Firstly, I’m delighted to share that we are a proud recipient of a Princess Royal Training Award for 2020.  It was fantastic to receive this news.  We worked hard to ensure our application really brought to life everything we’re doing on the training front.  We’ve made significant progress in this area since becoming British Engineering Services and getting acknowledged for this formally is just the icing on the cake.

The timing of this award could not be better, with every week bringing us closer to the opening of our new training centre.  It’s amazing to see our plans being brought to life and, again, we’re grateful to everyone involved for helping make sure we haven’t had to take our foot off the gas with this over recent months.  We worked hard to find a location that really suits our needs and I am convinced it was worth the effort, this is definitely the place for us.  The space is fantastic and our people will undoubtedly benefit from spending time here as they progress their career with us.  Again, safety will continue to be our number one priority and the layout will easily allow the most extensive training, from some of the most skilled industry experts, at a safe distance.

We have spent the last few weeks talking about The Paul Forrester Training Centre internally and the excitement of our people is unreal!  This is a huge investment in the future of the British Engineering Services Group and a real sign of things to come for our company.

Our focus will always sit firmly on the safety of our people and our customers, regardless of the circumstances.  We’re proud to be giving you the service you deserve, with no compromise, ever.  And we’re even prouder of the fantastic British Engineering Services team who continue to pull out all the stops to help make sure we can achieve this.  I’ve said it before, we really do have the very best people working for us and I am grateful to each of every one of them for their hard work and ‘can do’ attitude.

Providing you with a consistently brilliant service, albeit in a slightly different way as we adhere to government guidelines around social distancing and PPE etc, will remain high on our agenda.  Whether it’s your routine inspections or specialist testing work as you re-open your business after a period of downtime, we’re here to help make sure nothing is left to chance.

Our independence as a business has always been something we’ve been extremely proud of.  For British Engineering Services, being able to make a decision, change our ways of working, enhance our systems, and so much more, so quickly is just one of the many things that stands us above the rest.  The ability to do this while navigating the challenges of the last few months has been particularly beneficial for our business. We’ve been able to flex around your needs, to not only keep you safe and operational now, but ensure we continue to do so as more and more businesses come back online.

This, coupled with our innovative approach, has really kept us moving forward and we’re delighted to be working with new businesses all the time.  For our broker partners, our focus on eTrading is as important as ever.  It’s our job to make our services as easy for you and your clients to access as possible and we take this very seriously.  From continually building on our Acturis offering to introducing more and more new initiatives, we’ve got it covered.

Finally, as we continue to focus on our future, we’re looking for even more people to join our team.  It’s not just a numbers game for us, our approach to recruitment means we only ever employ people with the same attitude, aptitude and appetite for what we do.  It means our team will always consist of the very best people, something else we are very proud of.  By the end of the year, we will have welcomed 60 new people across the Group in 2020 alone.  This speaks for itself and really is the result of lots of hard work from lots of people.

To all of our customers, brokers and partners, thank you once again for your ongoing loyalty and support.  We will continue doing everything we can to make sure you and your people all get home safely every day, you have my word.

Our training is undoubtedly industry leading and the improvements we’ve made over recent years have had a significant impact on both our people and our business.  We were excited about sharing everything we’re doing on this front from the very start of the award application process.  With so much positive information surrounding our training and the development of our people, we knew that we had a great story to tell and couldn’t wait to share it.

The hard work of everyone involved in helping us present our evidence and, more importantly, the ongoing efforts of those who help deliver our brilliant training programme, has paid off and we’re delighted to have been acknowledged in this way.

The official congratulatory letter, issued by City and Guilds on behalf of Buckingham Palace, states: ‘You have further demonstrated that investing in your people through training and skills development has delivered real and tangible impact and benefits, and it is appropriate this will now be recognised through your Award. The commitment of your organisation to the development of your employees, especially during these acutely difficult times and as we aspire to recovery post Covid-19, demonstrates that you will be well prepared to play your part in the nation’s economic recovery.’

‘We couldn’t be happier that our commitment to our people has been recognised.  They are at the heart of our success as a business and we will continue to invest in them and their future with the British Engineering Services Group,’ said Hannah Mather Group HR Director.

Stewart Kay, Group CEO said, ‘I keep saying it, but I could not be prouder of our people and our business.  This award is just another example of how we’re leading the way in our industry.  Our training programme is integral to the success of the British Engineering Services Group and this is just another proof point that we’re doing it right.  With our new training centre opening later this year, the timing of this award is perfect!  Thank you to everyone involved in helping us achieve this and, more importantly, for helping make Britain and Ireland a safer place , we really do have the very best people.’

We look forward to sharing more information about our new training facility as we get closer to its official opening later this year.

I could not be more impressed with our people.  I am running out of phrases to say well done and thank you, I am so proud of each and every one of them.  We have received many compliments and much praise from our customers and brokers about the way we have handled ourselves and the consistency of our approach.  It has been a fantastic team effort with many having quietly gone above and beyond each day.  This has to be the proudest moment in our 160 year history. We have carried on supporting UK and Irish businesses throughout this crisis and have never shirked our responsibilities.

It is crucial that we recognise how important our part is in keeping things moving and keeping people safe.  For example, the work we have carried out at the Nightingale and other NHS hospitals has really brought to life how important our services are in helping our care providers carry on caring. We have worked with many businesses across many different sectors across the UK and Ireland to keep the national infrastructures operating. We are proud to have played our part.

Over the last few weeks, there have been several statements from the Health and Safety Executive regarding the importance of our industry.  This particular statement really reinforced the significance of our work: “The work of Engineer Surveyors is extremely valuable and necessary to maintaining safety critical plant and equipment, failure of which can create dangerous situations, risking physical harm to workers and the public. Much of this plant and equipment is vital to the national infrastructure, the NHS and to protect vulnerable groups as effectively as possible during the coronavirus crisis”. We continue to monitor Government and HSE guidelines and appreciate the support that we have received from the HSE and SaFed. The clarity and encouragement provided has been greatly appreciated.

To date we have had 6 people out of over 600 self-isolating for a variety of reasons but no one has tested positive for Covid-19 or been taken seriously ill.  I have continually reinforced the message to our people that no one should carry out work they are not comfortable doing. We will always follow specific site rules and guidance laid down by our customers. Our people are the best judges of their personal safety and if they feel they are being put at risk, they have our full support to walk away.  This is always the case and not just during these challenging times.

Ways of working will inevitably change with more people working from home more often. The past few weeks has shown that it is possible for people to work from home effectively and there are upsides to this including quality of life, improved healthy habits and less commuting. There will always be a need for us to meet and keep our social connections but we will have to learn to adapt and change our way of doing things. Over the coming weeks and months we will reassess how British and Irish Engineering work in the future to make sure we all get the benefits of both pre and post Covid practices.

I am delighted to announce that we have now started work on building our new training centre which is a big investment for us. It will allow us to cross train existing Engineer Surveyors and train our new Engineer Surveyors much more quickly, reduce training in the field and ultimately create new capacity for our growth as a business. The training centre means we can train safely and, if needed, keep social distancing in place.  This is very exciting for us as a business as we continue to invest in an even bigger and better future.

The Training Centre will be named after Paul Forrester, who we sadly lost last year.  He was both our Technical Specialist for Machinery and a great friend to many.  I am sure he is very proud of us all, particularly at the moment.

We are currently hiring more Engineer Surveyors than ever before. The demand for our services is ever growing and we won’t allow capacity to get in the way of servicing customers who need us.  In the first instance, we will be looking to add 60 new Engineer Surveyors to our team, with our next new group of Engineer Surveyors starting in June. It is great as a business to be hiring more people in these difficult times and also investing in our current staff.

How we have gone about our business has been exemplary and I am sure that there are lots of people who admire our quiet confidence and determination to do the right thing. I am pleased that we are able to continue with our plans and ambitions for the business and not just get by. We are doing all the things that we would have done without Coronavirus and probably more and that’s because of the fantastic people in British and Irish Engineering Services.

Finally, once again,  I would like to thank our people for being so brilliant and our customers and brokers for being so supportive as we navigate together through these difficult times.

Stewart Kay
Group CEO