Progress, Partnership & Process
Kicking off another purposeful 4-day sprint, this week blended LCS commitments with a refreshing shift from the desk. We worked remotely from an Airbnb in Cornwall. Early mornings fuelled by strong coffee led to e-bike adventures along historic mining trails, sharpening focus before diving into late shifts of client coordination and compliance reviews.
Even our safety beagle mascot took a well-earned rest, embodying the balance of vigilance and recovery in hi-vis gear and hard hat.
Our week consisted of regular client team engagement and conversations. Many varied tasks were successfully completed by the team. Let’s dive in.
Monday
A mix of rest, work, and play. Advantage was taken of the bank holiday as family headed home, leaving one of ours to commence work from the familiar kitchen table desk. This continued client Constructionline Gold work and, of course, included a bike ride along the Great Flat Lode through mining heritage to The Croust Hut for lunch.
Tuesday
Back to it for all. Tuesday was a mix of catching up on administrative and client tasks: safe system of work document production, continuation of Constructionline Gold activities, draft health and safety file production, and more!
Another e-bike explore for coffee and to Carn Brea monument, a 31m high granite column erected in tribute to local philanthropist and key mining family member Francis Bassett (the mines below also bear the Basset name). The views from the top of this granite outcrop are stunning at 225m above sea level.
Enough of the views. Francis Basset was known for looking after his workers and did much to improve their lives. He was made Baron de Dunstanville in 1779 after marching his miners from Camborne to Plymouth to shore up the city’s defences against the invading French and Spanish fleets. And today, who would do the same, I ask?
Wednesday
Wednesday saw the return of site compliance tours to Portsmouth and the University of Southampton, two very different projects. A third was intended at Porton Down on the way back from Cornwall but was postponed en route. Adaptation was required. Fortunately, less than half the journey was completed before the message was received, no redirection needed, straight back to base for an afternoon continuing work on the client’s health and safety file.
What else? More development work for clients’ safe system of work documents, some of which is a first for us collaborating on a project inside our local Fawley refinery.
Thursday
Another postponed site visit due to client commitments required a redirect to other tasks, seamlessly carried out, I will add. This provided opportunity for a team update, document control actions, other administrative tasks, and continuing client development works.
A site compliance tour as planned still went ahead, this time to Bognor Regis for an early start to manage traffic and witness trades commence their day. That can be quite revealing. A good tour followed by discussion over coffee with the supervisor. The challenges of meeting PC expectations and logistical matters yielded positive outcomes for all.
From Bognor to Gosport. This one we have been looking forward to for a while. Following completion of the Bury Cross Garage redevelopment back in late summer 2025, where we served as Employers Agent administering the works, we have been trusted to help the management team develop systems to take the business forward in what is effectively a new premises. We are delighted and honoured to have secured this position and very much look forward to collaborating with the team.
Friday
Yep, another postponed site tour. Don’t tell the client, but we were quite relieved by this. Time to be planted for the day as the team wrapped up loose ends from the last few weeks and prepared for the coming week.
Some good productive tasks completed too: safe system of work documents reviewed and issued, a CDM PD support fee proposal drafted and issued, client email and telephone conversations, transcripts from meetings developed into minutes and issued, and more. Let’s also not forget this weekly reflection.
Closing Thought
We planned for remote balance alongside key client pushes. We delivered with adaptability across sites and documents. We checked progress through tours and feedback. We’ll act by refining the Fawley refinery collaboration and Gosport systems development.
Like Bassett’s miners marching for a greater cause, this week proved true partnership thrives on trust, flexibility, and well-earned rest. Here’s to Week 15!
