Monday evening was a night for celebration as Envirocare Maintenance Solutions were voted Contractor of the Year at the 2011/2012 Property Management Awards.  The black tie event was hosted by News on the Block and held at the home of cricket, Lords’ County Cricket ground.  Dave, Jan, Phil and Sue made the trip down to London excited to be in the final three and optimistic about coming out on top.

The purpose of the awards ceremony and dinner was to recognise and celebrate excellence in the property management industry.  Whilst hosted by News on the Block, all the Awards were independently judged by an experienced panel of property experts representing the different stakeholders in the industry.  The Award categories were not just designed for property managers but also those organisations that supply services to the industry such as Insurance companies and Contractors.  These categories demonstrate the breadth in skills that the industry demands and the important influence third party agents play in ensuring services are delivered effectively. 

Congratulations also goes to Danielle Twittey, Property Manager for Buckshaw Village.  Danielle won the Property Manager of the Year category, a testimony to her hard work and dedication to the residents of Buckshaw.

We’ve yet to get an official statement (and photos) from Dave but at 10.05pm last night we all received a big congratulations!! by email – teamwork and hard work definitely pays off.

http://propertymanagementawards.co.uk/

This week we ask the “Quick Six Questions” to….

Luke Yates, Accounts Clerk

1.  1st Job?

Paper round when I was 15 years old

2.  1st Memory?

Aged 3 years old.  We had run out of biscuits and I remember being that mad at my mum, that I put the biscuit tin on my head and kept banging it and banging it to make a noise.  All that actually happened was it getting stuck on my head and my mum panicked and called the fire brigade!  Yes, they actually came out to get the tin off my head!  The plus side was me getting a ride in the fire engine and a tube of smarties for being brave!  The story then appeared on the front page of the Lancashire Evening Post!

3.  Whats in your CD player now?

+ by Ed Sheerman

4.  Favourite 3 course meal?

Breaded Garlic Mushrooms / Chicken Balti with pilau rice and a keema naan / Applie Pie and Custard

5.  Superstar Name? (name of 1st ever pet and mothers maiden name)

Molly Lowe

6.  What would you change or make happen if you could?

I’d change the name of my first pet to “hangs” so that I had a far superior superstar name

Next up, we have…

Scott Harley, Maintenance Supervisor

1.  Aged 15 years at my dads company – Airlec.  You’d think i’d have gotten away with more with him being my dad, but he used to pick on me the most!

2.  Aged 4, I snapped my femur jumping around being a Power Ranger

3.  The Fray by The Fray

4.  Minestrone Soup / Peppered Steak & Chips / Vanilla Ice Cream

5.  Dashboard Roark

6.  I’d make Newcastle win the champions league

Who will it be next week? 

“It’s getting silly now why does everyone keep running away? Come back!”

High Quality Training + High Pass Rates = RoSPA Success

There’ll be no time to take a breather during the winter season, as Managing Director Dave has a comprehensive Health and Safety training plan all set for the team.  “Traditionally the winter months tend to be a quieter time in the world of Grounds Maintenance, in recent years Envirocare has provided gritting and snow clearance services – this keeps the guys busy but this year they’ll find themselves even busier!  The company has invested in the RoSPA accredited web-based Health and Safety training package; the package covers several hazards relating to grounds maintenance and also includes risk assessment, health and safety awareness and environmental protection” reports Dave.  “Every member of staff will complete the training with evidence of their competency recorded and stored on I.D. cards carried by the guys – working safely is a must.”

 “I feel really positive about the forth coming training” commented Angie, Health and Safety Coordinator “I’ve reviewed the training package; the content and teaching methods are excellent.  I hope everyone will enjoy the e-learning experience and benefit from increasing their health and safety skills and awareness.”

The training schedule is currently being arranged and will be available to all staff by mid November.

Angie Grime, Health & Safety Co-ordinator

1.  First Job?

Aged 16 years, Jewellery Department at Whittakers of Bolton

Lindsay Roxburgh, Business Development Manager

1.  Aged 16 years, Ride Operator at Camelot Theme Park, Chorley – I got to go on all the rides – to make sure they were working correctly of course! I love it!

Our team travelled down the night before to be up bright and early to set up our stand at the Birmingham NEC show last weekend.  This will be our 2nd year at the show. 

Jamie, with an unfortunate positioning of a cow!

As is always the way when the Envirocare team go on any “road trip”….something always happens to one of its members!  This time it was the turn of our Field Support Manger, Jamie Shipley.  

On arrival to the hotel, once everything was in order of course, it would have been rude not to have a few nightcaps.  Anyone who knows our Jamie, knows that only a few of these are needed to make him go a bit “squiffy”! 

On retiring for the evening, Jamie remembers thinking to himself that he must have done something right because the admin team had booked him into a great, spacious room!  He went to the bathroom, turned on the light, brushed his teeth and got into bed, falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow!  Within no time at all, two burly hotel staff burst into his room and stood either side of his bed “ Do you need help sir!” 

Yes, you’ve guessed it – Jamie didn’t turn on the light at all – when he pushed the large red button in the bathroom he called for immediate emergency assistance!  

For some reason, Jamie only drank water with his evening meals for the rest of the weekend and apart from his initial adventure - the real reason he was in Birmingham went wonderfully. 

Noel Keane, our Marketing Manager said “The show was a resounding success and the Envirocare stand and its team looked terrific”