Good news stories
Equiano Plus Project
We invited members of the Equiano Plus Project to visit site and gain further insight into the project and its impact on the community. The Equiano Plus Project, operated by JERICHO, supports survivors of modern slavery with employment to health and wellbeing.
The visit included a presentation on the works we are undertaking on the project, and the different career paths available in the construction and engineering industries.
We also had an induction from one of our supply chain partners, MRS Training and Rescue, who were able to explain the importance of safety when working in confined spaces.
Visitors shared their aspirations and how the Equiano Plus Project has helped them, with further discussions on how we can support the project in the future.
Easter egg collection
Throughout March, the team at the A38 were collecting Easter eggs.
We collected an impressive 101 eggs which meant we were able to share these between three fantastic charities local to the project:
- JERICHO’s Equiano Plus
- Nechells POD
- St Basils
Open Doors
For the second year running, we were able to host students at VolkerFitzpatrick Ltd's A38(M) Tame Valley Viaduct project as part of Build UK's Open Doors event.
We held three sessions over the week and over 30 students from Aston University attended.
We were blown away by their engagement during each session and the fantastic questions asked while delivering the presentation and taking them out on site to see the structure.
Raising money for Cancer Research UK
At the end of February, 10 members of the project team took part in the 10K Winter Run in London to raise money for Cancer Research UK. 
The team managed to raise over £1,200 for this fantastic cause.
All team members enjoyed the atmosphere and had great runs, with several personal bests and all members completing the run in under an hour!
It was a great effort from all. Over 20,000 people took part in the run, raising more than £723,000 for Cancer Research UK so far.
The Envision Programme
For the last few months, several members of the project team have been working with a local school on a mentoring programme called Envision.
Envision empowers young people from less advantaged backgrounds to develop essential skills and confidence through a cross-school active citizenship competition. We were paired with 10 students from a local school and since October, over 50 hours have been volunteered by the team to mentor and support the students with designing, developing and delivering a social action project to make a positive difference in their school community.
The final session was held this month at Birmingham City football Ground, where the students delivered their pitch to a panel of judges and in front of 4 other local schools, their mentors and teachers who have all taken part in the programme too.
The sessions have been well received by both the mentors and students and there has been a definite improvement in the young peoples’ confidence and be able to express their ideas. The team were so proud of the young people who worked hard to improve their communication, determination, creativity and teamwork throughout the programme.
December good news stories
December has been a very positive month on the A38(M) project site.
The project welcomes students from Aston University Engineering Academy
We welcomed two T-Level students from Aston University Engineering Academy who completed a two week placement as part of their qualification,
Shaun and Zayn will be back in March 2024 for a further two weeks on site to develop their understanding of the civil engineering, design and planning world.
St Basil's Big Sleep Out
On Friday 1 December, six members of the project team took part in St Basils Big Sleepout in Brum.
The team raised a fantastic £1,770 for the charity and learned more about how St Basils are working to break the cycle of homelessness and giving young people the chance to have the everyday experiences we take for granted.
They support with employability, and help young people to move on from accommodation projects in a planned and positive way.
Spaghetti Junction design competition
Finally, we organised a ‘spaghetti junction’ design competition.
Everyone on the project donated spaghetti related food items which were used to ‘build’ spaghetti junction and the A38(M) viaduct.
There were strict marking criteria to work out who made the most ‘profit’ as each food item had a ‘cost’.
Over £170 worth of food was donated which was then distributed across some of the St Basils’ accommodation projects in Birmingham.
The project welcomes students from Walsall College
In November, the project team welcomed two students who are undertaking a T-Level qualification in Construction: Design, Surveying and Planning at Walsall College.
The T-Level has been designed to give all students cutting edge classroom delivery in both theory and practical, as well as an extensive minimum of 315 hours of industrial placements.
The students, Abida and Randal, will be completing their T-Level placement on the A38 scheme.
Randal has written about his first two weeks on placement and how he has found it:
“Hello, my name is Randal, and I am a T-Level student who is currently at Walsall College and I was lucky enough to be selected to come to VolkerFitzpatrick on a placement, and to say the least it is fantastic! Everyone here is light – hearted, knowledgeable & approachable. I have only been here for 2 weeks, and it feels like I have been part of the team for months. On my first week I was introduced to everyone, and I got to shadow someone from every profession in the company and on project for a day which was very insightful & intriguing. On my 2nd week I spent more time with the commercial team. They have been very patient with me, taken me through everything and made sure I understood all the tasks they set me. Everyone I met made sure I was comfortable, content and everyone I shadowed is really knowledgeable and you can easily tell they have a big passion for their jobs which is really inspirational for me, I learnt a lot from everyone. Even though the project is the same, everyone has different priorities and different views on it which I find fascinating. I am happy with my placement, and I can’t wait to come back!”
We are looking forward to welcoming Abida and Randal back in January for their next block placement on the project, and to supporting their development and understanding in design, surveying and planning.
More volunteering with the Canal and River Trust
On Monday 2 October, a further 12 volunteers from the project team gave up their time to support the Canal and River Trust.
They worked on very overgrown part of the canal not too far from our site. The volunteers even managed to reclaim an overgrown towpath.
The group hacked and cut their way through overgrown vegetation, weeds and hedges to reopen a lost towpath and picnic area by Aston Reservoir, as well as removing two-ton bags of litter.
A great effort by the team!
Volunteering with the Canal and River Trust
On Tuesday 5 September, 12 members of the project team from VolkerFitzpatrick, Arcadis and Taziker volunteered their time with the Canal and River Trust.
The volunteers spent the day along the heavily commuted Five Ways towpath in Birmingham, which links Selly Oak and the University to the city centre.
They spent time completing vegetation management, such as cutting back brambles, stinging nettles and overgrown trees.
All of the volunteers said they would recommend it to anyone to improve their wellbeing, the community, and the environment.
Taziker volunteer at the Millennium Green Breathing Space
On 16 and 17 August, one of our supply chain partners, Taziker, volunteered their time to support Millennium Green Breathing Space, in Acocks Green.
Westley Vale Millennium Green is a community green space, local to our A38 scheme, which allows anyone to enjoy the peaceful setting and take part in different activities run by residents free of charge.
We first saw a request on Birmingham City Council’s “Match My Project”, an online facility where Birmingham based charities, community groups and social enterprises can advertise projects they need support with.
The request was for help with painting at a community project, and we instantly thought Taziker would be the perfect match.
Nicky and Ste from Taziker have done a fantastic job. It was great to see Taziker’s team supporting social value initiatives in the local area.
Rosie Pettigrew, Secretary at Millennium Green, commented:
What a wonderfully professional job! I'm very impressed particularly with the fiddly metal notice having several years ago spent hours trying to hand paint the white lettering! Certainly a job well done.
The Pioneers Academy help brighten up our hoarding
On Tuesday 18 July, artwork created by students at The Pioneers Academy from Years 7 to 11 was unveiled on our hoarding at Queen Road compound.
There were a total of 31 pieces of artwork entered into the design competition that we set the students earlier this year. There were five different themes to inspire their work:
- identity and culture
- Aston
- women
- construction
- Aston Villa Football Club.
We used Hollywood Monster, a local print writer, to turn the photographed artwork into colourful, sustainable panels which are now fitted to our hoarding.
Great engagement from the students and fantastic to see their wonderful pieces making our hoarding more eye-catching.
Read more about The Pioneers Academy artwork competition
Defibrillator donated to Goodway Nusery School
On Wednesday 3 May, two members of the project team had the pleasure of donating a brand-new defibrillator to Goodway Nursery School.
The nursery school were in the middle of fundraising to buy their own defibrillator after a child had suffered a medical emergency whilst at nursery.
The project became aware of the fundraising after one of the operatives working on the scheme asked if the team could do something to support. Fortunately, we were able to donate a brand-new defibrillator.
The staff, children and parents had taken part in a sponsored walk, cake sale and raffle raising a fantastic amount of £4046.17 which will now be used to install a case for the defibrillator on the external gates of the school, so it will also be available to the community if there is an emergency.
They have also booked basic paediatric first aid classes, including CPR training for parents and carers to attend.
It was a very humbling experience for the staff who attended Goodway Nursery School and heard first-hand from the teachers how much this donation means to them and their children. It demonstrates that even in challenging times, community can pull together and turn the experience into something positive, which VolkerFitzpatrick are proud to be part of.
Open Doors event
Across 15 and 16 March, the project hosted 42 students and 8 teachers from local schools and colleges for Open Doors.
Open Doors is a fantastic opportunity for young people to learn what the construction industry has to offer and see a diverse range of career opportunities on a live construction site.
The sessions included a site induction, an introduction to VFL and learning about what we are doing on the A38(M) project – aided by a 3D flythrough video and Holobuilder which show the works that have been going on inside the beams which run underneath the viaduct.
The students and their teachers were able to get out on site and see part of the works. They were also given a talk from one of our supply chain partners Mine Rescue Service Limited (MRSL) who provide rescue services due to the works being in a confined space. The students had the chance to use the mock up units we have on site which simulate the confined space which our operatives are working in.
The final part of the session focused on a career discussion with different employees from VolkerFitzpatrick and Arcadis. Each person was able to explain their role, their route to that role and what they do on day-to-day basis, which then allowed the students to ask questions.
Positive feedback included:
Mozz Baker, Walsall College: “Thanks so much for hosting us for the two visits, we thoroughly enjoyed the visit and the excellent service you provided for our learners to see a civil engineering project up close.
"The confined spaces aspects were particularly interesting, and the careers insight was well received too.”
AB Tariq, Aston University Engineering Academy: “Just wanted to say a massive thank you to you and the team at Volker! The students enjoyed themselves and appreciated everything you have done today (plus yesterday with Chris's group) and answering the students."
Foodbank collection
During November, the team at VolkerFitzpatrick and supply chain have been ensuring they are giving back to the community. A foodbank collection point was set up on site with all items donated to Aston and Nechells Foodbank. There was a total of 34.4kg worth of donated items which will help those who need it within the community.
Donated items to Aston and Nechells Foodbank
As well as this, the team have raised an amazing £1,055 and cycled/run/walked over 660km in aid of Movember. The Movember foundation supports innovative world class men’s health projects focused on key areas – mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
In September, VolkerFitzpatrick hosted a three-day event with Nottingham Trent University (NTU) students entitled ‘A week in the life of a Quantity Surveyor’. During the three days, 50 full-time Year 3 students studying Quantity Surveying at the university, attended several workshops as well as site visits at the A38(M) Tame Valley Viaduct project in order to complete related tasks set by some of the VolkerFitzpatrick team.
The students got to witness first-hand the complexities of trying to work in and around live roads, pedestrians, and rivers. The workshops and tasks set enabled the students to apply their theoretical knowledge taught at university, to a real-world project and gave them an important insight to the world of being a Quantity Surveyor.
Over the 4-year duration of the project, the team at VolkerFitzpatrick will run more workshops and site visits like this in order to give students from the local area the opportunity to meet an experienced and knowledgeable team as well as supporting and giving them an understanding into the world of construction.
Page last updated: 2 May 2024
