Friday update

As we find ourselves entering a rather dismal October weatherwise, I’m reassured to see that this is not reflected in the team spirit so prevalent throughout the business, and which remains as buoyant and upbeat as ever- although the hardy Jenner team at today’s Kent MS Centre Charity Golf day (pictured below looking a little bedraggled and forlorn) which was eventually postponed halfway around the course due to the heavy rain, may counter that statement!

As always, I remain eternally optimistic that just as the weather will improve, so will the current circumstances as we continue to find our way forwards amidst the ambiguity and conflicting advice. At this point in the year, I cannot help but reflect on the huge challenges we have faced so far, and worked so hard to overcome, and how grateful I am to see us return to pre-COVID levels of productivity with 19 live sites underway and robustly maintaining our excellent reputation and presence within the Kent and Sussex regions.

The construction industry as a whole continues to regain strength which offers us further confidence for the future and with the recent government promises of further funding injections, this time with a focus on modernising public buildings to ensure they are sustainable for the future, the road to recovery continues to centre around construction, which is most encouraging to see. Our ability to draw parallels with national industry trends and assurance that we are well-placed to benefit from enhanced opportunity created by the government’s focused expenditure ensures we can continue to push forwards and focus efforts on securing future opportunity to support our already strong forward orderbook.

I feel that this week it best to bypass news of Donald Trump’s (claimed) positive COVID-19 test, or Boris’s talks of our “complacency” and lack of compliance with the restrictive measures imposed that led to recent spikes in infection rates, and instead focus on the mass of positivity that surrounds Jenner, with many interesting site updates to share with you tonight! (I won’t even mention the ‘B-word’ either)

Firstly, I am delighted to announce that our latest new project has mobilised on site at Halstow Way in Ashford. This development of 17 residential units will be managed by Clinton Dunn and will deliver essential affordable housing on behalf of our highly valued, repeat client Ashford Borough Council, and continues our presence within the Ashford borough which remains a hive of development and construction activity.

Work continues to progress ahead of expectation on phase 1 of the Folkestone Seafront development of 84 luxury new homes, as illustrated in the pictures below. The parking level slab to the East block has now been cast which will effectively be the main entrance level to the overall development. For the central townhouses, construction of the ground beams remains the primary focus as well as preparation for the storage floor, and to the West Block the majority of the attention has been on the reinforced foundation to the stair core.

With two tower cranes proudly gracing the Folkestone horizon and work progressing at pace I am delighted to introduce and warmly welcome a new member of the team, Paul Sherrin, who joined us this week as a Site Manager to work alongside and support both Chris Page and Shaun Burgess in delivering this highly technical, incredibly challenging and prestigious local project. Welcome Paul and I hope you are enjoying life with Jenner after your very first week (don’t worry, you’ll get used to Mr Burgess’ unique sense of humour before too long!)

Following last week’s successful visit by the Leader of Dover District Council Cllr Trevor Bartlett to our William Muge and Snelgrove development in Dover, further praise has been received this week from our client, and today the site team welcomed Dover District Council Directors as seen in the photograph below, and again who were thoroughly impressed by both the development itself and the professionalism of our excellent team.

“The Dover District Council client team would like to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude and thank you for working with us to realize our vision of creating aspirational homes that will be of benefit to the whole community”. Rob Page – Strategic Development Lead (Architecture)– Dover District Council, pictured far left.

The team busy delivering 51 extra care units in Charing on behalf of our longstanding client Orbit, proactively engaged with their neighbours at ‘The Moat’ last weekend as Ashley Smith, Danny Gear and David Wood led by Phil Hards (as pictured below) all gave up their Saturday to voluntarily assist with the clearance of woodland and streams alongside some essential paving works, and were all warmly thanked for their efforts. Great work guys!!

Earlier today it was a pleasure to have the opportunity to visit Kirk Longman on site at the University of Kent to personally congratulate him on his formidable achievement in securing the GOLD award at the National Considerate Constructors Awards, in delivering the Harmonia Village Dover, as announced to you all last week. This is such a huge industry accolade and an incredibly impressive achievement. Given Kirk’s tireless efforts and enthusiasm to go above and beyond he absolutely deserves this level of recognition. Congratulations again Kirk, Darren and to all those who assisted him in securing this stellar award!

And last but certainly not least, I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Ella Brocklebank on her exceptional Anchorwoman work, ably assisted by Cheryl Causebrook who many of you will know, as they jointly hosted the ‘Kent Construction Live’ Vitual Expo on Thursday, which of course usually takes place at the Kent Showground and is the most significant gathering of Kent Construction professionals that happens during the year. Due to the current COVID restrictions, the Virtual Expo, which was the brainchild of Ella and Cheryl, followed a similar format to the usual Expo, starting with a virtual breakfast meeting of the Kent Construction Focus Group, and was then followed by some excellent talks from leading figures in both Kent and National construction circles across 3 virtual stages. Each speaker was introduced by Ella and Cheryl, sometimes simultaneously, and who then conducted a Q&A session to conclude each talk with an entertaining fusion of professionalism and humour. Ella even had to verbally ‘tread water’ for 30 minutes when one of the booked speakers failed to make his original time slot due to technical issues, and managed to keep the 100 or so attendees wholly entertained and online until a new time could be agreed and communicated. Those who know Ella well will not be surprised at her ability to talk for 30 minutes straight, but it was a most impressive performance by any stretch of the imagination, and her excellent hosting of the event which ran from 7am through to 4pm earned Jenner a significant number of positive name checks throughout the day, and certainly significantly elevated our profile, so well done indeed.

I appreciate that this has been quite a substantial update this week but from this I take great comfort that we have so much to share amongst the team. Please do keep sending your news to the Front-of-House team for inclusion in future updates, which I am assured continue to be so positively received.

I wish you all a most enjoyable weekend, although I’m afraid you will have to create your own sunshine.