If you are a project manager who needs to hire temporary semi-skilled labour for work on sea defences, it can be difficult to find exactly the right people in enough numbers to get the job done. That includes finding operatives that have worked in this area before and understand the requirements and challenges.
Experience is important, of course, when it comes to choosing the right recruitment and employment agency to build a relationship with. Skilled Labour Services is run by Richard Allen who has been involved in a range of different sea defence projects over the last 25 years as well as other construction projects.
Having someone at the helm of a recruitment company who understands your needs is important.
As Richard explains, his background is one that involves a clear focus on sea defence projects:
My first big project was way back in 1997 when I was Site Engineer for Dean & Dyball Construction. I spent 6 months as their setting-out engineer, working on the construction of the Rock revetment, breakwater island and beach recharge for Hurst Spit, Milford on Sea. Rock was imported from Norway and brought in by barge, and the shingle pumped from half a mile or so offshore. It was a project that gave me a deep understanding of the challenges faced when constructing and repairing sea defences.
Richard had more experience over the next few years employed by Dean & Dyball, which included working on rock groynes at Lee on Solent and Lancing Beach. This lead to managing several large projects including building a new slipway for Worthing Lifeboat and building a jetty replacement in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
After this, Richard moved to work in Highways until he created his own company, Skilled Labour Services in Hampshire, in 2011. Over the last 8 years, the company has provided operatives for a number of high profile sea defence construction projects in the region, working with some major companies.
According to Richard:
Contractors working on sea defence projects can be confident that when they require labour for their sea defence or marine projects, they are talking to a supplier that has bags of experience and are able to deliver the best and most suitable operatives local to the scheme.