Trevor, who this week receives his 10 Year Long Service Award, is employed on our grounds maintenance contract with St. Albans City and District Council. Trevor’s talents for design were noticed after starting work to tend and plant out the gardens, and he was soon working on design, planting and caring for the bedding schemes across the whole district.  He designed the bedding schemes for winter and summer in 2010, and in 2011 when St Albans won the Anglia in Bloom award for Best Local Authority Flower Display Garden for the Civic Centre gardens.  Trevor attends the Municipal Gardens at 7am most mornings to open them and to keep the gardens looking at their very best.  He is now busy preparing the gardens for winter to ensure that we have glorious floral displays in early Spring.

Trevor, who was on his honeymoon when the award was announced in September this year, is part of an experienced team who care for all the key sites and flower beds across the city.  All of the gardens were given recognition by the judges at this year’s Anglia in Bloom competition.

Cllr Daniel Chichester-Miles, Portfolio Holder for Environment at St Albans City and District Council said:  “We can talk about what the Council does but it is the individual effort of people like Trevor who go the extra mile that makes the kind of difference noticed by the Anglia in Bloom judges.”

Paul Brady, contract manager for John O’Connor said “I am very pleased that Trevor and his team’s hard work has been recognised.  I’m sure his new wife is very proud of him, as are we all.”

St Albans City and District Council entered the Anglia in Bloom Environmental Campaign Awards on behalf of the city for the first time in ten years and succeeded in scooping not one but three awards, as well as being nominated for an additional three categories.  To read more and see pictures, visit the St Albans City and District website at the following link:

http://stalbans.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/press-room/items/2011/September-2011/StAlbanscityscoopsAngliainBloomAwards.aspx

The contract is for the provision of grounds maintenance services to sites in and around Hastings, Hailsham, Eastbourne, Crowborough, Bexhill and Lewes including thirteen Secondary Schools and more than one hundred Primary Schools. Central to the John O’Conner offer is the provision of high levels of quality monitoring and reporting and an investment into employee training and development.

The contract will operate from an existing East Sussex County Council depot in Bexhill on Sea plus further satellite locations in Crowborough and Lewes. The Contract will be further supported from John O’Conner’s existing office and workshop facilities which are also based in Bexhill on Sea.

Jane Carter, Head of Contracts and Purchasing, ESCC Children’s Services Department said that “East Sussex are pleased to have secured such a high quality grounds maintenance contract and look forward to welcoming John O’Conner Ltd to East Sussex”

The Contract is scheduled to commence on the 30th January 2012 for a term of four years with the potential to extend for a further two years. John O’Conner are looking forward to working in partnership with the East Sussex team and are confident that improved services and value for money will encourage more schools to take advantage of the services on offer.

http://www.pitchcare.com/magazine/east-sussex-county-council-contract-awarded-to-john-o-conner-grounds-maintenance-ltd.html#.TrxGBgU3f4E.email

Paul Osborne, Care Centre Manager, said: “We rely heavily upon support from the local community, and the likes of John O’Conner Ground Maintenance Limited, to provide our much needed and valued services. I wish to say a big thank you to John O’Conner for their continued support”.

Matt O’Conner said “We are delighted to continue to support Sue Ryder. This organisation provides a valuable nursing support for Hertfordshire people.  Volunteers from John O’Conners have previously been involved with a garden makeover at the centre.  Our support will continue next year and is at the heart of John O’Conner corporate social responsibilities.”

If you would like to support the Sue Ryder Stagenhoe Care Centre, please contact

Paul.Osborne@suerydercare.org or call 01438 871215.

The garden makeover team from John O’Conner, including Managing Director Matt O’Conner, local Contract Manager Gareth Towson, work experience candidate Stephen Bennett from Oaklands College and many others gave their time freely to clear, cut back, dig, rotovate and level.  The once wild and overgrown space has been reclaimed, giving the area a fresh new look and turning an unusable space into a triumph.

The Sue Ryder hospice at Stagenhoe, offers residential care with nursing for adults living with complex neurological conditions including Huntington’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Brain Injury and Stroke.

The pilot taster is to be hosted at John O’Conner’s St. Albans City and District Council Contract.  Managing Director, Matthew O’Conner, who is championing the scheme said, “John O’Conner is 100% behind the work being carried out by Hertfordshire County Council to give people, who may be less able to compete for jobs, the opportunity to experience a taste of life with us, working outdoors with nature.  With contracts across Hertfordshire and beyond, we are already putting in place plans to ensure we can offer more work tasters, helping people with difficulties to achieve financial and social independence.”

Hertfordshire County Councils work taster project was born as a result of the recently established HCS Pathways to Employment board.

John O’Conner prides itself on its professionalism and high quality of service and is already accredited to ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management), OHSAS 18001 (occupational health and safety management) and ISO 10002 (customer care) standards. This was the first time John O’Conner (GM) Limited has been formally assessed against the Investors in People Standard.

John O’Conner, Chairman of John O’Conner (GM) Ltd said: “You have to go the extra mile to make sure the customers can see your dedication. People are at the heart of John O’Conner and we invest in them because we believe in them.”

Investors in People is a business improvement tool which supports staff development linked with continuously looking to improve the quality of service delivery. Investors in People supports and accredits employers that follow a structured business development programme. Research shows that Investors in People helps improve the financial performance of a business, by helping them continually strive to deliver more services for less.*

Estelle Caddoo, Investors in People Assessor for Lantra said: “John O’Conner (GM) Limited lives by the business values that Investors in People is built upon. The organisation invests time, money and resources in developing its people through formal and informal learning routes. We have concluded that John O’Conner (GM) Ltd meets the requirements of the Investors in People Standard and I am happy to congratulate them as Lantra’s first accredited business.”

Lantra is one of five newly approved centres, and is the first and only Sector Skills Council (SSC) to have the opportunity and responsibility to deliver Investors in People. The programme is run by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES).

*Cranfield School of Management Report

The first five work experience placements started on John O’Conner’s St Albans City and District Council’s Grounds Maintenance contract and the company hopes the placements will lead to long-term jobs.  Paul Brady, Senior Contract Manager for John O’Conner, said: “I was only too happy to get involved, the first placements will start in March and will be supported by existing teams of permanent employees.  To help them adjust to the workplace we will ensure that they all have a mentor or buddy from day one.” Paul continued, “We hope these work experience placements could be a way of unlocking a pool of hidden talent that might otherwise go unnoticed.”

Richard Shwe, Head of Community Services for St Albans City and District Council, added: “We are happy to be involved with this work experience programme. It provides a great opportunity for young people to gain knowledge and practical experience helping to maintain our parks and open spaces in St Albans City and District.”

The Work Experience programme gives young people an introduction to the modern world of work, helps them get a decent entry on their CV and provides real value to the employer.  Under the new scheme, specialist Jobcentre Plus teams match young people between 18 and 21 with companies across the country.  Young people are now allowed to do work experience for up to eight weeks without facing a loss of benefits.

Companies interested in taking part in the new Work Experience scheme in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire can contact Jobcentre Plus on 01727 773316.

The four John O’Conner employees were accredited by police during a ceremony on May 25th at Hertfordshire Constabulary headquarters in Welwyn Garden City.  They will now have the power to demand the name and address of anyone they see involved in anti-social behaviour. They can then pass this information on to police to help them further drive down these kinds of offences.

St Albans Chief Inspector Richard Hann said: “These new powers, which are part of ongoing training for the company, will be invaluable in helping St Albans officers gather more information on who is engaged in anti-social behaviour and deal with them appropriately. We are very grateful and pleased that John O’Conner’s wanted to get involved, and look forward to working with them in the future. We also hope to pass many of the benefits of this accreditation to our residents and visitors to the parks, who can feel more reassured about using these areas.”

The Hertfordshire Police Community Safety Accreditation Scheme began in 2006 and is one of the most successful schemes in the country with 18 organisations involved including most local authorities in the county together with major national security companies.

Matthew O’Conner, managing director at John O’Conner, said: “We are delighted to have four of our employees accredited by this scheme and to do our part to keep the areas we work in safe and free from crime. We are looking forward to working with police officers and hope this is the first of many accreditations for our employees, who work in different areas across Hertfordshire.”