High praise for safety approach

The company won the Health & Safety category of the Constructing Excellence Yorkshire & Humber Awards 2015 – which recognise best practice in construction projects across the region - for its work on the large-scale refurbishment programme for local council homes.

Since 2012, Lovell has replaced around 2,000 roofs in Hull, with residents continuing to live in their homes during the construction work. The project team’s health and safety achievements were recognised at the awards ceremony held at the National Railway Museum in York.

The Constructing Excellence judges said: "Lovell demonstrated a commitment to Health & Safety beyond the duties and requirements of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations. The company provides training and awareness of a range of safety issues relevant to the context of specific projects and the people involved, such as the ‘working in occupied homes’ guidance, which is most impressive and more companies should adopt.”

The latest customer survey results show that 96 per cent of residents in Hull are satisfied with the roofing work carried out by Lovell. Following the success of the project, Hull City Council has now extended the company’s contract, appointing Lovell to carry out re-roofing work at a further 1,100 homes across the city.

Lovell regional director Robert Adams says: "Ensuring the highest health and safety standards on all our projects is of the utmost importance. This recognition from Constructing Excellence in Yorkshire & Humber underlines the professionalism and expertise of our team and their commitment to constantly reviewing and improving performance. We believe in fostering a culture where everyone feels able to make suggestions, raise any issues and share information ensuring that health and safety is managed proactively with new ideas and best practice shared across the business.”

The Lovell team will now go forward to the Constructing Excellence National Awards which take place in London on 23 October.

Councillor John Black, Hull City Council portfolio holder for Council Infrastructure, says: "Our re-roofing programme has been hugely successful, with over 2,000 council properties benefitting from these improvements to their homes already. Lovell have carried out the work to a very high standard, with minimum disruption to residents and health and safety at the forefront of what they do.

"To receive this award is recognition of their high standards of work and sets an example of best practice that can be copied by companies across the country. Well done to all the team at Lovell.”

Lovell replaces up to 35 roofs a week through the Hull re-roofing programme with health and safety considerations made the top priority throughout the work and regular inspections carried out by Lovell and Hull City Council. The Lovell team also work closely with all subcontractors to ensure a consistent safety approach.

All team members working inside residents’ homes attend a special training session on working in occupied properties with residents also given health and safety information. Other health and safety initiatives for the community including visits by Lovell to local schools and supervised site tours for students, enabling them to see how the  work is done in a way which puts health and safety first. A number of measures have been introduced to reduce risk during the construction work  including  mechanical devices to lift materials and the use of a lead-free flashing which is more sustainable, less potentially harmful to health and lighter and easier to install.