Contact Us Henry W Pollard & Sons Ltd Head Office Monmouth Street Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 5EJ (01278) 422211 Plymouth Office Cargo Building 21 Phoenix Street Millbay Plymouth, PL1 3DN (01752) 874074 www.pollardbuilders.co.uk

CCHRISTMAS PARTY

REMINDER

Jingle all the way to the

Pollard & Blake Christmas party!

It will be held on the 15th December 2017

at the Webbington Hotel & Spa

Loxton BS26 2HU

MARK YOUR CALENDER

POLLARD ARE SHORTLISTED FOR

RICS SOUTH WEST AWARDS

The Neal’s Yard Remedies project has been shortlisted in the RICS South West Awards 2017 in the category of Best Commercial Building.

The development comprised of the extension and alterations to the existing

Headquarters building to provide new production facilities, warehousing, retail unit and offices. The design also featured a “living wall”, PV’s and rainwater har-

vesting reflecting the client’s sustainable ethos.

Site Manager: John Venner Contracts Manager: Andy Coward Quantity Surveyor: Mark Twomey

£4,400 CHEQUE PRESENTATION

Our 2016 Christmas party raffle received excellent support from subcontractors, suppliers, architects and many more (including a staff member) to enable us to present our chosen charity “Devon Young Carers” a fantastic £4,400. Whilst talking with the team at the cheque presentation we were surprised just how little funding this organisation receive and Martine Osmond, (Strategic Lead Practitioner ) commented that they were delighted with the amount and that it would be shared over several areas of their service but would mostly be used to take a group of young carers

to a weekend festival which is held in June.

Pictured : Bill Badham, Chris Selwood & Nik Stigwood from Pollard and Martine Osmond (Strategic Lead Practitioner) along with members of the Devon Young Carers team.

VIEW FROM THE TOP Having completed a very successful financial year in which we have seen both Pollard & Blake going from strength to strength we enter, if we ever left!, a period of ‘change’ and uncertainty following the Brexit vote, the commencement of negotiations involved with it, and the fallout of the general election. As the construction industry is always the first to feel any economic change, it is inevitable that there will be a slow-up of project starts but, the good news is that we are in ‘good nick’ to sail through this period as we have in the past.

The Mount Wise luxury flats development is starting to look really good, this project is a fantastic flagship with regards to quality and delivery, not only for Plymouth but also for Pollard Group overall. Equally, we have successfully handed over Redwood House which, again, is a fine example of working upon an inner city, postage stamp site and changing a dilapidated old eyesore into a development that again is a credit to the business and a shining example of working together with the designers and other professionals as a team. Whilst we contemplate ‘change’, there is a change of management at Blake following Alan Jones decision to retire. Ben Williams takes over from Alan having spent 7 years alongside Alan, waiting for ‘his moment’. It is so pleasing to see individuals coming through the ranks, giving loyalty to the business and reaping the rewards. We have seen this many times, it is so much better to promote from within and each time we have done this, it has been successful. I take this moment to wish Alan a long & healthy retirement and a big thank you for the efforts over the years. I also wish Ben well in his new role, Blake are in a fine position to allow Ben to take the business forward with no issues. Uncertainty! What uncertainty?

Cheers Bill

NEWS & VIEWS Summer 2017

A vision of how Leeward House will look when complete , the building is due for completion in the autumn but has now marked its topping out, a ceremony traditionally held when a building reaches its highest point. Bill Badham said: "The exact origins of topping out are unknown, but evidence suggests the practice took place as far back as Roman Times and in ancient Egypt, often involving human sacrifice to ward off evil spirits. Pictured : Richard Keen, Emma Faraday of Hertford Investors; Oliver Colvile former Plymouth Sutton and Devonport MP; Bill Badham M.D of Pollard and Project Manager Steve Mahon who fixed the final glazing panel thereby making the building watertight.

TOPPING OUT AT MOUNTWISE

THE TEAM AT POLLARD WELCOMES Q.S. - Spencer Newman who is based in the Plymouth Office and will be taking over Q.S. duties at Cornwall Street Site Manager - Kevin Campbell who is managing the £3.68m Whiteladies Road Project for Galliard Homes Ltd. Site Manager - Will Parfitt who will be managing the £2.4m Firepool Project for Knightstone Housing Association.

New Project Awards

££2.4m - Firepool, Taunton

Client: Knightstone Housing Association Design and build of 19 apartments and 5 new houses on

Firepool Area F.

Site Manager: Will Parfitt Contracts Manager : John Nisbet Quantity Surveyor : Will Butler Estimator : Stuart Colebrooke

£3.7m - Whiteladies Road, Bristol

Client: Gallard Homes Ltd

Mixed use development of both retail and residential.

The ground floor comprises retail area for Marks & Spencer with a basement level

back-of-house and stock area. The upper four floors provide 14 apartments.

Site Manager : Kevin Campbell

Contracts Manager: Andy Coward Quantity Surveyor: Mark Dyer

Estimator: Martyn Giles

£1.6m 75-77 Cornwall Street, Plymouth,

Student Accommodation Development

Client: Knightsbridge Property Holdings Ltd The conversion of a first floor and construction of two further storeys to form 36 city centre student

accommodation apartments .

Site Manager: Gary Cleary Contracts Manager: Paul Simmonds

Q.S’s : Mark Twomey & Spencer Newman Estimator : Mark Taviner

l h

Successful Handover of the £4.2m - Street Retail Park

Client : Canynge Bicknell Ltd 3 retail units, with parking for over two

hundred cars . Pets & Home, & Bargain Homes will be end user of two of these units. The clients is delighted with our delivery and

has confirmed his intent to discuss the next phase with us.

Site Manager : John Venner

Contracts Manager: Andy Coward Quantity Surveyor: Mark Dyer Estimator: Stuart Colebrooke

Some reading these notes may already be aware that I have decided to take early retirement at the end of July.

I joined Blake Joinery in April 1996 therefore about to complete 21 years.

Having commenced a four year Apprenticeship in 1971 I have seen many changes during my time in the industry.

In those days joinery was manufactured on a supply only basis with Softwood generally supplied with a coat of pink water based primer and Hardwoods

generally supplied “In the white” which is a strange term as it means nothing applied. Now for companies such as ours, we have had to evolve and adapt and

we have to offer a much bigger service such as full decoration, site fixing, ironmongery and glazing.

Mr Pollard was the man in charge when I joined Blake and I have seen two management buy-outs since then. I have been fortunate to have had the trust

and backing from all of the owners including the current board who have allowed me to run the business as my own and I thank them for that.

Blake has gone from strength to strength and has a solid order book for the foreseeable future. I am delighted to be handing over the reins to

Ben Williams. Ben has worked closely with me over the years to achieve this very moment, and I am sure that under Ben’s leadership Blake will prosper for

many years to come.

As these are my last “News & Views” notes my I wish the Board of Directors and all staff of both Pollard & Blake Joinery the very best for the future.

As they say “It’s been a blast”

BEST WISHES TO ALAN ON HIS FORTHCOMING RETIREMENT