December News!

Thinking back only a year to Christmas 2019 seems to take us to a different world.  We had Christmas nights out, parties, theatre and none of us could have predicted the catastrophic year that was about to befall us.  It still seems difficult to believe that the events of 2020 were actually reality as we had to navigate lockdown, home working and social distancing, along with all the other personal challenges this year created.  However, on the positive side, we have become much more flexible in our ability to produce designs, with some big technological steps including the introduction of MS Teams and remote working set ups which will continue to benefit us long after COVID-19 is over.  We have also seen possibly our busiest year since our inception and we are proud that we have managed to continue to deliver excellent service throughout 2020, overcoming the challenges thrown at us to be the best that we can.

We’ve got some new Christmas crackers this year with several new, large scale projects kicking off that will carry us well into 2021.  These include design works at Portobello Junction; a new phase of works at Reston and East Linton following our successful delivery of the previous phase; and, heading South of the Border, works on the Ferrybridge to Goole line.  We have become involved with some Railway yard lighting design in the Dundee area while In the commercial sector we have also had our stocking stuffed with projects involving a retail park in Wishaw and a residential development in Edinburgh.  As well as this we have been pricing many new works which we hope to see flourishing come the Spring.

There is a lot still going on with our existing projects and a lot of milestones reached for several of them this month.  The biggest of these include multiple schemes in Inverness incorporating HV/LV design, Motorail sidings and carriage stabling works; construction phase works at Aberdeen station; stations on the Rugeley to Colwich line; a 650V feeders renewal scheme in the Middlesbrough and Whitehouse areas; and Edinburgh Recontrol.  Works are ongoing at Ayr station, with a new phase just getting underway as are mechanical issues on some departure roads at Corkerhill Depot and design for the power assisted door at Dumbarton Central station.  Lighting gantries in Aberdeen; UPS issues at a signalling site in Motherwell; monitoring and telecoms works at Newcraighall and Brunstane; and mechanical design in the Hambleton area are all making good progress while design at a Birmingham Station and the extensive design at Goole swing bridge are also doing well.  Signalling feeders at Glasgow North and a fuel dispensing project at a major Glasgow Depot are continuing this month as are heating and ventilation works at Edinburgh Waverley station; rewiring works at Motherwell Signalling Centre; canopy design in Arbroath and another AFA scheme at Carstairs.  In the non-railway world we continue to make strides in December with design for an Alloa leisure centre; an interesting part of the Clyde Gateway regeneration scheme and electrical works on Glasgow’s Bell’s Bridge.  Down in Castle Douglas we are still providing design support for a large, Victorian residential property while back in Glasgow we continue to be involved with an industrial site on the east side of Glasgow.

Most staff will continue to work from home into 2021 with one or two people manning the office on a daily basis so we can always be reached.  We will be closing for a well deserved Christmas break on Thursday 24th December but we will back on Tuesday 5th January, ready to face 2021 with the hope that we will all find ourselves in better circumstances.  We would like to thank all our clients and associates with whom we have collaborated very closely to make this ‘new normal’ of 2020 workable and we hope that everyone has a safe, peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year.