Awards

2006 - Winner
Contract Journal
Demolition Contractor of the Year

When a powerful tornado struck the Birmingham suburbs in July last year, damaging around 420 properties, Terry Perkins of Birmingham City Council had to call in the demolition companies.

“Coleman was the quickest to respond, had a couple of men on site within the hour and had assembled the required workforce within a day,” said Perkins. “It worked tirelessly for a week to solve the problems that had arisen from this unforeseen natural occurrence.”

Recognising the sensitive nature of the situation, Coleman took care and attention when dealing with the traumatised residents.

The company set aside normal business concerns to respond to the emergency, sending an engineer to repair a competitor’s machine and working cooperatively with other firms helping to alleviate the crisis.

It’s the kind of approach that demonstrates Coleman’s key focus – people.

A commitment to ongoing staff development led to the creation of a role for the firm’s most experienced site manager as a kind of in-house consultant, visiting sites to share knowledge between site managers and find ways to improve working methods.

One result of this initiative was the introduction of “pictorial method statements” to improve on-site communication among employees who have difficulty reading English.

Coleman’s belief in placing people at the centre of its business is further evidenced by its ‘healthy body, healthy mind’ policy and its safety record, which is around 70% better than the national average in construction.

The company continues to look for ways to further reduce the risk to its employees. For example, a recent analysis of accidents showed glass to be a major hazard, leading to the selection of new PPE and a consequent reduction in the number of accidents.

Beautifully presented and well backed by evidence throughout, Coleman’s entry was, in the judges’ words, “excellent”. Every judge placed Coleman in the top spot, decisively marking them out as the deserved winner.