Restoration Project Complete

Moortown Group started works on the restoration project for York Guildhall back in September 2019 and last month the job achieved completion.

The £21.7m construction will see the building stabilised through major underpinning and protected from water damage with the aim of giving it a new burst of life, located in the heart of the City.

     

The project is a mixture of Grade I, II* and II listed buildings built around the 15th century hall and riverside meeting room. Previously, the Guildhall had only received minimum repair works since the WW2 bombings in 1942 that caused severe damage to all these buildings.

This project has required a delicate and thorough approach to fulfil and deliver extensive works to this historic building. The redevelopment of the Guildhall will allow for new spaces for community use, high quality office space, a café and a new riverside restaurant.

     

Existing issues on the site included things such as significant structural problems with the riverside tower which were subsiding and cracking. Moortown took the lead with the groundworks, RC frame and the external works.

With the location of this site being logistically very challenging alongside the River Ouse, it meant careful planning and operations to use the river in order to erect an on-site Tower Crane and provide access for deliveries. This would otherwise have proven impossible via road and allowed for the reduction of many road deliveries into a heavily pedestrianised area.

     

Project Manager, Rob Henderson from VINCI Construction UK, commented they were thrilled with the professional service delivered across all aspects of the project.

Membership with Mates in Mind

    

We are delighted to share we’ve recently enlisted as a new member of Mates in Mind. Mates in Mind is a leading UK charity raising awareness and addressing the stigma of poor mental health. They promote and lead on the development of positive mental wellbeing within the workplace with a particular focus on construction, as well as related sectors including transport, logistics, manufacturing, and others. Mates in Mind aims to provide clear information to employers about the available support and guidance on mental health and wellbeing, and how they can address this within their organisations.

After a very tough couple of years in the pandemic, support services like these are in great demand. We all have mental health, just as we all have physical health. Mental ill health can strike at any time and can affect people from all walks of life. Construction work has a variety of pressures from tight contracts to long hours, time away from loved-ones and managing budgets, not to mention the added stresses of the pandemic and now the rising costs of supplies.

Although things are improving, stigma still exists around mental ill health. As a society, we don’t tend to know how to take care of our mental health like we do our physical health. This means that people may not know how to support a friend, family member or colleague experiencing a mental health issue, or where to go for support with their own mental health.

Many organisations have already taken steps to support their workforce and provided varying levels of mental health guidance. Things such as Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) is a training course which teaches people how to identify, understand and help someone who may be experiencing a mental health issue. It won’t teach you to be a therapist, but it will teach you to listen, reassure and respond, even in a crisis – and even potentially stop a crisis from happening. Recognising warning signs of mental ill health, and develop the skills and confidence to approach and support someone whilst learning how to empower them and access the support they might need for recovery.

There is such high value in being able to understand how to support positive wellbeing and tackle the stigma, as Mental Health statistics show that construction is shockingly higher than the national average. As a Mates in Mind Supporter, we’ll be able to have access to a range of resources, training and support, designed to help our organisation.

Record breaking construction in Leeds

Last year’s statistics of 2021 regarding the construction activity in Leeds alone, are phenomenally higher that predicted. Record breaking figures have not gone unnoticed. A report published by Deloitte, captures the developments taking place across Leeds City Centre and its impact. This includes residential, office, hotel, retail and leisure, student accommodation, education and research facilities, healthcare and transport.

The contributions of LeedsBID and the Year of Culture 2023, will promote a range of experiences across the city that aim to add to its vibrancy of redeveloped city spaces for Leeds residents and visitors to enjoy.

Training Young Persons in Plant Construction

     

Earlier this year, Moortown Group teamed up with Big Yellow Plant Training who provide in-house Plant Training for Novices and Experienced candidates in the Hull and East Yorkshire area. They also provide CPCS Testing and NVQ Assessment services.

We’re pleased to share with you that our partnership with Big Yellow Plant Training has brought about the L1 Introduction to Construction Groundworks course designed by Big Yellow. This is to help address the skills shortage of available groundworkers, and as Moortown heavily relies on this skillset it is absolutely essential we look for ways to maintain a healthy workforce and offer future prospects to anybody wanting to get into the industry. Designed by Big Yellow, the three week training course will give candidates a basic skill set so they could start on site and be productive straightaway. 

The course was advertised through DWP and candidates were put forward after showing interest through their work coaches at the Job Centre, and then later interviewed by our Operations Director, Richard Mitchell and Centre Manager, Tracey Milnes. 

L1 Introduction to Construction – Groundworking 

This three week course will teach a basic level of skills in both Groundworks and Plant Operation for individuals who are looking to work in the Construction and Civil Engineering Industry and have little or no experience. It would also be suitable for individuals who left the Industry and are looking to return. 

The course covers: 

• Construction Health and Safety 
• Safe use and Operation of Petrol Driven Cut Off Saw 
• Cat and Genny 
• Introduction to Levelling in Construction 
• Basic concreting skills 
• Basic drainage skills 
• Basic kerb laying skills 
• CPCS Ride on roller 
• CPCS Forward tipping dumper 

We’ve had really good feedback from the guys undertaking the training. They are very motivated and enthusiastic to be learning new skills. They have all put in a huge amount of effort so far and they are all extremely grateful for the opportunity. Once the guys have passed their course, they will then be able to begin work on two of Moortown’s current sites in Leeds. 

Principal Contractor for Aire Park, the former Tetley’s site

We are delighted to share that Moortown Group have recently been appointed Principal Contractor for the Aire Park Project in Leeds City Centre, on the former Tetley Brewery site. 

Close cooperation with the client and the principal designer, will continue to play an important role in influencing how the risks to health and safety are managed during the construction work. This is something that Moortown Group prioritises with the highest importance, by ensuring standards are understood and followed. 

About the project

Working in close consultation with Leeds City Council’s Planning Department and other stakeholders, Vastint plans to redevelop the site to create a vibrant, well connected and sustainable mixed use neighbourhood. 

The design proposes a vibrant development in the centre of the South Bank with a generously-sized urban park at its heart. The aim of the scheme is to support the expansion of the city core, providing a vital link connecting the city centre with the Tetley and its creative neighbours, through to the education district and the communities to the south. 

Planning permission for the first phase of Aire Park was granted in December 2018. The first phase is 6.6 hectares and sits between Crown Point Road to the south, Waterloo Street to the north, Meadow Lane to the east with the Tetley building at its centre. 

Apprentice Diaries – Finlay Keane

Finlay Keane, recently joined the Moortown team as a Groundworker Apprentice working on a live project at Halifax Bus Station. He’s currently attending a course on Groundworks at Leeds College of Building.

Read on to hear Finlay’s thoughts!

What is the work culture like? ?

“I joined Moortown in November last year and I’m enjoying it very much. The team here are friendly and are happy to help and guide me. My Manager Tommy encourages me to take photo’s of my tasks and to keep a daily diary for my progression.”

“I have learnt so much already. This includes things such as how important safety is and using my PPE correctly. Other things include learning how to take steps to protect the environment by using plant nappies for storing fuel on.”

“An apprenticeship suits me very well, as I like being guided to learn new things in a practical environment and it gives me the opportunity to learn as I earn on the job.”

          

What skills have you learnt? 

• Aspects of drainage, ducting, kerbing, prepping ground for tarmac
• Using tools such as a wacker plate, stihl saw and discovering different tools
• How to use equipment correctly
• Preparation required to do my tasks

What are your future aspirations?

• To be a competent Groundworker
• Learn how to drive plant vehicles
• To be a manger

We look forward to following up on Finlay’s progress on his apprenticeship journey.

The Life and Mind Building at Oxford University

Contractual works completion

Moortown commenced works in April 2021, and have recently completed their contractual works in January 2022.

We have been working with main contractor Wates on a £200m project at The University of Oxford on their Life and Mind Building. 

It’s grand scale measures at 269,097 sqft and will be the University’s largest building project ever undertaken. Inside, it will provide many advanced research facilities for several departments including Plant Sciences and Zoology, by facilitating spaces for up to 2000 students and researchers. 

The aim of this new Life and Mind Building is to target critical Global Impact Themes such as ‘Living with biodiversity’, ‘Thriving on a healthy planet’, ‘Conflict and cooperation’ and ‘Nature-based solutions’.

A fascinating project for all involved.

      

Our work package included:

• Archology attendance
• Drainage diversions
• Sewer connections
• Demolition of reinforced concrete structures
• 6,000m³ excavation including off-site disposal
• Installation of piling platforms
• Sheet piling attendance
• Installation of drainage & ducting systems
• Substation
• Construction of large compound

          

New Plant Yard Extension

Plant expansion to meet demand

At the end of last year, we were delighted to start enjoying the benefits of our new Plant yard extension. After six months of construction it finally reached completion and some of our staff moved inside the new building.

      

This new two storey 350m² building will allow for the expansion of the Plant and tool department. It consists of:

• A small Plant and tools workshop
• A tool hire Managers office
• A trade counter on the ground floor
• Upstairs, there is more space for a Plant Managers office
• A training room
• Kitchen
• Gym, complete with toilets and changing facilities
• A dry store for timber products 
• A shelter for the powered access machines.

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It was an important decision we made to upscale our current facilities and to provide the right setup and support for our team in the best way possible.

Moortown has been steadily growing over the past twenty years, and fortunately our workload kept increasing throughout the Pandemic. We are now more capable and ready to continue delivering high quality work to our clients than ever before.

A legacy for the community of North Ferriby Alloment

Moortown, in collaboration with Tilbury Douglas, donated their time and resources to North Ferriby Allotment in December 2021. This was to construct a new reinforced concrete shed base that would form part of a memorial area for Anne Turner. This was achieved by our local site team, who were more than happy get involved and help out for a worthy cause.

Our works consisted of:

• The setting up of a safe working environment including adequate and secure fencing and signage warning all others of potential dangers on a construction site and debris netting to avoid any potential injuries to passing pedestrians and/or damage to public vehicles.
• The safe control of pedestrians, public and delivery vehicles. 
• Reduce excavation and type 1 sub base construction.
• The installation of steel reinforcement. 
• The setting up of formwork/shutters. 
• The installation of concrete to form a level slab with a brush finish and trowelled edge. 
• Re-grading of topsoil and leave the site in a clean and tidy condition on completion. 

 

It was great to hear how the project was well received by Alistair Green on behalf of the Anne Turner Allotments Committee:

Thank you for all your work and for completing this project for us, we all appreciate it very much. We are going to write an allotments article for the village newsletter and parish magazine and will be highlighting your support and assistance with this. The allotments benefit lots of people, the community, wildlife etc. as well the allotment holders and this is a huge boost. Thank you again.

 

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