Tag Archives: project management

Appointments, News, North of England

RECOM Solutions expands its team with seven new arrivals

Seven new roles have been created at RECOM Solutions, strengthening its team amid a period of bumper growth.

Andy Mellor has joined RECOM as finance director with a remit that includes providing strategies and implementing procedures to facilitate further growth for the business, which is based at Salford Quays.

RECOM’s finance team has also been strengthened by the appointment of Natalie Ferguson as accounts manager. Her role is to ensure the smooth running of the internal accounts department.

Jordan Wilson has joined RECOM as a construction project manager, bringing more than 10 years’ experience of delivering technical, quality and management functions across complex schemes in the UK and overseas.

Another addition is Tom Salt, who has joined as an assistant construction manager with responsibility for managing subcontractor teams to ensure the successful delivery of RECOM projects.

Luke Roscoe has been recruited to support the strategic development of the business. He is focusing on client success, project delivery and supporting the senior leadership team in developing strategies for further sustained growth.

He has nearly a decade of experience in master-planning and client-side project management across the public and private sectors.

The other newcomers are Joanna Jagla and Caroline Cherian, who have joined RECOM as a trainee project manager and trainee quantity surveyor respectively. Caroline is on a year-long placement while undertaking a master’s degree in construction project management at Sheffield Hallam University.

RECOM, which was founded in 2015 by directors Jason McKnight and Joseph Dillon, undertakes construction project management and main contracting work across sectors including healthcare, education, retail and leisure, commercial and residential. It also provides consultancy services to assist in the design and delivery of health and safety, sustainability, passive fire protection and cladding projects.

The company is an approved contractor under the UK’s Fire Accreditation Scheme (FIRAS) for its fire protection services, which include passive fire protection installation, fire door surveys and installations, repairs and upgrades, fire strategy reviews, compartmentation surveying, advice and guidance, training, development and support.

Earlier this year, RECOM acquired a three-storey building on the Waters Edge Business Park in Salford Quays as its new headquarters to accommodate its expanding team, with staff numbers now at 37.

Jason McKnight said: “As our business has grown, so have our requirements to increase our financial processes. Having Andy and Natalie on board adds extensive experience to the team.

“Tom, Luke and Jordan have joined us at a time when we have a significant pipeline of projects, and their knowledge and expertise will bolster our construction management offering.

“Caroline and Joanna have been recruited in a graduate capacity and are providing support to the wider RECOM team.

“All of the new roles are in line with our growth strategy and evolution, and strengthen our skillset to enable us to continue on this path.”

RECOM has recently upgraded its employee benefits package, with a £1,250 cost-of-living bonus for all staff, a day off for their birthday and improved private medical provision with enhanced mental health cover.

Pictured left to right are Andy Mellor, Natalie Ferguson, Tom Salt, Joanna Jagla, Jordan Wilson, Luke Roscoe and Caroline Cherian.

Appointments, Construction, News

Sarah Leadbetter rejoins RECOM Solutions as head of healthcare projects team

Construction project management consultancy RECOM Solutions has welcomed back Sarah Leadbetter as head of its healthcare projects team, a new role created to reflect the company’s growing workload in the sector.

Sarah first joined RECOM in 2017 as an associate director from Deloitte Real Estate, where she was an associate director managing major capital projects.

In 2019 she moved to Turner + Townsend as a senior project manager, before being promoted to associate director.

She has now re-joined fast-expanding RECOM to lead its healthcare offering and support clients across the UK.

RECOM works with clients such as the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust and the Northern Care Alliance at hospital and healthcare sites. Current projects include developing strategies for the delivery of passive fire protection schemes.

Sarah said: “RECOM’s culture and alignment with my own aspirations, together with the opportunity to make a difference in such an important sector, made the decision to return to the business an easy one.

“Since leaving in 2019, I have gained further experience working across large-scale, complex projects, and I’m excited to be bringing this knowledge back to RECOM which will assist with the growth of our healthcare offering.”

RECOM, which was founded in 2015 by directors Jason McKnight and Joseph Dillon, undertakes construction project management and main contracting work across sectors including healthcare, education, retail and leisure, commercial and residential. It also provides consultancy services to assist in the design and delivery of health and safety, sustainability, passive fire protection and cladding projects.

The company is an approved contractor under the UK’s Fire Accreditation Scheme (FIRAS) for its fire protection services, which include passive fire protection installation, fire door surveys and installations, repairs and upgrades, fire strategy reviews, compartmentation surveying, advice and guidance, training, development and support.

Earlier this year, RECOM acquired a three-storey building on the Waters Edge Business Park in Salford Quays as its new headquarters to accommodate its expanding team, with staff numbers now at more than 30.

Jason McKnight said: “Sarah has established herself as an extremely competent professional and she has immediately settled back in at RECOM.

“She supports our values and vision and is a pleasure to work with, adding experience to our young and dynamic team.

“Her return shows that RECOM has matured in size and scale since she left. We have seen significant growth in the healthcare sector, with places on a number of public sector frameworks, including NHS Shared Business Services, Fusion21 and Rise.”

He added: “We have a distinguished team which is successfully delivering numerous healthcare projects throughout the UK, and Sarah is the ideal person to lead our expansion in this sector in her new role. To cater for continued growth in healthcare, we will be recruiting further to bolster the team and assist existing and future clients.”

To learn more visit www.recomsolutions.co.uk

News

RECOM Solutions on the Rise with new framework appointment

Construction project management consultancy RECOM Solutions is celebrating a major boost with its latest framework appointment.

RECOM has been appointed following a tendering process to a £600m framework for ethical regeneration schemes across northern England and North Wales.

It is the latest to be launched by Liverpool-based framework operator Rise. RECOM has won places for general construction, refurbishment, safety and compliance and project management work.

Users of the new framework will include NHS Foundation Trusts and clinical commissioning groups, schools, academies and universities, social housing providers, local authorities, community-led housing organisations, charities, emergency services and third sector groups across the north west and North Wales, Yorkshire and Humber and Lincolnshire.

Rise is a pro-social business procurement group which provides agency services to construction frameworks, and supports communities by investing profits into local initiatives.

RECOM director Jason McKnight said: “Securing places on the new Rise framework is a tremendous endorsement of the quality and range of work that we currently undertake, and presents a fantastic opportunity for the company.

“It’s a very prestigious and significant initiative for our client base, as well as ourselves.

“Rise is very focused on social value, which chimes with our own ethos as a company. We are involved with a number of local organisations as a way of giving back to the community, including The Broughton Trust to offer employment opportunities to disadvantaged young people, and Salford Lads Club, where our head of operations James Holmes is on the board of trustees.”

RECOM, which has 30 staff, recently moved to new headquarters on the Waters Edge Business Park at Salford Quays.

The company, which was founded by Joseph Dillon and Jason, undertakes construction project management and main contracting work across sectors including healthcare, education, retail and leisure, commercial and residential.

It also provides consultancy services to assist in the delivery of projects, such as design, risk, quality, health and safety and sustainability alongside passive fire protection and cladding.

Clients of the company include Barry’s Bootcamp, Pot Kettle Black, Urban Village Bars, WUKPG, Arrowsmith Investments, The Derwent Group, Fletcher Bond, the University of Manchester and the NHS.

RECOM already has places on frameworks with the University of Manchester, NHS Shared Business Services and Fusion21.

RECOM’s roles on these frameworks involve project management, passive fire protection, facilities management, main contracting and building safety and compliance work.

News, North of England

New headquarters for fast-growing RECOM Solutions

Fast-growing RECOM Solutions has moved to new headquarters in Greater Manchester to accommodate its expanding team.

RECOM, a construction project management consultancy which also acts as a main contractor, fire protection and cladding specialist, has relocated to Salford Quays after acquiring a three-storey building on the Waters Edge Business Park.

The 4,000 sq ft building provides scope to further expand RECOM’s team, which currently stands at a record high of 30 following recruitment across its operations.

Its move marks a return to Salford Quays, where it was based until 2020 when it relocated to Trafford Park.

RECOM enlisted chartered surveyors Fletcher Bond to assist in the search for new premises after outgrowing its base in Trafford Park.

A fit-out of its new headquarters is under way. The ground floor will feature a reception area, showers and changing facilities and three meeting rooms.

On the first floor will be breakout areas for staff and RECOM’s new fire protection training academy.

The academy will be a live environment for the training of operatives in the latest industry measures, legislation and new products, as well as being a showcase for this specialism to its nationwide client base, in the residential, care home, healthcare, commercial, leisure, education, heritage buildings and industrial sectors.

RECOM is an approved contractor under the UK’s Fire Accreditation Scheme (FIRAS) for its fire protection services, which include fire door surveys and installations, repairs and upgrades, fire strategy reviews, compartmentation surveying, penetration sealing, advice and guidance, training, development and support.

The company is also a member of the Association for Specialist Fire Protection, a trade association for the passive fire protection sector.

The second floor of RECOM’s new HQ on Modwen Road will house office space and the firm’s accounts department.

RECOM, which was founded in 2015 by directors Jason McKnight and Joseph Dillon, undertakes construction project management and main contracting work across sectors including healthcare, education, retail and leisure, commercial and residential. It also provides consultancy services to assist in the delivery of high-quality projects. These services include design, risk, quality, health and safety and sustainability alongside passive fire protection and cladding.

Clients of the company include Barry’s Bootcamp, Pot Kettle Black, Urban Village Bars, WUKPG, Arrowsmith Investments, The Derwent Group, Fletcher Bond, the University of Manchester and the NHS.

Jason McKnight said: “It is the right time to buy a permanent home for the business, and the new premises gives us the scope for further growth in the team across our passive fire protection division and our other services, including our construction offering.

“The Quays is an ideal location and is popular with our staff. It has excellent transport links and amenities, and is a desirable area in which to live, with a number of developments springing up offering private rented accommodation.

“Additionally, our new building is close to the Manchester Ship Canal and it’s only a short walk to Manchester city centre.

“This investment shows our willingness to retain a firm foothold in Manchester and to attract the best possible talent within our sectors. We are currently going through a period of growth and need the best facilities we can provide for our expanding team.”

News

Smartsheet Strengthens Solution for Marketers with Enhanced Brandfolder Integration to Connect Campaigns to Content in One Platform

New Digital Asset Management Capabilities Enable End-to-End Content Workflows

Brandfolder Named a Strong Performer in Digital Asset Management Report by Independent Research Firm  

Smartsheet, the enterprise platform for dynamic work, today announced enhancements to its solution for marketers including new integration capabilities with Brandfolder, Smartsheet’s digital asset management platform. Enhancing the functionality between Smartsheet and Brandfolder helps marketers better manage their work, content, and people—from ideation to execution.

Marketers and creatives are faced with an influx of content requests across more channels than ever before on a global scale, but without a solution to manage or store this content, 40% of organizations report difficulty finding their digital assets. Instead of using an average of more than 12 tools to manage campaigns, marketers need a unified solution from campaign workflow to content storage.

“Using siloed marketing systems has been the status quo for years. But with more pressure to deliver quality content at a higher frequency, implementing a unified content lifecycle management system that tracks both content and the work around that content is essential,” said Ben Canning, Senior Vice President, Product Management at Smartsheet. “By seamlessly combining a market-leading work management platform with an intuitive digital asset management solution, marketers and creatives can harness a powerful platform to create the impactful work that builds their brand.”

Managing Dynamic Content — from Ideation to Execution

Connecting the solutions that marketers need most is critical to driving successful campaigns. By combining the best in work and digital asset management, Smartsheet’s platform aligns marketing and creative work by streamlining asset discovery and delivery and optimizing value through unified team and asset performance analytics. Customers like Overtime, Climate Pledge Arena and the Seattle Kraken are already seeing dividends from their use of Smartsheet and Brandfolder, and starting today they and all global customers will benefit from the following new enhancements using the Brandfolder panel in the platform:

  • Attach from Brandfolder enables marketers to easily attach a specific asset from Brandfolder to a sheet or specific row in Smartsheet.
  • Two-click publish to Brandfolder from a completed proof in Smartsheet.
  • Upload attachment to Brandfolder as an asset into a specific Brandfolder collection from Smartsheet.

“The new Brandfolder panel gives our team exactly what we’ve been wanting: a unified solution to develop, manage, and deploy visual assets across our website,” said Lorit Queller, Content Development Manager at iS Clinical. “The ability to connect Brandfolder assets directly to our Smartsheet workflows across all of our projects not only increases visibility for everyone involved but allows them to use assets in new and creative ways.”

Customers can also access Brandfolder Insights data in Smartsheet, which allows marketers to pull top user and top asset data directly from Brandfolder Insights into Smartsheet. Marketers can use that data to create custom reports and dashboards that help teams and executives connect asset and team performance to shape creative and marketing strategy.

A leader on G2’s Grid for Digital Asset Management Software for sixteen consecutive quarters, Brandfolder was also named a ‘Strong Performer’ in its first appearance on The Forrester Wave™: Digital Asset Management for Customer Experience, Q1 2022 report, published by Forrester Research, Inc. Brandfolder received the highest possible scores in the criteria of scalability, intelligent content generation, portals, creative toolset integration, and partner ecosystem.

According to the report: “Brandfolder’s vision highlights the importance of full content lifecycle support…” and the platform is “a good fit for mid-market to enterprise clients that need a scalable platform and complementary collaborative work management capabilities.”

Read more about Brandfolder’s leadership in the digital asset management category here.

About Smartsheet

Smartsheet (NYSE: SMAR) is the enterprise platform for dynamic work. By aligning people and technology so organizations can move faster and drive innovation, Smartsheet enables its millions of users to achieve more. Visit www.smartsheet.com to learn more.

Brexit, News

Brexit two years on: Over 75 per cent of project managers are concerned

Research by Association for Project Management (APM) has found over three quarters of project professionals still have concerns about Brexit’s impact on projects, with increased costs, disruptions and shortages among the main sources of worry.

A national survey of 1,000 project managers found that 78 per cent have current concerns about Brexit, most notably: increased project costs (38 per cent), disruption to collaboration with EU partners (37 per cent) and materials and equipment shortages (37 per cent).

Challenges foreseen

The same survey showed participants’ worries are mostly consistent with the challenges they anticipated before Brexit happened, pre-January 2020. Increased project costs and disruption to collaboration were the most commonly cited concerns at that time. Key shortages ranked fifth in their predictions (36 per cent), however, behind complications due to legislation and legal issues (37 per cent) and reduced access to skills and knowledge (36 per cent).

Among project managers who still have concerns over Brexit, those working in construction say disruption collaborating with EU partners is their biggest Brexit-related worry. In manufacturing, shortages of materials or equipment is the main concern. Those working in healthcare point to project delays as the main anxiety.

An optimistic outlook

Despite current Brexit-related concerns, a similar survey commissioned by APM in July 2021 revealed the effects of Britain leaving the European Union as the second biggest opportunity for the project management profession, after new ways of working.

The recent survey found the most anticipated opportunities from Brexit, pre-January 2020, to be improved access to materials and equipment (37 per cent), reduced complications with legislation and legal issues (36 per cent), revamped supply chain management (36 per cent) and quicker project delivery (36 per cent).

Adam Boddison, chief executive of APM, comments: “Through years of expertise, collated in APM’s latest study, Dynamic Conditions for Project Success, we know the ingredients for a job well done, and they’re what have helped and continue to help the profession navigate the impact of Brexit, among the many other challenges added into the mix since January 2020.

“Challenges are more manageable with strong leadership, clear communication, a diverse team, a sustainable mindset and agility. Therein lies part of the lesser recognised opportunities from Brexit: a chance to overcome adversity and be better at what we do as a result.”