Berkeley Homes
College Lecturer Visit to Holborough Lakes
At Holborough Lakes we recently invited several Mid-Kent college lecturers to site. This visit was to show the college Lecturers the kind of environment that their Students would be working in once they have completed their exams. We used the opportunity to update the lecturers on new building regulations and new methods of working. On the day of the visit...
Building Futures
Berkeley Homes Eastern Counties arranged a construction ‘taster’ day for West-Kent College students in order for them to learn more about construction sites and the different trades and skills needed through the full build cycle. The students were given an introduction to Berkeley Homes Eastern Counties ‘Building Futures Programme’ A scheme providing: Long-term career opportunities for school and college leavers...
Keyless Locks
A theme at our weekly site committee meetings has been about the amount of time the workforce would spend signing keys in and out. The original format of this task consisted of any operative who wished to gain access would need to sign out a key with our dedicated key manager located in the permit cabin. One of the issues...
Noise Alert Indicators
The site team currently has 38 supervisors and managers on site all of which have these monitors attached to their PPE at all times. The feedback has been excellent as it provides each individual instant indication of noise levels in the immediate vicinity. This subsequently enables them to notify other persons in the area to use hearing protection. The noise...
Reusable Packaging
The construction industry is estimated to be responsible for around 40% of the UK’s waste. We have been working with our subcontractors to tackle this issue and minimise unnecessary waste. SQP is the first site to use reusable, collapsible boxes for our M&E. These were specially developed for use at SQP and was something the contractor developed as part of...
Ballot Bin Ashtray
At South Quay Plaza, we found that despite having two smoking areas within the site boundary, due to close proximity to coffee shops and supermarkets, a lot of our operatives were smoking outside the site perimeter. This does not create a positive first impression, which we are all very passionate about. In order to tackle this, we have ordered Ballot...
WEP Cards
Keeping track of all operative’s training and qualifications can be a challenging task. In order to tackle this, we have worked with one of our contractors to develop WEP cards and a site specific app. WEP (Working Enforcement Programme) cards are issued to all our operatives who complete the company’s Safety as Standard initiative, part of our comprehensive Workforce Engagement Programme. We...
Monarflex recycling
Being able to recycle Monarflex sheeting is a big problem in the construction industry. We have been in contact with Terracycle, recycling specialists who are capable of collecting and recycling our site’s Monarflex sheeting. This sheeting is re-used where possible but when it is not possible to reuse, we are now sending it away for recycling. To find out more,...
UV reactive high visibility vests
On our site we are aware that our workers need to be protected from the sun, especially with the recent spell of hot weather. We have provided externally working trades with High visibility vests that are UV reactive. These vests change colour temporarily to indicate when the UV levels are dangerously high for a persons skin.
Magnetic and spray can tethers for working at height
Magnetic Tethers: As part of our working at height safety procedures, we require all items on a leading edge to be tethered, including small nuts and bolts. These are very challenging to tether in a conventional way, due to their size and sometimes awkward shapes. Therefore, we decided to introduce magnetic tethers for all work at height. The majority of...
Shade station 
With temperatures rising in the South East, we at Holborough Lakes have been down to the local suppliers and bought two gazebo’s which we have set up around site to act as shade stations. This gives our contractors an area to take a break out of the sun in areas where there is no natural shade. In the shade station...
Trade day and the next step for college students
Berkeley Homes arranged a trade day for Mid-Kent college students in order for them to meet key trade contractors, learn more about construction sites and take part in a series of practical competitions that offer them a snapshot of what it is like to work on a construction site and develop their trade skills. There were many different site activities...
Charity boxing night for staff and sub-contractors
Berkeley Homes Eastern Counties were represented recently in a boxing event against rivals St Josephs. One of the aims, other than winning the fight, was to raise awareness of the Scheme as well as raise money for the ‘Fight 4 Change’ charity. Fight 4 Change are the primary driver of the sport for development agenda, with a focus on supporting...
Romanian classes for site managers
As a gesture of goodwill and respect to our predominantly Romanian workforce on site, we are giving Berkeley homes site managers free Romanian language lessons. This goes hand-in-hand with the free English lessons already offered to the operatives. We feel that this is not only of practical importance but will also lift the morale and respect on site.
Language translator devices
We have bought language translator devices to aid in our inductions and to help out in general site activities for operatives that struggle with English. This is being rolled out to Site managers to use on site as well. This will be useful to aid health and safety on site as well as creating better relationships on site.
