/ Interiors Team

South Region Team

November 2023 December 2023

Shining Star - Gary Johnson

Wayne Appleby, Site Manager consistently exceeds expectations in his role, earning praise from both residents and clients. He was honoured with the Shining Star Award for his swift response to a tenant’s property leak, acting promptly when the Housing Association, with a 4-hour delay, was unable to attend. Wayne attended the property due to the severity of the problem, isolated the leak, ensuring safety and easing concerns.

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Katie Williams - Social Value Administrator

2nd Prize - Ivan Noel - Apprentice Carpenter

3rd Prize - Gemma Edwards - Senior Business Development Manager

Raffle Winners

1st Prize - Sam Hollamby - Quantity Surveyor

2nd Prize - Isabella Michael Bid & Business Development Coordinator

3rd Prize - Lyane Bartlett Head of IT & Data

Shining Star - Samantha Burgon

Samantha Burgon, Customer Liaison Officer attended a property to help a resident move personal items away from the area in which Novus would be working on to fit new windows. Samantha noticed the resident did not look well and asked around his welfare. The resident was diabetic and hadn’t taken insulin for a week and felt unwell. Samatha immediately called an ambulance and stayed with the resident until the paramedics arrived and took him to hospital. She also checked up on the resident following a short stay in hospital and he was thankful for ultimately saving his life.

The Novus Awards 2023’

Novus Awards 2023

Novus Awards 2023

Health and Safety Champion

The health and safety of Novus colleagues and people around our sites is paramount. This award is to recognise the contributions that employees make in fostering a culture of health and safety in the workplace, working towards continuous improvement and the prevention of unsafe conditions or practices.

Aaron Raynor

Aaron Raynor works within our Health division as a site manager. Aaron supports all of his operatives ensuring that our sites are compliant and delivered safely. Aaron is an active member of his SHE committee and takes every opportunity to learn and influence change showing a professional and passionate attitude towards health and safety.

Rebejah Cliff

Rebekah Cliff works within the SHEA team as a SHEA apprentice. Rebekah shows a pas-sion for Health and Safety and a desire to continuously learn. At the age of 17 Rebekah passed the IOSH Managing Safely certificate and has further developed knowledge through her health and safety apprentice. Rebekah has played a pivotal role in developing our new e20 SHE digital platform providing help and support to our operational teams.

Harriet Lowe

Harriett Lowe works within our North Wales division as a Site Supervisor. During 2023 our safety observations have developed our safety culture and provided us with the oppor-tunity to improve our safety management systems. Harriett has embraced this initiative and has submitted 142 observations to the SHEA Team this year.

The Winner is...

Aaron Raynor

Novus Awards 2023

Customer Service Champion

This award is in recognition of those who support customers, drive satisfaction, and help to maintain Novus as a great business. There were a large number of entries for this category and those shortlisted showed a high level of accomplishments, professionalism and commitment to customer service making them role models for customer service delivery.

Michelle Eden

Michelle always works extremely closely with the site team to ensure that any site is well managed and all cus-tomers remain happy, often working late or adapting her hours to ensure tenant needs can be met. She is also always a happy presence at the office and goes out her way to assist other members of the customer care team when she can. Michelle’s work ethic does not go unnoticed she is consistently reminded by clients and fel-low colleagues of what an important role she plays in our delivery and how impressive her skills are.

Terrie Brett

Terrie has been described by her nominators as the backbone of the customer service team and every cus-tomers dream! She is on hand to support and guides her team to deliver the best customer service and en-sures the Novus values are delivered throughout. No customer is too difficult for Terrie - She has the ability to turn complaints into compliments, able to implement ideas to better the customer journey consistently and motivates and encourages her team to provide the very best customer service, supporting wherever and however is required. All while not being afraid to get stuck in!

Jay Evans

Jay goes above and beyond on a daily basis whilst working for the business. She genuinely cares about the cus-tomers she works with, the reputation of the business and helping the community. Every month Jay goes above and beyond by collecting money for charities in the local area, via dress down Fridays or any other way she can think of. She is passionate about her work and does everything she can to ensure that the customer has a positive experience when working with Novus.

The Winner is...

Terrie Brett

Novus Awards 2023

Social Value Impact

This award is for a team or contract who has demonstrated a clear understanding of social value and have implemented an initiative with meaningful impact. It is in recognition of a project that has delivered clear economic, environmental, or social wellbeing outcomes and leaves a legacy for the benefit of our customers and the wider communities/stakeholders in which it serves.

North Manchester General Hospital, Wellbeing Gardens

The Novus team delivered two Wellbeing Garden refurbishment projects to transform unused spaces in the hospital grounds into inspiring, communal areas that can be used to enhance the wellbeing of NHS patients and staff at the hospital. Novus invested over £30,000 on the projects which will allow hundreds, if not thousands of people to benefit from the improvements for years to come.

The Guiness Partnership Devon and Cornwall Food Poverty Project

One of the key challenges facing TGP communities across the Southwest area is food pov-erty. Novus partnered with a Food Bank Charity and invested over £15,000 to fund two mobile Food bank vehicles and supported with improving their operational facilities. The Novus team volunteered their time over the year to help tackle food poverty in rural areas helping 50+ Individuals benefit per week and 2000+ engagements per year.

Sylvester Community Trust, DIY SOS

Through DIY SOS, Novus were made aware of a project in Stoke which required the up-grade of a vital community facilities which are a lifeline to many of the poorest residents in the region. Novus invested £10,000 to support DIY SOS and a number of staff volunteered to support the televised event which improved the much needed community facilities that help support more than 250 individuals per week.

The Winner is...

North Manchester General Hospital, Wellbeing Gardens

Novus Awards 2023

Contract of the Year

This award is in recognition of a contract that demonstrates great client and supply chain relationships; that has been delivered on time, exceeded quality expectations and to budget, along with overall high customer satisfaction and has effectively overcome project challenges along the way.

Lansdown Crescent: The Guiness Partnership, Cheltenham

The Southwest team successfully delivered a full refurbishment project consisting of twenty-four grade II listed properties (a former Italianate Villa, now divided into apart-ments) and a hundred and nineteen flats and a sheltered care scheme. Works delivered consisted of replacement roofing using traditional slate, refurbishment of bathrooms and kitchens and the upgrade and replacement of fire doors, access systems and fire alarms. The delighted client awarded Novus with satisfaction KPI of 98.9% in addition to being named their top performing contractor overall, nationally.

Wrexham County Borough Council, Voids Contract

The dedicated team based in Wrexham throughout 2023 delivered 153 void properties, averaging £27,332 per property. Each void had different complexities and through excel-lent management and delivery achieved a perfect 100% KPI result. Due to the success of the contract, the client has awarded Novus additional workstreams, highlighting the con-sistent quality and professional delivery on every site.

Whitbread

Throughout 2023 the Whitbread delivery team refurbished a total number of 18 full hotels with approximately 2,300 bedrooms, managing on average 360 operatives together with the Client’s supply chain. Our operation stretches across the nation with 710 miles between the most Northern and Southern projects – Inverness, Scotland to Helston, Cornwall re-spectively. In this time the team have also successfully delivered Whitbread’s largest hotel, Gatwick North Terminal which contains over 700 rooms and a total floor area exceeding 50,000 square meters – equivalent to 8 football pitches! All while maintaining an NPS score of 10/10 from the client.

The Winner is...

Whitbread

Novus Awards 2023

Apprentice of the Year

This award celebrates an existing Novus apprentice who has demonstrated achievements, contributions and impact they have made in their respective business area. Apprentices are a big part, of what makes Novus great, and apprentices don’t just bring new talent but they are also seen as the next generation of potential leaders for our business.

Rebekah Cliff

Rebekah has been described as hard working and has built great relationships with the teams on site, readily asking questions. She goes above and beyond what is expected of her and always has a smile on her face. She has been heavily involved in the roll out of E20 and has ensured that the project ran smoothly and is now the main champion for system queries.

Logan Collier

Logan is keen to learn in all areas, not just commercial and is not afraid to ask questions. He listens to advice, is very pro-active and has integrated well into the site and commercial teams. He has progressed quickly and carries out tasks as a qualified QS would. One of his nominators said “He’s quickly become an essential part of team, enrolling in all social and charitable events, and involving himself in all aspects of the site.”

Cody Eaton

Cody has made a positive start to his role at Novus, maintaining an excellent work ethic, picks things up quickly, is always willing to learn and is keen to succeed – his mentor said “I have been extremely impressed by his overall attitude to work and interests of both the company and his commercial career. He has been productive since the day he joined the team and has been a huge assistance to us all. I look forward to seeing where his career takes him!”

The Winner is...

Rebekah Cliff

Novus Awards 2023

Leader of the Year

This award is to recognise a leader who is an excellent role model. They inspire others to work collaboratively and create and promote a work environment that is respectful, colle-gial and supportive.

Darren Bowkett

Darren’s nominees expressed clearly that he has a team who all want to work for him and believe in him. He is a great leader, supports all of his team, provides his knowledge, skills and opportunities for colleagues to further develop their own careers. It is clear that he supports his team both personally and professionally making Novus a great place to work, especially when you are part of his team.

Lucy Makepeace

Lucy has been described as an inspirational, positive and authentic leader who always dis-plays the highest levels of compassion, calmness and support to her team. She exudes eve-ry Novus value taking full ownership of bids and ‘rolls her sleeves up’ when needed as well as setting standards to consistently raise the bar. This is in addition to genuinely caring for her team often asking ‘how are you feeling;’ guiding col-leagues through difficult times personally and her team feel a sense of belonging because of the support they receive.

Shaun Clewes

Shaun constantly works alongside the whole team and always finds ways to improve to ensure all contracts and projects run smoothly, often working more than required to make this happen. He is a passionate leader who drives the Burton team to succeed and has been described as ‘a fantastic boss.’

The Winner is...

Darren Bowkett

Novus Awards 2023

10 Year Challenge Team of the Year

To celebrate the Novus tenth anniversary, a calendar of different events and initiatives were implemented throughout 2023. One of the of the initiatives included a series of events whereby 6 teams from the different business units competed in a series of chal-lenges for one team to be crowned the overall ‘10 Year Challenge Team of the Year’ win-ners. The challenges ran throughout February-November and included a quiz, a five-a-side football tournament, a 5k tough mudder, a steps challenge and finally a bake off. The events were chosen to reflect different skills including physical, mental and technical. For each event the team captains chose different groups of individuals to compete to give eve-ryone an opportunity to get involved should they want to. The events helped to bond teams, increase communication, motivation and collaboration as well as to bring some fun into the workplace to commemorate the celebratory year.

A league table was communicated after each event and the top 3 teams at the end of the challenges are:

Five Towns House/ Interiors Team

Team Captain: Lee Spencer

Midlands Region Team

Team Captain: Gary Clay

Health Team

Team Captain: Adrian Heaton

The Winner is...

Five Towns House / Interiors Team

Novus Awards 2023

Employee of the YearThroughout the year employees have had the opportunity to nominate another colleague from anywhere within the business for embracing the Novus values. Each month a ‘Shining Star’ was chosen by the 10 year working group panel from a long list of nominations. Throughout 2023, 14 Shining Stars received recognition and go forward to be presented as the overall Employee of the Year. This is the most prestigious award of the evening and highlights an employee’s exceptional performance, leadership, innovation, and embodi-ment of the company’s core values.

JANUARY - Mark Emery

FEBRUARY - Sean Twigg & Paul Fox

MARCH - Kira Reeder

APRIL - Brian Tonge

MAY - Martyn Everett

JUNE - Jordan Harrison & Nathan O’Neil

JULY - Jacquelyn (Jay) Evans

AUGUST - Lee Simpson

SEPTEMBER - Garry Johnson

OCTOBER - Lucy Makepeace

NOVEMBER - Wayne Appleby

DECEMBER - Samantha Burgon

The Winner is...

Mark Emery

Novus Awards 2023

Thank You to our Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Raffle and Shining Star Awards

Following positive feedback from last years ‘in it to win it’ raffle, we have decided to bring it back. Each month, from February 2024 to December 2024, all participants have the chance of winning a selection of top prizes including:

To join the raffle, we are asking for a £1 donation for each month’s draw (Feb – Dec), with all proceeds going to our chosen charity.

How do I enter?

Colleagues will be able to register to take part in the raffle through your PeopleHR profile

To make an application, you will need to follow the steps below:

• Log into PeopleHR either through the app or desktop site

• Select your profile

• Select logbook in the menu on the left

• In the logbook screen, select ‘in it to win it raffle’

• Press the ‘+’ icon to start a new entry

• Read the registration form, tick the boxes, sign the bottom of the form and press save.

At Novus, our company values are the guiding principles for how we behave and work together to create a strong and successful business. You, as our colleagues, are at the heart of this success, and without you we would not be able to deliver great projects for our clients or the communities in which we work.

We are pleased to continue the Shining Stars Awards to celebrate the fantastic work of our team and recognise those who truly embody our company values.

Helping us select a worthy winner, every month throughout 2024 you can nominate colleagues who have gone above and beyond in their role. From this, we will recognise the hard work of one colleague each month, with the winner receiving an extra £500 in their take-home pay, alongside an invitation to our end of year awards ceremony.

Thank You All for a Great Year celebrating you the Novus Way!