/ NEWS The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 5
Family-run maintenance firm wins contract with Hitachi Rail Europe
A family-run grounds maintenance and landscaping company has landed a highprofile contract with train manufacturing firm Hitachi Rail Europe .
Hitachi Rail has agreed a deal with neighbouring Beaumont Grounds Maintenance to look after its 42,700sqm site on Aycliffe Business Park .
Beaumont – which won the Small Business award at this year ’ s Make Your Mark dinner – is now charged with the upkeep of the Hitachi rail vehicle manufacturing facility , which was officially opened by David Cameron in September 2015 .
The deal comes just a few months after Beaumont celebrated another record year which saw an increase in workforce and turnover .
Managing director Alexander Lineton said : “ This is another significant deal for Beaumont and naturally we ’ re absolutely delighted to be working with one of Aycliffe Business Park ’ s flagship companies .
“ It comes off the back of a number of notable contract wins for us so business is good for us right now – we ’ re certainly heading in the right direction .
“ Our workforce is growing as we pick up these contracts , we ’ ve created a small number of jobs for local people as we grow and we ’ re looking to continue that this year .”
Lineton says Beaumont is now aiming to create more new jobs in 2017 .
He added : “ We ’ re looking to continue the growth path that we ’ re on while maintaining the family values that we offer .
“ We ’ re aiming to bring in new members of staff in 2017 and deepen the management structure of the business .
“ We ’ ve also completed full accreditation for three ISO integrated management systems , including ISO 9001 ( quality management framework ), ISO 14001 ( environmental management practises ) and ISO 18001 ( Occupational Health and Safety
Beaumont Grounds Maintenance managing director Alexander Lineton ( left ) with Hitachi Rail
Europe maintenance and facilities manager Chris Evans .
Management ).
“ This is the culmination of many months and years ’ hard work and endeavour to gain accreditation which will enable us to push us into new fields and win new large-scale tenders to support our ambitious growth plan .
“ We expect sales to grow to £ 750,000 – up from just under £ 500,000 two years ago – and as we grow we ’ ll need to invest in local employment , so we aim to add at least three new employees to the team and our workforce to 22 by 2018 – doubling staff numbers from two years ago .”
Beaumont ’ s latest deal is another example of Hitachi ’ s policy to utilise the local supply chain as much as possible .
The firm ’ s maintenance and facilities manager Chris Evans said : “ We ’ re delighted to be working with Beaumont , who are now in charge of the upkeep of grass , trees , shrubs , weeding and anything that just keeps the site looking world class .
“ We ’ re keen to promote the Hitachi effect locally , and use as many local companies as we can because that brings obvious benefits to the local community , and it expands our footprint in the region .”
Earlier this year , Beaumont reported a 20 % hike in turnover to £ 625,000 figures after the firm had enjoyed a 36 % hike on the previous year .
Beaumont , which specialises in grounds and sports pitch maintenance , also added four new members of staff to its team in 2016 , boosting numbers to 15 .
As well as winning the Aycliffe Small Business of the Year award this year , Beaumont was also shortlisted in the Service category of the North East Business awards ( Durham heat ).
You can find out more about Beaumont Grounds Maintenance at www . beaumontgroundsmaintenance . co . uk or give them a call on 01325 301379 .
5 TOP TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT
Mike Coates , of Commercial Expert , brings some useful time management tips ...
“ To Do ” List
This is essential . Should be done first thing every day , with outstanding tasks separated into the following :
• Most Important , Most Urgent – DO FIRST
• Most Important , Not Urgent – DO NEXT
• Less Important , Most Urgent – DO LATER
• Less Important , Not Urgent – DON ’ T DO
Retain Structure to your Work Day
Finish one task before starting another . Avoid the temptation to do part of a task and then return it to the pile . Quick wins can be good , but ensure you are not just delaying the more difficult and potentially more important tasks .
Regularly Review your Workload
Identify the tasks that always find themselves at the bottom of the pile – if possible , delegate . Set realistic deadlines – always better to under-promise and over-deliver .
Avoid Interruptions
Don ’ t be a slave to your email inbox , allowing each incoming email to divert you . Allocate time to pick them all up in one go . Turn off “ email alerts ”.
Prioritise your inbox according to importance and urgency and , if possible , deal with an email only once before saving it to a file .
Identify the irrelevant ones from their title and delete without opening .
Set your phone to silent when you are busy . Then allocate time to deal with voicemails and missed calls .
Don ’ t Forget to have a Break
Don ’ t become the office bore . We all need a break now and then and we all need some human interaction . A good atmosphere in the office improves everyone ’ s productivity !
Mike Coates Commercial Expert commercialexpert . co . uk