Our MD – El Presidente!

On 6th October, David G Jones officially took over as President of the Association of Interior Specialists (AIS) after topping the election poll.

He was inaugurated at the AIS conference at the Valparaiso Hotel in Palma, Majorca in front of delegates, friends and family – most notably David and Geraldine Jones, who had flown in from their home in Cyprus for the proud occasion.

The conference weekend was a fabulous success, with 160 delegates attending. There was some disruption to the weekend however, when a hurricane decided to drop by, causing no end of havoc - Tony Jones and Alistair Currie (aka Scooby and Shaggy – because of their tendency to enjoy theirs and others food) had to be evacuated from their room (and not for the snoring, as you’d expect) but because the exterior wall was about to collapse due to the deluge of rain! Indeed, it was quite apt that in a hotel, which was hosting an AIS conference with attendees from Suppliers, Contractors and Distributors, there was a posse of people who could have repaired the damage. I’m sure there were many delegates, like David Snr, found surveying the damaged Luxalon and contemplating its repair.

Every AIS President has a theme – and David’s theme is the environment and getting paid – two topics which are equally as difficult in this industry!

Full details of the AIS conference and David’s inaugural address can be found on the AIS website.

UNN City Campus

The contract at UNN City Campus East in Newcastle for Sir Robert McAlpine has recently been completed although additional work will continue for a number of weeks repairing areas damaged by a fire earlier this year.

The work undertaken by Classic Excel, worth in excess of £2.5m, was for the installation of internal partitions, linings and both plasterboard and tiled ceilings. The plaster finish to the partitions, linings and ceilings was also included in the works package.

QS Andy Watson and Site Supervisors John Wildgoose and Jimmy Dunn ably assisted contracts Manager Norman Stark on site.

Due to the complexity of the project, two buildings each with five floors, coffered ceilings, tiled ceilings, plasterboard partitions, acoustic and plasterboard linings, working with numerous other trades etc; all connected with the project have to be congratulated on completing what has been Classic Excel’s largest contract to date - within programme and to an exemplary standard.

Classic Race Day 2007

Monday 10th September saw the company return to Gosforth Park to host the Classic Excel Marie Curie Race day in conjunction with CPD plc.

Over 200 people were in attendance representing a diverse cross section of the contracting industry. We were treated to a fabulous spread of food, great weather, splendid viewing facilities and fairly accurate betting tips from special guest Colin Brown. The former jockey of most notably Desert Orchid fame also entertained everyone with anecdotes of his time in racing.

Representatives from Marie Curie in Newcastle + East Yorkshire were also guests on the day + were obviously delighted when presented with cheques for over £11,000, a total which later rose to over £14,000 once all donations were included.

Once again many thanks to everyone who contributed to this most worthy cause - you can feel very proud!

It’s goodbye to:

Michael Lewin, who leaves us in October, to hopefully pursue a career in the RAF.

Michael was with Classic Excel Ltd for 2 years and never failed to amuse office colleagues with his startling knowledge of geography. We only hope he won’t be flying the plane on any missions to Sweden – which he thought was next to Switzerland! Oh if only the world’s countries were arranged alphabetically!

Good Luck Michael, and good luck RAF!

And it’s hello to:

Andrew Richards, who joined us as Apprentice Estimator at the beginning of October.

Andrew worked for us in his two weeks works experience, and we were impressed with him then. So, when the opportunity presented itself for him to join the team full time, we happily took him on board. As well as learning all about the trials and tribulations of tendering for contracts in our fabulous industry, Andrew is studying one day per week for The National Certificate in Construction at college.

The only downside we can see to this latest addition is that this is now the third Andrew working for Classic Excel Ltd all in close proximity, which can get a bit confusing sometimes. Nicknames are now in use, with no reference whatsoever to Andrew’s penchant for ‘footballer’ style earrings!

The three Andrews

From left to right Andrew Watson, Assistant Quantity Surveyor, who has worked for us for 2½ years; Andrew Humble, Assistant Quantity Surveyor, who joined the company in December 2006. Andrew Richards, Apprentice Estimator and new starter!