From humble beginnings at my makeshift dining room table office back in 2013, when I first decided to be self-employed, shock, horror, to over a decade later where I am now sat in my bespoke home garden office. I now have the pleasure of working alongside Leon Maidment, foremost as my good friend, and following that, my business partner.
I have been fortunate to meet likeminded, and some not so likeminded, people on my journey. All have in some ways contributed, cheered me on, and inspired me in this evolution from employed, to self-employed, to business co-owner!
This past week reminded me of the value of connections with people. I have had some good conversations with a number of people both in and out of work about what matters to them and, in work mode, how we here at LCS Project Solutions Ltd can assist them in attaining their objectives.
This week in a nutshell:
Monday:
I was with New Forest Fencing for the day assisting with project planning, a local site compliance visit, and connecting with the site teams as they headed out for their daily tasks, and the crew who work in the yard and workshops. Such a positive vibe from all, thank you, NFF. Leon was busy conducting a thorough gap analysis review of a client’s existing health and safety management system and drafting the report of findings. Good foundations for operational control, an excellent platform to build from for continual improvement.
Tuesday:
A site compliance visit to Portsmouth at one of the older university buildings undergoing refurbishment. An interesting structure with cast iron rafters supporting a vaulted roof. Back at base, we continued with the gap analysis and report writing, alongside speaking to a client’s team to thrash out a temporary works brief covering a new build project during construction, among other client project-specific planning tasks. We also found time to put the finishing touches to our Building Safety Act Course for trialling and peer review. We are very excited to roll this out to our clients and partners.
Wednesday:
Weekly client CDM catch-up day with site compliance visits to Southampton’s Heritage Asset Repair Programme (HARP). We also assisted various clients with general health, safety, and environmental guidance and continued providing bespoke site planning assistance—the conversation continues on what best practice looks like.
Thursday:
Admin catch-up day kicked off with a chat with Sinead. Sinead provides vital assistance to the team and helps keep us focused on the tasks at hand—a valued member of the team. The day continued with the preparation of bespoke project planning documents for review by the design and client teams for a very exciting and unique project progressing well. An excellent client team, full of passion and enthusiasm. This is such a good team to be part of, from directors to site management to contractors. We are delighted to be involved! We also led day one of the SSSTS course for one of our partner organisations—an engaging group. If that was not enough, we carried out a site compliance inspection for a new build pavilion, resulting in an excellent report for the contractor clearly demonstrating how to apply operational control. I took a lunch break from my desk and cycled to my local lunch hotspot to chat with the staff and had a great impromptu conversation with another customer, Guinevere, regarding modern medicine and modern illnesses, both linked to modern environmental factors. These out-of-the-blue conversations can be so informative and enlightening.
Friday:
Final day of the SSSTS, ace. Report writing from recent site visits. More bespoke project planning tasks and a minor non-injury incident investigation. No matter how minor, they get the same detailed attention as the more significant. The purpose? To learn lessons for continual improvement. Another site compliance inspection and a great catch-up with Mel of Affinity Architect closing out the H&S File following the recent completion of a truly magnificent historic building. Always a joy speaking with Mel, not just about project-specific items, but about what else is important to us humans! To round the day off with a smile, I was tagged in a LinkedIn post from PC Flooring. Oliver Hammond has successfully achieved a NEBOSH Construction Certificate! I am proud to have played a small part in his journey. Well done, Oliver.
