For our first Big 5 project, we brought a derelict house back into use for a vulnerable person. We asked people to nominate a community building in desperate need of repair for a £20,000 building refurbishment which we would deliver in our 5th year of trading as Novus. Latch Charity Selection We selected Leeds as our first location and Leeds Action to Create Homes (LATCH) was the winner of our competition. Latch provides supported housing for homeless and vulnerable people. Building Refurbishment Work The house needed a serious amount of work as it was in a poor state. The kitchen, bathroom and heating system were replaced as everything was broken. We fitted various new joinery items and floor covering before redecorating the property throughout. The building refurbishment would have taken Latch a few months, but we were able to transform the property in two weeks for the tenant to start a fresh. The external of the property was painted, and our team and LATCH Volunteers carried out a joint project in the landscaping works for the new tenants to be able to enjoy the garden of their new home. We completed the building refurbishment of the two-bedroom house with new furniture. Tenant’s Feedback The tenant of the property said “It’s lovely, very warm. It’s a really nice house. It’s the best one bed house I’ve ever seen. It feels like there’s something off my shoulders, I don’t have to worry anymore.” Operations Manager’s Feedback Mark Rapley, Operations Manager for Novus who managed the project said ‘it’s amazing to see the impact Novus have had on someone’s life. It was a challenge to turn the major building refurbishment of the property around in 2 weeks, however it was truly worth the end result of being about to house vulnerable person and her son’.  Customer’s Feedback “Since moving into their lovely new home, the residents have been enjoying a much better quality of life.” Manjeet Gahir, Property Services Manager, LATCH Find Out More Find out more about our Big 5 campaign, or view more about the other projects here.

Contractor Novus has been appointed to deliver a £1.29m project to build 13 new two-bedroom apartments at a sheltered accommodation scheme in Solihull. The development, for the Sir Josiah Mason Trust, will see Novus deliver a full refurbishment at Mason House in Shirley. The 13-month project will include the construction of a new extension, one half being two-storey while the other half is an additional floor over the existing one-storey property which will involve underpinning the existing foundations. The construction will also provide a new reception area and communal space as well as making a range of improvements to the building’s existing corridors. On the new roof, there will be new PV solar panels installed to generate hot water for the apartments. The Josiah Mason Trust provides sheltered accommodation, residential care and extra care housing to over 200 people across the West Midlands.  Mark Foxall, contracts manager at Novus Property Solutions, said: “Our work with the Sir Josiah Mason Trust will allow the charity to deliver an even greater level of service to its residents in Solihull. This is an exciting project for Novus and we’re looking forward to building on our relationship with Josiah Mason.” David Healey, chief executive at the Sir Josiah Mason Trust, said: “The new frontage and refurbishment of our Mason House apartments will breathe fresh life into the scheme and allow us to help more people in the community. “This is the first major development undertaken by the trust in recent years and we’re looking forward to seeing it finished next year.”

Novus is committed to being an employer of choice. To us this means being a company that is recognised for attracting and employing the best, developing and realising the potential of its people. We have already been recognised as a leading employer by Construction News, winning both Employer of the Year and Apprentice of the Year awards, in the five years since the Novus brand was established. We are fully committed to remaining at the leading edge. This means focusing on building a more diverse workforce with opportunities for personal development and professional fulfilment for all. Understanding our pay gap Women’s hourly rate is 25.9% lower (mean) and 25.4% lower (median). Top salary quartile has 93.3% men and 6.7% women Upper middle salary quartile has 94.8% men and 5.2% women Lower middle salary quartile has 90.3% men and 9.7% women Lower salary quartile has 57.1% men and 42.9% women Women’s bonus pay is 87.2% lower (mean) and 26.4% lower (median) 56.8% of men and 53.5% of women received bonus pay Construction, as an industry, has long suffered from a lack of women joining its professions. We are actively engaged in several initiatives through Business in the Community and Women in Construction where we work alongside our peers to help develop attraction strategies to encourage more women to pursue a career in the sector.  We see a need for Government to help improve funding and resources to help encourage young women to pursue qualifications for construction while at school, tackling the issue at its source. We are committed to finding the best person for every role, irrespective of their gender, but are working hard to ensure our business represents an attractive career option for everyone, to increase the number of female applicants we receive. Our pay gap is a result of a significant majority of our workforce being men, both at an operational level and in management. Women currently represent approximately 15% of our total workforce. Although outside the scope of reporting regulations because of its size, JSSH Limited, the Novus holding company, is proud to have an equal representation of men and women on its board. Whilst this is not yet reflected within Novus, our Board of Directors are passionate about achieving greater diversity at the senior management level. Putting the business on the path towards achieving and sustaining a diverse workforce at all levels is an important part of Novus’ long-term goals.   Closing the gap We are determined to close our gender pay gap but recognise that this will require a long-term strategic approach. Our Board is developing an action plan in response to the Gender Pay Gap report, which we will announce to our teams later this year.

Neil Hand, Our CEO, who started with Novus as an apprentice explains the importance of apprenticeships Supporting the next generation of tradespeople is integral to our business and it is something we have successfully done for over 80 years now. This year we will recruit 21 apprentices across the country. The scheme is a fantastic chance for young people with the right attitude and potential to start to build a career with our support. Our apprenticeship scheme provides people with personalised practical skills required for future roles in the industry. Our people will support our apprentices to develop their skills and maximise their potential and prepare them for future opportunities. We want to inspire, empower and motivate people to make a difference. When I joined the company over 35 years ago, I never considered that I would become the CEO, but it’s a testament to the support network provided by the company that I was able to do so. Each year we hold an Apprentice Selection week in August, where we bring all of the shortlisted apprentice hopefuls together to learn all of the Health and Safety knowledge you need before venturing out on site. We take the Apprentice hopefuls over to a chosen community project to put them to the test, under the watchful eye of a dedicated project team and our training team. Making a positive contribution and helping to improve people’s lives is such an important part of the Novus way, so this is a great start for a Novus apprentices’ career. We want people who believe in the Novus Way. (Read more about the Novus Way here) If you would like to become an apprentice with Novus keep an eye out for our apprentice recruitment campaign launching next month.

Neil Hand, our CEO, explains why the industry should look to the mid-sized contractor to tackle its challenges Carillion’s downfall needs to mark a huge reformation for the construction sector. I won’t bore you by adding to the wealth of op-eds written about how the fall-out of the business will affect the market over the years to come – although I admit this can’t be understated. As well as the impact on the supply chain, we need to also be discussing the key question Carillion’s fall has raised around the industry’s margins: are they in any way sustainable? There’s no doubt that the industry will be challenged like never before in the coming years – particularly in the case of a hard Brexit. While the IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers Index and ONS output data are crude aggregates that treat our diverse sector as if it were a homogenous entity, and as a result don’t always tell the best story of the sectors’ success, both are charting quarter-on-quarter decline. There are many areas where underlying growth prospects remain strong. Social housing, which accounts for a significant proportion of Novus’ revenues, continues to invest in development schemes and maintenance cycles. There are also large capital expenditure projects covering new build and refreshing existing assets in hotels, leisure and grocery retail. But as I say, there are going to be challenges. We’re already seeing materials prices rise – some by as much as 7.5 per cent. Skills, diversity, training, and recruitment will all be affected if we don’t take care of our businesses.Of course, many of the largest players in the market feel the need to drive down prices in the race to secure mammoth frameworks to comfort shareholders. Not to state the obvious, but this acts to tighten the industry’s margins and creates certain expectations from clients. Regardless of the market you play in, we all need to be turning this view around. We must get better at demonstrating how our pricing works to clients. We need to be honest in how this affects the long-term viability of the sector, not just their own projects. Even taking in economies of scale, the largest of businesses need to be financially secure and have budgets for training and attracting new blood in the industry – a key pressure point for the industry with Brexit seemingly destined to continue to impact labour. In the current climate, this comes more naturally when you operate in the sector’s middle tier. You are less exposed to the supply chain risks of SMEs serving the struggling goliaths. But nimbler than the majors, allowing you to focus on areas where workloads are growing or stable. There are also better opportunities to develop long-term relationships with clients too. Some of our clients have been stung by their own procurement processes when they favour the lowest price. After project failures or contract disputes they’ve retendered and chosen us. By having an up-front approach we’ve been able to develop longer relationships, which of course helps us minimise the amount of cash we need to allocate to new client acquisitions. It’s for this reason that we’ll likely see mid-sized contractors tackle issues like diversity and attracting new blood quickest. But it’s a lesson that can be learnt by the wider sector. It should be adopting the same push-back on clients in the initial stages. Without this, the entire industry is at risk of continuing the same cycle and Carillion won’t be the last.

We have been appointed to a new £42m framework for Stoke-on-Trent City Council‘s housing and public building maintenance and repairs. The framework will include external decorating, energy efficiency improvements and central heating projects, as well as kitchen and bathroom replacements, roofing, doors and windows and environmental works. We have been awarded a place on eight of the framework’s 13 lots that cover the council’s 19,100 homes and public buildings. The agreement has been formed with Unitas Stoke-on-Trent Limited and follows the local authority’s launch of a wholly-owned subsidiary company to manage its buildings’ upkeep. Andy Woodhouse, Regional Operations Manager for our Stoke operation said: “Novus takes pride in being a UK-wide contractor that still calls Stoke home after 120 years in the city. “Winning a place on the council’s framework will see us continue our commitment to the city by adding to the 250 staff we already employ in the area in jobs including painting and decorating, plumbing and joinery. “We welcome the council’s commitment to supporting local employers such as Novus through its procurement processes and look forward to competing for the newly-available contracts later in the year.” Councillor Randy Conteh, Cabinet Member for Housing, Communities and Safer City, added: “We’ve created three separate Unitas frameworks — labour-only, planned works and specialist work — and companies large and small have shown they are keen to be a part of it, with many saying they want to take on more workers and provide apprenticeships. We’re delighted that Novus is joining this exciting new venture.”