friday update

As the month draws to a close the feeling of relief is almost tangible as January has undoubtedly proven to be a tough month to bear emotionally and financially in the aftermath of Christmas festivities, aside of a national lockdown. If you have been brave enough to engage in ‘Dry January’, ‘Veganuary’ or any similar dietary detox or challenge so commonplace at this time, then I wholeheartedly congratulate your willpower and determination to do so this year particularly.

I would like to begin by sincerely thanking those of you who have stepped forward and electively taken an asymptomatic test for COVID-19 and reported this back to us. Whilst I appreciate it is not the most pleasant experience, I hope those who have experienced the test first-hand will agree that the mild discomfort and a few moments of your time are small sacrifice for the huge steps forwards that this level of testing can offer us in reducing the potential spread of infection across our sites or within the main office. This really will become one of our most important defences in the ongoing fight against the virus and I do actively encourage those of you who have not yet done so to please get tested. A negative result gives us some reassurance that we can continue our operations as safely as we possibly can without unnecessary risk to our colleagues. I do apologise that the test link sent out is for the sole benefit of those of us who reside in Kent, and we are currently exploring if such a service is available for our Sussex-based employees and supply chain and will keep you informed of this as soon as we know more.

With Boris making his next announcement somewhat earlier than anticipated and declaring that all Schools will remain closed until 8th March at the very earliest, I am certain we can all clearly interpret that this message signifies that the current lockdown will remain in place until this time at the earliest but most likely well beyond. Accordingly we must now prepare ourselves mentally and physically for another restrictive month ahead and I would encourage you not to get disheartened by this news, which is not wholly unexpected. With warnings that our NHS resources remain under significant pressure, and (whilst flattening) confirmed cases at their highest levels since last May and not dropping as fast as following the first lockdown, we still have a long way to go and must do all we can at this time.

Throughout the global pandemic, statistics have somehow become devoid of their power to shock us, as day-after-day horrendous numbers are drilled into our subconscious via the media revealing the latest rate, ratio or probable statistical outcome and which we have perhaps begun to digest unknowingly. That was, I feel, until the point in which the UK death toll surpassed 100,000 and which has shocked the nation. Whilst it is easy to blame the government for their in-action or the speed of their decision-making, let us remain hopeful that forgoing efforts, our continued mitigative measures and a successful vaccination programme can now play their part to limit the numbers that follow. As we refocus and push ahead we must not overlook some of the more positive statistics such as the 3,579,259 people who have recovered from the virus and that an extraordinary 7 million people have now received their first dose of the vaccine, and which more than doubles the number of confirmed cases nationally. Breaking news this week has announced that the UK are embarking on a mass manufacturing campaign that could produce 60 million new doses of the vaccine ready for administration by the Summer, which is incredibly positive news, and most certainly reason to remain optimistic.

On Monday (1st February) the General Works team, led by Frank Slegg with Andy West at the helm on site and strongly supported by Richard Millwood, will officially handover state-of-the-art new medical premises to our client, the Doctors of Ivy Court Surgery who have declared they are “over the moon” with the completed building. Given the huge challenges we have all faced over the past year this is a remarkable achievement to deliver such vital primary healthcare facilities on time (and without needing the extra two weeks that were granted to the team) and to exceptionally high standards, that will hugely benefit the local community for many years to come. A few images are shown below and I will ensure I share more photographs of this milestone event and the completed project with you all next week, which I understand will also include memorial tree-planting and donation of a silver spade in memory the husband of one of the Ivy Court nurses who tragically lost his life to COVID-19, as an incredibly kind and poignant gesture. The project was helped over the line thanks to the finishing skills of Tom Welch and Andy Collins and the whole team should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved here. Well done to you all!

On a positive and yet pertinent note, I am sure you will recall that in December we chose to support the Lighthouse Club Construction Industry Charity with a donation to their Christmas Cracker appeal. Whilst we sadly didn’t have any winners from the campaign, the charity, which is so critical to our industry have released some statistics below, and which I feel offers a true message of hope to the construction industry when simply remaining ‘well’ proves to be a huge challenge in in itself. With this in mind I intend to give greater focus to our future commitment to Health and Wellbeing in next week’s update.

Whilst it is usually only the ‘big birthdays’ and milestone occasions that have featured within the Friday Update I understand that in sending our birthday wishes recently to Mick Gatehouse I may have inadvertently started a ‘little trend’ within the General Works team who feel that given the unsettled current times we face all birthdays are worthy of mention (and rightly so) and as such a very ‘Happy Birthday’ is extended to Pete Golding this week as he turns 69. Although on reflection, perhaps those cheeky chaps in General Works just have a different definition of what a milestone might be!

Speaking of (real) milestones and monumental occasions, today we bid a fond farewell to one of our much loved and highly-respected Site Managers Geoff Hill as he departs from Jenner to settle in the warmer climes of Spain with his wife Sue, and to no doubt indulge more of his time in pursuit of perfecting his swing on the golf course. Geoff, you have been an integral member of the Jenner team imparting your knowledge in nurturing and encouraging younger generations to take the lead and it has been a pleasure for us all to know and work with you. You will be greatly missed, we wish you every the very best for a healthy and happy retirement and thank you on behalf of my Co-Directors and I.

Lastly, I am pleased to report that Steve Cullen has made good progress over the past few weeks and has been moved back to William Harvey to a less dependable ward. Steve remains in a critical state so I am sure you will all join me in extending our very best wishes for his continued recovery and he and his family remain firmly in our thoughts at this worrying time.

I think that’s enough from me for today and that just leaves me to wish you all well for another lockdown-weekend ahead. Please do keep active, keep positive and stay safe.