Welcome to our Spring 2022 Newsletter! |
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Welcome to our first quarterly Group Newsletter of 2022.
I hope you are all enjoying the bright evenings and looking forward to a well-deserved break over the Easter weekend.
It has been absolutely shocking watching what has been happening in Ukraine and the team here in Actavo has been extremely proactive in raising much need humanitarian funds. Thank you to all who have contributed. Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who is affected by this conflict.
We have had a very positive start to the year, with great progress on major projects and significant wins across the business. I am delighted to share that we are now five months without a Lost Time Incident in the business, this is an excellent achievement. We were recently awarded four accolades by RoSPA, including two new wins for us, the 'Fleet Safety Technology Award' for Network & In-Home, and the 'RoSPA Order of Distinction' for Industrial UK. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to these awards for your part in demonstrating our value 'Live Safety'.
The first quarter has seen a major recruitment drive across all our divisions and I would like to extend a warm welcome to over 150 new starters who have joined the business since Christmas. You are very welcome and we hope you are enjoying working with us so far. Congratulations also to those who have secured new roles in the NBI and In-Home teams.
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A few weeks ago we celebrated International Women's Day with the female-led SIRO Team at a small event in Westlands House. Congratulations to the team on some great media coverage of their achievements. Our Saudi Team held celebrations of its own, recognising the very welcome shift in opportunities for women in the region.
Our Networks Team in the UK has made great progress on projects with client Gigaclear and is settling into a new depot in Daventry - good luck to the team and welcome to all your new recruits.
A special mention and thanks also to everyone on the NBI design project which ended last month. Many of them are now transferring over to the Gigaclear project which is fantastic for continuity.
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Congratulations to our Industrial UK and PDC teams, for winning £8m in new business in Q1, to our Caribbean team for achieving 1.5 million man-hours without an LTI, and to our Saudi Team for securing Aramco vendor registration and ISO accreditation.
Our Modular team is enjoying a strong start to the year, with the execution of some large educational projects. It is also encouraging to see our Events Teams back in full swing after a tough 2 years, delivering live events and getting great recognition from clients.
We hope you enjoy the newsletter which has lots of interesting updates from around the business. We have some excellent examples of Customer Experience from our In-Home teams. It is wonderful to see such great positive feedback from clients and their customers across the various teams.
Please remember to keep living our values, they differentiate us.
Well done everyone and my best wishes for a lovely Easter break.
Brian Kelly, Group CEO
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We're delighted to announce that we have been notified of four RoSPA Awards for 2022!
Our Network & In-Home Division was acknowledged with:
~ The RoSPA President's Award for 11 consecutive golds;
~ RoSPA Fleet Safety Gold Award; and
~ The RoSPA Winner of the Fleet Safety Technology Award
Our Industrial Division also won the prestigious RoSPA Order of Distinction Award for 18 years' consecutive gold awards. Well done everyone, these awards are a fantastic endorsement of our safety culture and values.
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We have had a great start to the year with Q1 being lost time accident free. We are now five months lost time accident free. This is a fantastic achievement and takes everybody’s input to ensure that we achieve these results.
External audits
Well done to the teams in PDC, Industrial UK and Buildings in the various external ISO / BOPAS audits completed without any major non-conformances.
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We have commenced the User Acceptance Testing (UAT) phase of the roll out of our ERP project, which is currently focused on the Network & In-Home business in Ireland and the UK. This is a key project on our overall business systems strategy to move to a single ERP solution across the business. |
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As of March all our premises in Ireland and the UK are now supplied with certifiable green energy. This is part of our on-going sustainability programme, aimed at being carbon neutral by 2050. |
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Sincere thanks to everyone who responded so kindly to the collection for humanitarian aid for Ukraine from all of us at Actavo, your generosity was so overwhelming. We had an incredible response from all areas of the business, with donations arriving from our offices in Kill and Citywest also. We sent the first round of donations to a drop off point and these were shipped to the border of Ukraine, in a convoy of trucks. The second round of donations was given to the Lakeside Manor Hotel in Cavan, who took in over 65 Ukrainians. We also received cash donations, which were sent to Breaking the Chains who originally went in to rescue animals from Ukraine but ended up transporting families safely to the border.
“Just want to say how happy the Ukrainians are with the stuff your company donated. All of the dog and cat food got divided out and the sanitary and hygiene supplies were grabbed up. We are turning the nightclub into a recreation centre where they will spend their day. It is currently getting painted and new carpets put down. We will have a games room and a small kitchen area with a microwave where they can make snacks like the noodles and creamed rice etc. We purchased a gaming telly and two gaming chairs, lots of socks and underwear which were badly needed out of the money you donated”
Lakeside Manor Hotel, Virginia, Cavan
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We’d like to congratulate the new mums and dads in the Virgin Media team – Darren O’Sullivan and Michaela Nolan. Introducing (left) Millie Rose Nolan!
Congratulations also to Lindsay and Mary Rountree on the birth of Blaise Martha Rountree (right), bearing her late grandmother’s name Martha. Born 4th March, weighing 8lb 1oz at 8.45am!
HUGE CONGRATS ALL!!
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Welcome to our Intern from St Mark's Community College |
On 31 March 2022, we welcomed Jaden, from St Mark’s Community School in Tallaght, who has joined us for a 6-week Internship Program, in conjunction with the Iris O’Brien Foundation.
Jaden was selected from 16 applicants, with all applicants interviewed. Trish and Laura dedicated themselves to providing an engaging and impactful experience for each applicant. Jaden is a 17 year-old Transition Year student. He will be spending 5 weeks in the field with different teams, culminating in a presentation to senior management on 19 May about what he has learnt during the program.
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A warm welcome to all our new starters in Q1! |
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Network & In-Home Ireland |
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- Kim Downes
- Noel Simpson
- Michal Kowalski
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- Michael Angland
- Brian Gormley
- Owen O' Malley
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- Keith O' Driscoll
- Bernard Cleary
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- Brendon Bekker
- James Kelly
- Muhilan Raveendran
- Pawel Truszczynski
- Alexandru Racean
- Flaviu Mesesan
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Networks Northern Ireland
- Simon Kuszpit
- Benjamin Greenslade
- Gavin Fox
- Robert Bryson
- Darren Walker
- Christopher Allen
- Greg McIntyre
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- David Fay
- Jordan Moore
- Josh Nolan
- Chris Taylor
- John Savage
- Scott Stewart
- Ryan Pope
- Finlay Wallace
- David Broadfoot
- Neil Hughes
- Dylan Wood
- John McKeown
- Jamie Meehan
- Michael Simpson
- Steven Thomson
- Keith Duggan
- Scott Smith
- Frank Kelly
- Jack Henry
- Jason Harris
- David McFarlane
- Daryl Garrett
- Glen Fay
- Dean McFarlane
- Mihail Gusacov
- Andrew Guy
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- Marchje Jansen
- David Greaney
- Gavin Coker
- Jake Kelly
- Darragh O'Connor
- Kim McGrath
- Liliana Guilherme
- Levi Perez Auiahuati
- Eric Mulhall
- Angel Humm
Actavo HQ
Business Development - Nicola Mahon
EHS - Eve Kelly
Group Finance - Diana Tocenova
Actavo UK
- Liz Scott
- Chris Pendrey
- Dan Tolston
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Network & In-Home Caribbean |
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- Ruben Andrews
- Kirk McEachnie
- Kerry Dickson
- Timon Jaikaran
- Winston Peccoo
- Gary Jobson
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- Tomas Peresleny
- Andrae Douglas
- Riazz Mohammed
- Amrit Deonarine
- Kaila Davis
- Tisha Hanooman
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The Civils Team had a very busy first quarter, working on the following projects:
- Completion of the Busy Griffith Avenue / Ballymun Road / Mobhi Road Junction Upgrade.
- Completion of the DLRCC Stillorgan Road Scheme (see below)
We have also secured €750k+ of new Business:
- DCC – C1-22 Localised Footpath & Carriageway Repair Contract - €397k
- DCC – Griffith Avenue – Slip-Form Kerbing, Cycle Lane Extension - €14k
- DLRCC – Churchtown Road Lower Traffic Calming Scheme - €343k
And, we have recently qualified onto the Term Maintenance & Refurbishment Framework for Civil Works Contracts for Louth County Council.
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Official Opening of Stillorgan Road (UCD Access) Cycle Improvement Scheme |
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We were delighted to attend the Official Opening of the Stillorgan Road (UCD Access) Cycle Improvement Scheme on Friday 1st April 2022, having been the main contractor on this project since March 2020. The team successfully delivered a high-quality and safe installation of a new cycle and pedestrian route, while also improving safe foot and cycle path usage.
The Scheme was officially opened by Cllr Lettie McCarthy, An Cathaoirleach of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Professor Mark Rogers, Acting President of UCD, and Liam Ryan, Head of Network Operations, Actavo, at Nova UCD Entrance. You can read the full press release on our website.
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VM Fibre Overlay Project NI |
Virgin Media have awarded Actavo a project in Northern Ireland to overlay the existing copper network with a fibre network. This is a flagship project within Virgin Media as they upgrade their existing infrastructure to deliver Fibre to the Home (FTTH) technologies to their customers. We are currently on plan, building our management team and supply chain to deliver the works, with the 1st work pack due to be received early April.
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Our pre-enablement engineer Ian Moyes had a very worrying experience when members of his family were stuck in Russia when the conflict with Ukraine started. They were in Moscow on holiday when the news broke of potential trouble. They travelled to the nearest airport to attempt to get home only to discover that all flights home had been cancelled. Having returned to their hotel in Moscow 2 days later they got word that there was a route home for them via Chechnya, Turkey, and London. Having made the long journey to Chechnya and a flight to Turkey, they were advised that there were no onward flights available from Turkey to the UK or Ireland, and were flown back to Chechnya. Having stayed another 2 nights in Chechnya a similar route home became available with three flights from Chechnya to Turkey to London to Belfast. Needless to say Ian was relieved and delighted to get his family home safe and secure. |
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National Broadband Ireland (NBI) Update |
Our 2 year NBI Survey & Design contract finishes up this month, which has seen our teams completing field surveys & Fibre to the Home design work of 57,000 premises across 17 Deployment Areas all around Ireland for our client National Broadband Ireland. The Survey Team had to survey & inspect over 150,000 poles and 27,000 chambers to complete this work and our Design Team are just finishing up the final touches to network fibre designs which cover approximately 6,800,000 metres of cable route and 50,000 splice enclosures to deliver the design packs for these premises.
As the team complete their work duties on the project the team have successfully been placed on alternative projects which include NBI Build, Networks Civils, Gigaclear UK, Actavo Modular, Virgin Media Inhome, Sky Inhome and Inhome Energy. We wish all these staff members who are transferring within Actavo and those who have left the company every success in the next chapter of their careers.
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Actavo recognised in ESRI Ireland Customer Success Awards |
On the NBI Networks Projects, our project teams have been using ESRI’s ArcGIS platforms for survey, design and build workflow management since 2020. The project teams, working with Actavo IT Business Development and ESRI’s development team, have created a number of tailored systems to assist in all aspects of a networks project rollout. |
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We were delighted to receive these awards – being nominated for Field Operations and awarded Stand Out Success in Data Collection & Management – as a customer of ESRI Ireland.
The awards recognise the hugely successful efforts our Survey, Design, GIS, IT, Field, Back Office & Management Operations Team put in, to make a project work well and successfully deliver for our clients.
Sincere thanks all.
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The ArcGIS platform is now being rolled out on other Networks Projects, so this is a system that more and more people will get experience of in the near future.
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NBI Build Project Appointments |
On our Networks NBI Construction contract we have been building up the team over the past 2 years to help deliver this key infrastructure project for Ireland. The following recent appointments have been made in the project leadership team. |
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Shane Kelly has been appointed to the role of Project Director
He will be reporting to Liam Ryan Head of Networks Projects in Ireland leading our NBI Build construction project.
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Thomas McManus has been appointed to the role of Operations Manager. Thomas will report into Shane, leading the full field team both internal crews and subbies across all our NBI Build project areas.
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Aidan Byrne has been appointed to the role of Project Quality Manager. Aidan will report into Thomas and is support by the Group Quality Management team.
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Get to know...David Ramsey, Handover Manager,
National Broadband Ireland Build
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How long have you worked at Actavo?
Three & a half years, beginning in October 2018 as Quality Coordinator on the SIRO Build contract, before transitioning into a Project Planner role for the National Broadband Survey & Design contract in April 2020. With that contract soon coming to a close, I moved into my current role on the NBI Build contract in November 2021.
What does your job entail/typical day?
Excel, and plenty of it. A main part of my role on the Survey and Design was forecasting Survey durations, based on available resources and expected production rates, for each of the areas we were awarded, tracking this against our weekly actuals and re-forecasting when necessary. As well as this, I work on a number of weekly and bi-weekly reports for the client, from Survey start through Design Handover.
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Having previously worked on Handovers during my stint on the SIRO contract, and my experience on the National Broadband project already, I moved into my current role on the Build which is the other end of the project spectrum and involves tracking Build completion against our committed Handover dates, and ensuring all documentation, certificates, test results, etc. are completed and submitted accordingly.
Favourite memory from work?
Unfortunately, with the pandemic almost 50% of my time with Actavo has been working remotely, but the Christmas party in Navan in 2018 I always remember well. I had only been in the company a few weeks and slotted in as if I had been there for years.
What attracted you to work at Actavo?
With a degree in engineering, and a working background entirely in the telecommunications sector, previously with Vodafone and then eir, I decided to leave eir back in 2018 and I came across Actavo and haven’t looked back. In my time here so far, I’ve undertaken several training courses to help further progress myself, with another commencing in the middle of March this year, and feel by working hard the progression opportunities within the company are there, which is what anyone would want in a company.
What do you like most about your job?
No two days are the same. Problem solving is something I thrive on and enjoy, and the feeling of accomplishment at overcoming a difficult task makes the effort worthwhile. I’m constantly learning new things everyday which keeps things interesting and prevents me from becoming complacent.
What is your proudest moment at Actavo?
I’ve had a lot of successful moments in my time here so far, but I feel the success we had on the SIRO Build contract, as a whole, is something to be proud of. At quarterly performance appraisals we always ranked among the highest of all the contractors and were continuously praised for our exceptional efforts and diligent work.
What does success look like to you?
I tend to view success incrementally. As someone who is invigorated by new, complex challenges, I never want to find myself in a situation where I feel as if there is nothing left to learn or achieve. If I can leave work each evening satisfied that I’ve learned or accomplished something new or useful, this counts as success to me.
Where are you from?
Monaghan Town, Co. Monaghan, but I’ve been living in Dublin the last 11 years between university and work. I still get back at least once a month to visit family and friends and still keenly follow the County Team.
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
A bit of everything. I’m into pretty much every sport, from football to F1 to golf, and enjoy playing snooker too which I’m still learning my craft in. Aside from this, travelling when possible, and hopefully I will get to do more of it this year.
What’s a fun fact about you people may not know?
In college each year, the third year engineering students are grouped into teams and must create a Robotic Fireman, capable of carrying a container of water to the top of a small ladder. In the final week of the semester they hold a competition, pitting the firemen against each other, taking times. Our team beat the university all-time record with a 7 second climb, only to be beaten minutes later by the last team who completed it in 6. A good lesson in when not to celebrate too early.
Who do you admire?
Elon Musk’s ambition, innovation & entrepreneurial vision is something I admire. Co-founder of PayPal and Tesla, as well as the founder of SpaceX, he continually raises the bar of innovation globally and defies critics with what he creates.
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Get to know...Lee Butler, Deployment Area Manager,
National Broadband Ireland Build
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How long have you worked at Actavo?
I began working for Actavo in January of 2021 as an Enabling & Civils Supervisor. Before Actavo I was a telecoms cabling & civils sub-contractor for 8 years, primarily based in Cork.
What does your job entail/What is a typical day like?
As a DA Manager I am responsible for all that happens in my area on a daily basis from Civils to Cabling to splicing and testing. I assist in trying to build up available resources, and plan work for contractors making sure there is no lost production time. Monitoring build progress & the quality being delivered by our contractors and supervisors to make sure we match the client’s expectations is key. There are no two roads, poles, or obstacles the same, so each day is different with its own challenges.
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Favourite memory from work?
My time in Actavo has been short compared to many of my colleagues but it has produced a few good memories already. The standout for me is coming into Actavo as a supervisor and within the year progressing to Construction Manager and eventually Deployment Area Manager. For years as sub-contractor I had grown increasingly frustrated with not having opportunities or a voice. Liam Ryan and the rest of the team have given me both over the past year and I am incredibly grateful.
What attracted you to work at Actavo?
Opportunity! Actavo were already working on the NBI contract when I started but it was still relatively early days so I had hoped then that my experience of the EIR network would be recognised and be of value. I wanted to work with a company that had a reputation for H&S, Quality and opportunities for progression for those willing to work for it.
What do you like most about your job?
Without any doubt the biggest satisfaction I get is being made to feel like my opinion matters. I have roughly 12 years’ experience working on the EIR network including poling, cabling & civils. To be able to share my knowledge to build a quality product is a great reward.
What is your proudest moment at Actavo?
My proudest moment so far has to be my first involvement in a handover. The project has its challenges but for our team to deliver our first ribbon in Wexford with only a handful of snags has to be it, and hopefully it remains the same for the rest of the areas.
What does success look like to you?
By definition it is accomplishment. To accomplish what we have so far it would not have been possible nor do I believe it ever can be without teamwork. I have been lucky to have a great team involved in Wexford and Waterford from Niall Martin and Thomas McManus to our construction managers and supervisors. Without the input and effort from all of them we could not have accomplished what we have so far. I suppose in short success is a functioning team. Everyone pulling together to get it done
Where are you from?
I’m from Waterford, lived here all 37 years so far. Working for Actavo has actually been the first time in 16 years I have been able to work close to home, sometimes at home. My wife and kids were always giving out they did not get to see much of me, now it’s the opposite. You can’t win!
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
When I can find time, I’ll potter away down the shed making or fixing things. I love working with wood but don’t always have the time. During lockdown in 2020 I built a workshop and a homebar at the end of the garden. If I am in one or the other, I’m happy enough. My 13 yr old son got into playing golf so when the weather picks up well try get back out as much as we can. My 10 yr old daughter loves football so we try and make as many home games for Waterford FC and cheer on the blues. Any spare time I have outside of the above my wife will hand me a paintbrush I’m sure!
What’s a fun fact about you people may not know?
During lockdown 2020 I told my wife I was finally going to build the shed. The shed ended up 1/3rd a shed, 2/3rd my home bar ‘The Drunken Butler’ . The Sun newspaper included it in a piece on home bars built during lockdown.
Who do you admire?
My younger brother Shane. Shane left school at 16 during transition year. He believed then he knew what he wanted to do and although a leaving cert helps, not having one wasn’t going to get in his way. He took on course after course, job after job, eventually working his way up to where he is now. From a kid that left school at 16 to consulting on security at The Pentagon deserves my forever respect and admiration.
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Our work with Gigaclear is progressing well in Buckingham and we are starting construction on Shipston, our second design area, this month, with 2,700 premises. We have also started works on a design-only service in Farringdon…home of the famous Neolithic white horse :)
We are delighted to have a new home for the UK Telecoms Team. We moved out of the Solihull Regus last week and are now in our new depot in Daventry. We will have a formal opening of the depot sometime this month and we look forward to welcoming more of our colleagues here to see us in the future!
Our new address is:
Actavo Telecoms UK, Royal Oak Way North, Daventry, NN11 8PQ
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A special warm welcome from the team to our new colleagues who have joined us in 2022 so far. Since the start of the year 20 Field Engineers have joined the Sky contract.
We have lots of very positive news to share this quarter, including excellent customer feedback. We are currently up-skilling a number of the team to carry out SAT / DAT work and we are also providing refresher training to our existing crews.
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Focusing on Customer Experience |
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During the pandemic, in very challenging times for our field staff and Sky’s customers, our teams continued to deliver excellent results, leading to the creation of loyal Sky customers. There have been some wonderful testimonials from customers and our client throughout the year to date, celebrating achievements in delivering great customer experiences. Below are a couple of examples. 😉 |
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Conor O'Sullivan attended to a dangerously hanging dish on the roof of a property. The job was completed in less than 1.5 hours of being notified. Thanks Conor, the customer is delighted with you and your work (see below comments directly from the customer). Thanks too to Katie Foran and Patsy Cahill for escalating this job and getting it on to Conor so promptly.
"Just a quick note to say thank you! The technician came and I would like to point out that he was the most friendly, polite and professional person ever. (He deserves a special mention) (maybe even a raise!) well done Sky - your customer service has excelled itself!"
Thanks so much.
The customer comment above was sent to us by Aoife Foley - Business Development Manager Sky
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Below was feedback from a customer to the CEO of Sky Ireland in relation to Valeri Mudric Mid-East Team.
Dear Mr Buckley,
I write to pass on some comments to you re Staff. I have had occasion recently to contact your offices several times about my TV. I eventually had to make an appointment with a SKY engineer to replace my SKY box. Having made the appointment I had to cancel several times as the lifting of certain Covid restrictions meant that a lot of my medical appointments were rearranged.
At ALL TIMES when I phoned the staff were most courteous and helpful, both when I was adjusting my contract and making my appointment for a SKY engineer. I am a SKY customer for 15 + years.
The appointment with the engineer was for last Friday 11th. I did not change it even though I had a family funeral the previous day. The engineer's name was Valeri Madric. The installation took longer than expected. At all times Valeri treated me in a most courteous way and was very helpful as I had to ‘move a few things’.
I am a 77 year-old retired nurse with serious health and I honestly say that Valeri was one of the most professional people who has ever come to do work in my home. You are very lucky to have such an excellent employee and he loves working with SKY. Do you have a staff member of the month award because he would be a very worthy recipient? I was very happy to have Sky back on air as I missed Eurosport. Also had it for the Rugby as I would be an avid fan
It is my express wish that you compliment Valeri and also your staff at customer service. They are really well trained. I was a nurse educator and was very involved in personal development and communication skills. They have it all, Well done to whoever is training them.
This type feedback is truly living our core value ‘Focus on Customer Experience’, so thank you again for your ongoing support.
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Sky Stars is about recognising and celebrating people and teams across Sky. These team members were nominated by Anthony Houlihan, Operations Manager, because Anthony recognised the Sky Values in their work.
- David Dunne
- Emanuel Gherasim
- Dael Gornall
Here’s what he had to say:
"We would like to recognise and thank you for your recent ACE performance. ACE is now a key part of the Ireland operation and helps drive additional revenue while also improving the customer experience. Thanks for your efforts in driving improvement in ACE performance. Thanks so much", Anthony Houlihan, Operations Manager.
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Below is a sample of Certificates awarded to engineers for performance, well done all. |
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Jon Cunningham (Mid-West Team) |
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Jonathan Coyne (Mid-West Team) |
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Lee Walker (Sout-East Team) |
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Bernard Murphy (South-East Team) |
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Sky Team Manager Appointments |
In the month of March, we have appointed two Team Managers and a Regional Manager to the Sky Team. Brian Malone, Mid-East Region, and Graham Maunder, NI region, will both will report to the Regional Operations Manager, currently being appointed. A very warm welcome to the Sky Management Team. Wishing you all every success in the challenge ahead.
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Brian Malone, Team Manager, Mid-East |
Brian will oversee all quality and customer service aspects on our Sky contract. Brian joined Actavo in 2016 and over the years up-skilled to a MDU trained engineer and stand in team manager.
Brian brings years of knowledge and experience to the role and will give the team a great uplift to deliver excellent experience to our client and customers. Brian has demonstrated in the past excellent people skills and truly lives our core values in Actavo.
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Graham Maunder, Team Manager, NI Region |
Graham will oversee all quality and customer service aspects on our Sky contract. Graham joined Actavo in 2011, transferring over from a previous Sky partner, and over the years has been a safety rep and stand-in Team Manager.
Graham brings years of knowledge and experience to the role and will give the team a great uplift to deliver excellent experience to our clients and customers/ Graham has demonstrated in the past excellent people skills and truly lives our core values in Actavo.
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Liam Clarke, Regional Manager |
Liam was previously Field Efficiency & Crewing Manager and been successful in his application for Regional Manager.
Liam has been with Actavo since joining from a previous Sky Partner in 2011. With a vast amount of previous experience at engineer and Team Manager Level, this next step will see Liam rising again.
I am sure you will all join me in congratulating Liam as he transitions into this role and of course he can depend on us all for the support he will need in meeting the challenges ahead, Well done Liam!
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We have kicked off the year to a great start and have some fantastic feedback to share from our client. Our sincere thanks to you all for your hard work every day, delivering an excellent service for VM customers. |
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Welcome to our new team members! |
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We’d like to offer a warm welcome to all our new team members who have joined in Quarter 1 2022.
Pictured opposite are new Back Office Team Members Laure Mbiyavanga and Katie Mc Carthy.
A massive welcome also to our 18 new technicians, all in various stages of training.
We have 5 new techs currently training and doing really well.
Pictured below are Damien Barrett, Damien McDonald, Owen Comer, Alin Peity and Andre Zavatini.
Welcome to the Team guys!
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Customer Experience Recognition |
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Pictured is Gavin O’Neill the recipient of a voucher for his outstanding customer experience in the period – the following is a quote from one of his customers
“New boxes installed by a man named Gavin. Hold on to him. Had issues with my TV (my fault) and a very patient man sorted me out.”
VM Customer
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Along with Gavin the following techs were recognised for their amazing customer experience – Ray Preston, Martin Dillon, Peter Pavelka, Eric Cashin, Paul Cuddihy, Michael Kyne and Marcin Dziadek.
Well done and keep up the fantastic work!
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We also had fantastic feedback recently from Ber McElligott in Virgin Media, for Paul Cuddihy and Michael Kyne, with a customer taking the time to convey this wonderful review.
“Hi all, a customer called to give very high praise for both of the techs that called to her 2 days ago, she said they were amazing especially Paul. She said they were there over 2 hours and very patient , kind and wonderful. She said she could not let it go without giving this positive feedback and also the girl the tech speaking on the phone. I thanked her for this and assured her it will be passed to him and his manager. She said he was 'simply the best'.”
And one of our back office senior agents, Tracy Cush, went above and beyond and Virgin media had this to say after Tracy resolved a complaint from a concession customer…looks like she’s starting a Tracy fan club!
“Hi all, spoke with customer, issue resolved. Big shout out to Tracy from this customer, she was signing your praises. Delighted with your help over the last 3 weeks. You have been added to her fan club” 😊 Thanks, Kathryn
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We received a lovely message from Ian Darcy, 3rd Party Performance Inspector at our client Virgin Media. Having read some of the feedback from customers, he picked out three for special mention – "Some super customer call-outs to be shared with the guys":
David Hope
“The installer David was on time, very courteous and professional. Perfect.”
Raymond Preston & Martin Dillion (FTTH)
“Installation was easy I was given a day and 4 hour window and on the day I was given a phone call when they were one customer away which was plenty of notice. Both men were very nice and tidy they took all the rubbish and even sweeped up the dust”
Sohail Ahmed
“Friendly installer. Went through everything until the service was working properly. Many thanks to Sohail!”
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We spotted these lovely call-outs for our technicians on Twitter from happy customers! Well done guys!
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Fran Smith
Big shout out to the fabulous Fran Smith, @VirginMediaIE technician who has gone over and above to get me fully set up in my new apartment. Returning when there was another issue and providing me with the full VM office set up that I need. Thanks Fran! #CustomerService 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Michael O'Kelly and Roman Sapteboi
I was really impressed with @VirginMediaIE technicians Michael and Roman who managed to change all cables here today in spite of having to go over a roof and avoid glass roof- pleasant and professional and both wearing masks.
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Despite a slower start in sales from SIRO’s retail partners, we have continued to achieve a high standard of efficiency across all our crews. Quality has been maintained at a very high level, with regular feedback coming from SIRO highlighting our continued high standards. |
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A special shout out to Rachel, Michelle and Sharon, who featured in a special celebration in Westland House, to mark International Women’s Day on 8 March 2022, and appeared in a number of industry publications as a result of PR around the event. You can read the website News piece here and also the full interviews with the ladies, in our website blog post. |
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Welcome to our new SIRO recruits! |
Welcome to our two new field engineers, Noel Simpson and Michal Kowalski and Back-Office team member Kim Downes.
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Congrats on your promotion! |
Congratulations to David Young, promoted from field engineer and step-up TM, to full time Team Manager for the Overhead Linesmen!
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Network Outage / Build Works |
MV Line taken out and new ADSS fibre cable spanned by in house Drops overhead lines crew, led by David Young.
230+ homes to be passed in Athy on the SIRO network, very soon to be connected by our in-house technicians. Moving to work in Dundalk & Drogheda to pass a further 1000+ homes in Q2.
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Customer Experience Recognition
Well done Darren Hennigan and Sean Whelan for this recent customer feedback:
“2 tv box and Wi-Fi installed by your engineers named Darren and Sean. Made my journey from moving to Vodafone very easy, communicated the whole way through and were very patient when explaining.” Vodafone Customer
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We would like extend a big welcome to Luke Philpott, Brian Gormley, Gavin Holohan, Owen O’Malley, Paul Dixon and Michael Angland, who have all started with the Home Energy Division this year.
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We recently secured a renewed contract with Dublin City Council, as a result of the continued hard work from our Pay & Display team, who have held a high standard of work and efficiency. Well done team! |
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Customer Experience Recognition
Well done to Gary Nugent who received a glowing review from a PPP customer after their installation:
“Just a note to say thank you for your kind assistance...I had a lovely chap named Gary out to install my new meter. He is a gentleman. Please convey our appreciation to him for his neat and tidy workmanship. He set up my app on my phone and showed me that the €100 credit had been allocated to our account. I will recommend PrepayPower to my friends and family for the speed and courtesy of the changeover”
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Industrial Ireland had two significant contract wins on a semi-conductor maintenance project in Kildare. Well done to the team, particularly John Keightley and Gary McLaughlin.
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Amgen Biologics PM Group – Josh Nolan (above) was awarded a One4All voucher by PM Group for SOR of the week.
MSD Carlow 2 Project – Paul Byrne and Cathal Davis were both awarded One4All vouchers by PM Group for SOR of the week. Well done all!
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Stuart Lancaster leadership talk
Industrial Ireland team invited Stuart Lancaster to provide a leadership talk to the senior management team. Stuart has worked at the highest level of international sport and has studied leadership throughout his career. His talk gave the team an insight into lessons learnt and building long term teams.
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Industrial UK and Actavo PDC have collectively secured £7.93m in new wins in Q1 which is fantastic for both teams.
Industrial UK secured £2.86m in Q1
- Amey Cespa – Term Contract Extension / Scaffolding in Milton Keynes - £356k
- Emcor – Scaffolding at British Sugar Wissington and BAE Towcester - £36k
- Engenda – Pipe wrapping at Holford - £20.4k
- EPI UK – Term Contract Extension & Outages - £2.3m
- Magnox – Insulation at Oldbury & Storage Units at Dungeness A - £82k
- Volker Stevin – Scaffolding in Manchester - £58k
PDC has secured £5.069m in Q1 (90% of 2022 budget secured to date)
- Electricity North West – 2023 Tower Painting, 9 routes - £900k
- National Grid – Tower Painting - £2.87m
- Scottish Power Energy Networks – Tower Painting - £1.3m
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PDC Safety Incentive Scheme |
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PDC continues to running a Safety Incentive Scheme to encourage active ‘HEART’ reporting throughout our business. We will announce our latest winners in the next issue....in the meantime here are the photos of two of our winners from Q4 2021. Congrats again David and Michael! |
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Industrial UK sponsors Christmas Gifts for South Humber children |
Our Industrial UK Team received a lovely acknowledgement from our client, South Humber power Bank Station, in January, following our donation of Christmas gifts for local children:
“We are writing to send our thanks for your amazing generosity, which has helped to provide 75 children with festive gifts. With COVID-19 still on the rise, many families are in financial difficulty and without the gifts you help to provide, lots of children would have nothing to open on Christmas Day.
When the social workers came to collect the gifts, they were so grateful and quite emotional at the number of gifts your donation helped to provide, contributing to a magical Christmas for many children. Luckily there are supportive and generous local companies like yourselves who we can collaborate with on such a vital local project.
Thank you once again on behalf of the children, this wouldn’t have been possible without you."
Kind regards, Melanie Anderson, South Humber Bank Power Station
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Caribbean celebrates 1.5 million man-hours without an LTI |
Congratulations to the Caribbean Region which has surpassed 1.5 million safe hours without a Lost Time Incident. This achievement is an indicator of the team’s commitment, competency and focus on Safety First. This is a significant milestone to our target of Zero Harm. |
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Actavo Caribbean secures 1.7M in new wins |
Trinidad FTTx Expansion Project
The Actavo Trinidad team has been awarded the FTTx Penal & Debe OLT Fibre Build in Trinidad for 20,000 HP. The build entails constructing 357km of fibre to the existing Digicel network in southern Trinidad. The project spans across a six month timeline and commenced in March 2021.
British Virgin Islands Tortola Fibre Build
Actavo Caribbean was recently awarded a 150km FTTx Fibre Build Project in Tortola, British Virgin Islands for 7,000 HP. Tortola is the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands.
The teams have fully mobilized to BVI and have commenced construction. The client, Digicel BVI is due to launch Digicel+ In-Home services to the residents of Tortola by May.
Guyana Operations and Maintenance Renewal
In March 2022, Actavo secured the renewal of the OSP Operations and Maintenance contract in Georgetown Guyana for Digicel Guyana. Actavo has been providing break-fix services and proactive maintenance on Digicel’s outside plant network since March 2021.
Well done and good luck to the Caribbean teams on their new projects this year!
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This quarter we received some great feedback from both Digicel clients and customers.
Akeem Caddle – Technician, Actavo Barbados
“I got my installation over the weekend. The technician visited on Friday, and after inspection, he realized that a new drop had to be installed. However, the rain had been falling all day and was still falling, making it hazardous to climb the pole.
He waited patiently for a while, about 2 or more hours but with the rain not easing up, he finally had to leave. He said he would return at 7:30am the next day to complete the install and indeed he was there by that time. But the rain was still falling.
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Again, he waited for a while but then called for assistance via a bucket truck. It came and the install was completed. Mr. Caddle communicated with me at every stage of the install, explaining what needed to be done and why there was a delay in the install and what measures were being taken to complete the install.
Mr. Caddle inquired where the box was to be positioned, inspected the area and completed a very clean install. Upon completion of the install, he explained the use of the wireless extenders, the two wireless signals we would see and recommended how to gain best use from each. He explained the television product, going through the channels and the various remote options.
He wrote down all of the information I would need to know in terms of Acct Number, IPTV ID, passwords for IPTV and WiFi, and explained each one and its use. It was definitely a very pleasant experience and I commend Mr. Caddle for his excellent customer service, his professionalism and good communication skills.”
Digicel Barbados Manager
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Carlos Adams – Supervisor, Actavo Barbados
“Let’s give a round of applause to Carlos Adams. The customer returned to the Digicel office to thank you on your helpful customer service, and the fact that you stayed so late to make sure her internet was up and running, you were great!”
Digicel FTTH Customer Care Island Support Agent
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Marsha Branch shares her views... |
These last two years have been the most challenging and rewarding time of my work/life so far. Staff numbers were reduced because of the pandemic and jobs increased. I learnt how to manage my time better for my personal growth, health and mind and operate as a team. I have pushed my body and mind and learnt sooo much, and there’s always more to learn. I have a great supportive SHEQ and Fleet manager and Operations Manager, the team is wonderful to work with whether junior or senior. I plan to keep growing and learning, things can only get better from here. |
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Saudi Founding Day lays on the 22nd of February of each year. This date represents the first Saudi State since 1727, the day Imam Mohammed bin Saud unified the Arab peninsula into a stabilised and secured region, it promoted knowledge and the establishment of institutions and administrative systems which extended its influence to most Arab neighbours. |
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Founding Day represents the first Saudi state, today we live in the third Saudi state established on the 23rd of September 1932 after Our first King Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud managed to recapture it and turned it into a modern Saudi state called Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
On Founding Day, people around the country embraced our rich heritage celebrating cultural events by wearing their original traditional clothing, eating traditional food and sharing experiences on how our ancestors used to live before.
(Saudi Founding Day official logo)
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Saudi Arabian Actavo celebrated this national event by hosting a traditional lunch Kabsa (rice and chicken cooked using traditional herbs), and shared interesting heritage/culture information on different regions in the country. |
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International Women's Day |
As March 8 marks the international day for women, we wanted to take the chance to recognize the achievements of women and their constant efforts to overcome everyday challenges.
Whether you are a daughter, a wife, or a mother you are an important part of our society. So, to all the women out there, always remain strong, inspired, and passionate.
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In Saudi Arabia, young Saudi Women are living in a golden age, one where they can aim and achieve more with their hard work and ability to take them far. This golden era will not allow gender to be an obstacle, as today we see women entering and competing in what were previously perceived as male-dominated industries. Saudi’s new 2030 vision is allowing us to witness rapid changes, which has a positive impact on women’s roles socially and professionally.
We are all proud to be part of the Saudi Arabian Actavo family!
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Saudi Arabian Actavo proudly announces its vendor registration approval from Saudi Aramco, this is a significant and important milestone for the Saudi Arabian Business. This achievement is the result of hard work, teamwork, and commitment. This strongly positions the company for future services throughout the Oil and Gas sector.
Saudi Aramco is the largest oil company in the world that was established in 1933 in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The beginning of the crude oil industry in Saudi Arabia began with the first Oil discovery in Dammam on March 3rd, 1938.
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Saudi Arabian Actavo has also recently received its ISO certification in three categories
- ISO 9001:2015: Quality Management System
- ISO 45001:2018: Occupational Health & Safety Management System
- ISO 14001:2015: Environmental Management System
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Well done Ali!
We would like to congratulate Ali Alali who officially received his degree in computer Science, Ali is one of our newest members of the team and we welcome him to the Actavo family, we are excited to have him on-board. Ali signed this piece by saying “Proud of myself to get through all these challenges, I have a new journey ahead, I hope it’s full of learning and excitement.”
Ali is one of 57 new employees welcomed recently to the Actavo Team in Saudi.
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After finishing 2021 with our best year in 40 years’ of operations, we have continued the positive trend in 2022, with our current projects under the Dept of Education Modular Framework keeping all our teams busy on site and in the factory in Kill.
Development of the 2,850 m² school for Gorey Educate Together is in full swing with another phase of buildings recently installed and the school looking to occupy the phase 1 buildings over the Easter break.
Other project ongoing under the framework include:
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Cork ETB 4no Type 2 Buildings on pre order with a school in Lucan likely to be the final destination. Handover this summer.
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St Killian’s special school Mayfield in Cork. 1no type 2 building with special alterations internally and externally due to the nature of this school.
- On track for another major school project in the coming months, probably in West Dublin area, with a value in or around €5m.
We are delighted to be providing Project Offices for the UK Telecoms Team at their new depot in Daventry. We wish the team the best of luck in their new home.
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Marketing Suite for Coopers Cross Development |
Actavo Modular was approached by a major international developer, to design and supply a high-end marketing suite for the Coopers Cross development in Dublin Docklands.
We designed a 12.5m x 4m steel-framed suite, with all elevations fitted with cedar cladding, featuring sliding glazed doors and full-sized windows that overlook the project.
Through careful logistics and safety planning, we delivered the building successfully in early March, ready for fit out. The building is fully demountable and be easily transported to the client’s next project as its marketing suite.
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Modular Team digs deep for Ukraine Appeal |
When Head Office announced an appeal for donations to help the people in Ukraine, the Kill team decided to use their small lotto wins fund of around €300 to go buy some of the much-needed items from the suggested list. And, in the true spirit of a team who have big hearts all round, they then decided to go that bit further and top up the fund to a total of just over €1100!
Here is a photo of the lads after their shopping spree, with a van loaded ready to go to head office to join the donations from around the business. We are so proud of your kindness and generosity.
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Castleknock Community College Sponsorship |
We are delighted to be sponsoring Castleknock Community College Senior Ladies Football team, following the successful completion of a 24 modular school building at the school last year. We look forward to launching the sponsorship with the ladies later this month.
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Our very own Paul Byrne and his Ukulele band, ‘The Walkeleles’ played on Today FM’s Big Busk @ Hueston Train Station on Friday 11th of March, to help raise funds for homeless charity Focus Ireland. Watch the video here! The band also appeared in Dublin city centre (College Green) on the 25th of March (Daffodil Day) to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society. Great to see the band out and about again after Covid!
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Actavo Events are delighted to be back in full swing, with a busy season ahead after 2 years of Covid restrictions.
The team has welcomed some new faces over the quarter and returned to many iconic events. We have just issued the Spring 2022 edition of 'Events Buzz' our client newsletter and you can read the full newsletter here, with some highlights shared below.
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Festival Supplier Award Win |
We were delighted to win the award for Best Visual Spectacular at the Festival Supplier Awards, held at the Hurlingham Club in London, on Thursday 27 January.
The award was presented in recognition of the Orchestra of Light, a spectacular drone show, created by St. Patrick’s Festival 2021, Tourism Ireland and Dublin City Council and delivered in collaboration with Intel and Actavo Events.
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St Patrick's Festival 2022 |
We were delighted to be back working on the St Patrick’s Festival Parade after two years of Covid cancellations. Sincere thanks to our 110 strong Actavo Events crew, who worked through the night to install the event infrastructure on 17 March and completed the de-rig seamlessly after the wonderful parade. The team’s work ethic was incredible!
It was fantastic to be back completing a major infrastructure installation, which included:
~ 5,800 Crowd Control Barriers (13.34 kilometres of barriers)
~ 780 Heras barriers (2.6 kilometres of barriers)
~ 130 Mojo/Front of stage barriers
~ 4 x Media Structures
~ Scaffolding cubes and dry hire of Heras & CCBs to Festival Quarter at Collins Barracks
Thanks to our models, Sarah, Robbie and Daniel who smiled for the camera, and to photographer Conor McCabe.
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Commemoration of the handover of the State
Actavo Events was delighted to be contracted by the Office of Public Works to provide seating rigs, main stage, media riser and camera risers for the Commemoration of the Handover of the State Event on 16 January in Dublin Castle.
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Illuminating St Brigid's Day |
In our second year working on this event, we were asked to supply, install and derig a 4m circular truss on the top of the Round Tower on the Hill of Allen in County Kildare, to enable illumination, as part of celebrations for St Brigid’s Day (Feile Bhride).
Taking great care to avoid any damage to the historic structure, we also had to ensure the truss was very discrete so that it looked like the lights were coming from the Tower.
We were delighted once again with the outcome, giving the impression of the tower immersed in a white light to symbolise hope for the new year.
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Actavo Events UK finally had the opportunity to install a project that was delayed for over 2 years!
This year saw guests walk under some giant lampshades, through a porch structure into the show. We built various structures on site: an 8m tower; a house shaped entrance structure complete with 8m high chimney; catenary wires to hold lampshades; and further structures to accommodate the sponsors branding and the iconic 3.5m high Ideal Home show letters.
The install works saw a team of 7 build all structures in a 2-day window, derig is scheduled to take a similar time.
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Introducing our Yard Crew |
This is our hard-working Yard Crew at Actavo Events Dublin Yard. These are the unsung heroes of Events. Every item of stock required on site is picked, loaded, recorded, cleaned, quality checked and maintained by this team. While they are based mainly in the yard, this dynamic team led by Gerry Kelly, Eoin Jackson and Jakub Depta are also called to site on many occasions to supplement our Events Crew.
Stephanie processes all of the paperwork involved. Well done to all of you! Here’s to a busy but successful season ahead.
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Get to know...Emily Kenward, UK Operations Manager,
Actavo Events UK
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How long have you worked at Actavo?
I’ve been working with Actavo coming up to 12 years starting in June 2010.
What does your job entail/What is a typical day like?
I look after our UK Events Operation which includes two locations, Uxbridge (West London) and Livingston (Scotland). There is no such thing as a “typical day” in events, no two days are the same which is why I enjoy it! Days vary from client meetings, internal meetings, site visits in fields/event venues/city centres, office days with the team and industry networking events.
Favourite memory from work?
There are so many great memories, and I couldn’t decide on my favourite…We installed a Christmas tree with a helter skelter slide around it out of the layher scaffolding system at Wembley Park. It was a tough build but completing the structure and then getting to try out the slide was great fun! Looking out of my apartment window on a daily basis when I was in Toronto, Canada working on the Pan American Games project and seeing the iconic CN Tower – very cool.
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What attracted you to work at Actavo?
It was the events element which attracted me – after finishing my degree I had no idea what to do but had enjoyed organising small events throughout school and university so decided that’s where I would look. The Event Co-ordinator role was advertised with my University careers team, and based in Wakefield it meant I could stay close to Leeds, the city I loved, so I decided to apply.
What do you like most about your job?
The team that I work with both locally in the UK and the wider team in Ireland. Working in events there is a lot of pressure, but the team always supports each other and there is always the mentality of getting stuck in together to get it done. The team gets on well and there is a good atmosphere where people genuinely enjoy each other’s company and get to have a laugh.
What is your proudest moment at Actavo?
My proudest project is the 2014 Commonwealth Games as I relocated to Glasgow for the event which was a great experience, Glasgow is an awesome city. I was involved from initial tender submission and was the last person to walk out of Commonwealth House on behalf of Actavo carrying my gold relay baton and official contractors’ artwork which still hangs proudly on my wall at home. I learnt so much working on this major Games which has been invaluable throughout my career. From a business perspective we won a small contract (£200k) but through reliability, reputation and being based in the clients’ offices we grew this to over £1m by the end of the event.
What does success look like to you?
Success is delivering an event safely, on time and on budget to the clients brief. It’s a good feeling when you see people enjoying the event that you’ve been part of making happen. I love it when the team send me photos of the work, they’ve done on site that they are really proud of.
Where are you from?
I’m from Lancaster in the North West of England. I feel really lucky to have grown up on the coast, I love going back now to visit family and friends and the spectacular views across Morecambe Bay on a clear day are some of the best views in the world!
What do you like to do when you aren’t working?
I had a daughter, Penelope, during the pandemic and she’s 18 months now so life outside of work now revolves mostly around her! Travel has always been a passion of mine and whilst that’s definitely changed in the pandemic and with parenthood, I’m really looking forward to taking Penelope on her first holiday abroad this year.
What’s a fun fact about you people may not know?
This is always a hard one and where I worry that I’m not very fun….! But I would say it’s that I have a French degree and have spent time living, working and studying in France, in Paris and Montpellier – two places very close to my heart. I’m very rusty with my French now but I also have a diploma and a Master’s degree in business subjects which are more useful in my day to day work!
Who do you admire?
I’ve been reading the Little People, Big Dreams books to my daughter about inspirational people who have achieved all sorts throughout history – I’ve learnt a lot from them! Her favourite is Emmeline Pankhurst! Learning to juggle working full time and motherhood is a new chapter in my career and before returning to work from maternity leave, I read Michelle Obama’s book which gave lots of helpful advice and I really admired honesty her perspectives on lots of issues.
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Thanks for reading! Send us your feedback |
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Thanks for reading our quarterly newsletter. If you have any feedback or ideas for future editions, please drop us a line at [email protected]
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