news A magazine for all Laidlaw employees

Summer 2008

Laidlaw Goes Global The first details inside, as well as some fun facts and pictures.

[See page 5]

Inside: Welcome // Ask A Question // OSMI Update // HR Update // Supporting Our Customers // Laidlaw Quiz // Project Profiles //

Laidlaw Gulf // Our People // Focus On Distribution

With Investment in Dubai Operation

2 Welcome Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to our Summer 2008 edition of Laidlaw News. In this feature we give you a brief insight into

our new operation in Dubai which is now really taking shape. Our warehouse and offices have been

fitted out and we now have a team of four staff in place headed by our new general manager, Chris

Welford, whom many of you know well from Chris’s former employment with Laidlaw. More details of

Laidlaw Gulf will feature in our next edition of Laidlaw News.

As always we have loads of great people stories which include: a fascinating insight from Mark

Taylor into the world of Muay Thai; Anne-Marie McSherry is kind enough to “let us into her world”;

Clint Robertson and Dave Manley give us an insight into some of our recent project success stories;

Gareth Evans introduces us to the distribution team in Willenhall in our “Focus On” feature and we

congratulate Ian Stewart, from our Perth branch, who recently celebrated 25 years service with Laidlaw.

Whilst there is much talk of doom and gloom in the wider economy at the moment our business continues to grow and we

have performed well in our first half year, with sales significantly ahead of last year and indeed slightly ahead of budget. As I have

explained to some of you as I have got around the branches with Peter O’Brien over the past month or so, our second half year is

where we can really make the difference and thus it is important to keep our momentum going and not get complacent as we head

towards our year end in September. We have been through a lot of change over the past year but I must say the business is as strong

as it has ever been and this is down to us all pulling together as One Team.

I wish you and your families a happy holiday season and don’t forget to keep the good ideas, photos and articles coming for Laidlaw

News. Please send the same to: sian.mills@laidlaw.net

John Jefferies

Managing Director

With Anne-Marie McSherry

(Sales Co-ordination Manager) Ask A Question

If I have time to myself...

I either shop, relax or go to the gym

depending on my mood!

All my money goes on...

Furniture at the moment, but generally

clothes, going to gigs and socialising

When I was a child I always wanted to be...

Wonder Woman

My favourite drink is...

Mojito definitely (although not too many) or

a good Pinot Grigio

The soundtrack to my life is...

The entire contents of my iPod which is a

spectrum of new music to golden oldies

The three items I would have with me if

stranded on a desert island would be...

Easy! iPod, mascara and sun cream

My dream holiday would be...

A tour of South America especially an Inca

trail in Peru, and I’ve always wanted to go

to Rio de Janeiro

My pet peeve is...

Arrogance and intolerance

If my friends had to describe me in 3 words,

they would say I am...

Honest, loyal and sociable

You wouldn’t know, but I’m good at...

Cooking and shopping!

If I could have four people, alive or dead,

over for a dinner party, I would invite...

Stephen Fry, Russell Brand, Michael Palin

and Elvis

My last meal would be...

My mum’s roast dinner

I would die happy if...

My family and friends were happy and

healthy

The phrase or word I use most often is...

“Okey dokey” - I really need to stop saying

that!!!

Lightbulb Scheme Winners March Winner

George Kelly, Liverpool Branch

George had 43 OSMI coloured closers resprayed in silver and sold at a

good margin. Well done George—great idea which can be used by any

branch to move OSMI stock.

April Winner

Vee Mason

By having regular London congestion charge users registered online, the

company can save around £400 per year and also significantly improve the

convenience of using the system to employees who regularly travel by car

in London. Many thanks to Vee for coming up with a great idea!

Turn to page seven for May’s winner, and to find out how you can enter your ideas. For information on our first two

winners ideas, see the Spring 2008 edition of Laidlaw News!

3 HR Update

Laidlaw Quiz

OSMI Update Starters and Leavers

(since the last edition...) Starters

Richard Westcott Estimator (Timber Doors) Barnstaple

Gareth Evans Warehouse & Distribution Manager Willenhall

Donovan Watkins Key Account Manager Sheffield

Mark Alker Key Account Manager Salford

Liz Holbrook Sales Administrator HR&B

Amanda Stretton Sales Administrator Sheffield

Leavers

Sue Simpson Credit Controller (Finance) Willenhall

Samm Bensley Sales Administrator HR&B

Sarah Green Sales Administrator Sheffield

New to Laidlaw News, the Laidlaw Quiz gives you

something to do on your lunch break, and even

the chance to win a prize!

Three Peak Challenge Supporting Our Customers

Laidlaw sponsored two Taylor Woodrow Teams from their Watford

and Cardiff offices in the COINS 3 Peaks Challenge, held over the

17th and 18th of May. The 3 Peaks Challenge involved scaling three

mountains in 24 hours; Ben Nevis, Scarfell Pike and Snowdon. The

Watford Team finished in 23 hours 10 minutes with the Cardiff team

doing it in 24 hours 17 minutes. By doing so they raised over

£15,000 for the Challenge’s chosen charities CARE International,

Habitat for Humanity and CURE.

The OSMI promotion has now been running since November and in

that time we have made good progress in terms of reducing the

overall amount of obsolete stock held in the business, managing to

reduce the number of OSMI lines we hold by 340.

With incentives on offer, there is every reason to keep the focus on

OSMI. ALL branches have a realistic opportunity of participating in

these financial rewards so please consider all potential sales

opportunities and think “out of the box”.

In terms of Branch sales, the top three

branches are:

1) Sheffield

2) Cardiff

3) Perth

Of particular note is the strong

performance of Sheffield; they have hit

the first target and are well on their way

to getting a further incentive. Well done

guys keep up the good work! But come

on the rest of you surely you’re not going

to let Sheffield bag all the cash that’s up for grabs!

To help encourage sales further Adam, Andrew and Lewis have

worked hard to produce promotional literature for trade counter/

internal sales so please utilise this excellent tool. We have also

begun introducing further special offers such as Mandelli. Further

promotional offers are to be announced as we travel. If anyone has

any other ideas as to how we can further make inroads into

reducing OSMI they would be more than welcomed.

Adam Dorman (Business Process Controller)

HISTORY

1) What year was Laidlaw (then known as Laidlaw &

Thompson) founded?

GEOGRAPHY

2) In what country is our new Laidlaw Gulf office based?

TECHNOLOGY

3) What does the SharePoint application acronym OWL

stand for?

PEOPLE

4) Who is Laidlaw’s resident ‘twitcher’?

MATHS

5) Cardiff give Michelle 38 Plato requests to process at

11am. She goes for her lunch break at midday and

continues inputting the data when she returns. If Michelle

can process 6 Plato requests in 20 minutes, by what time

(to the nearest minute) should she have completed

Cardiff’s task?

LANGUAGE

6) Can you solve this anagram? Road Madman

PICTURE ROUND

7) What is the UNISON design code

for the item pictured to the right?

8) Whose smile is this?

When you have the answers, send them to

sian.mills@laidlaw.net, titling the e-mail

‘Laidlaw Quiz’. All the correct answers will be

put into a hat, and the winner, chosen at

random, will receive £25 in gift vouchers!

4 Project Profiles Main Contractor: Laing O’Rourke

Project Manager: Ian Dawson

Architect: MAAP Architects, Newcastle

Project Architect: Paul Yeomans

Client: Northumberland Tyne & Wear NHS

Mental Health Trust

Client Capital Development Manager: John Carson

Building 24 was the second phase of the St Nicholas Hospital P21 building scheme. Phase 1 was the Bambrough Suite which was a

new build Mental Health Unit for which Laidlaw successfully completed the supply of Anti Ligature product towards the end 2006. Both

schemes were constructed by Laing O’Rourke and designed by MAAP Architects in Newcastle.

Building 24 has been far trickier in terms of its design than the first phase as it was a refurbishment of a listed building. The project

aims to provide a high quality environment for adult psychiatric intensive care services and an adolescent learning disability service that

makes the best use of existing facilities and helps them operate together effectively. The community will benefit not only from the

healthcare services but also from the refurbishment of the historic buildings that contribute to the quality of local public open space.

Laidlaw supplied a mixture of Orbis Anti Ligature and other specially made items to the project. Numerous consultation meetings were

held with the clinicians from both Units to establish their requirements, which in the end determined the final specification. Supply of the

scheme began in January this year with the building being handed over in May.

With the help of an agreement with Laing O’Rourke, we have managed to develop a tremendous relationship with the Trust and are now

a preferred supplier to all their Capital Works Schemes which means supplying Anti Ligature product to all their projects, whether it’s

minor works or new major projects like Building 24.

Clint Robertson

National Accounts Manager—North

Building 24 Project, St Nicholas

Hospital, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Celebrating Laidlaw’s Business Success Stories

Timber Door Update - London & South East

Healthcare

We have supplied doorsets to a low risk anti-ligature day centre for the Oxleas NHS

Trust called Sycamore House. It was a very nice specification with Solid Maple frames

and doors with a mahogany contrasting lipping and Silk Anodised Aluminium

ironmongery.

We supplied doorsets at Robin Hood Health Centre for Carillion. The subcontractor

informed me that his team hung 150 doorsets in 3 days! The specification was for Ash

doors with primed frames and Satin Anodised Aluminium ironmongery.

We are about to start supplying doorsets to the New Campus for Mid Kent College.

The main Contractor is Kier Build and the architects are Nightingale Associates. The

new campus is currently one of the biggest capital schemes in the education sector in

the country. The specification is for Softwood primed frames with laminate doors and

Silk Anodised Aluminium ironmongery.

We recently supplied doorsets & sidescreens for an office project at 101 Lower Anchor

Street for Smith Construction and the John Finch Partnership. The specification was

for American White Oak doors & frames and Satin Stainless Steel ironmongery.

Education

We don’t just do Education and Healthcare...

Dave Manley Major Projects Manager

5

Gulf

Laidlaw Gulf is Here 19911991 20052005

Laidlaw is delighted to announce the establishment of

“Laidlaw Gulf LLC has been set up in the Dubai

Investment Park, near to Jebel Ali Port and the new

Dubai World Central Airport development. It is

therefore set to become a key player in this exciting

and adventurous market, offering a full

specification and scheduling package of Orbis

architectural ironmongery, timber doorsets and

handrail and balustrade solutions. I am delighted

to announce this initiative which will help to ensure

the future growth of Laidlaw and its’ people. Chris

Welford rejoins Laidlaw as our general manager of

Laidlaw Gulf LLC.”

- John Jefferies

Five Things You May (Or May Not)

Know About Dubai... 1) Though still under construction, the Burj Dubai (seen on the front

cover), is set to be the tallest man-made structure in the world. The

skyscraper is projected to stand over 800 meters tall once completed.

2) Dubai boasts the world’s only 7 star hotel, the Burj Al Arab, shaped like

a sail. It even has its own helipad!

3) Famous for its construction innovations on land, Dubai has extended

its enthusiasm for creating space into the sea. Several projects are

currently going ahead to create chains of islands off the coast of the

city using land reclamation techniques. So far these include Dubai

Waterfront, the Palm Trilogy and The World, all of which can be seen in

the photograph at the top left of the page.

4) There are no street addresses in Dubai! How confusing!

5) As of the 2005 census, Dubai has a population of 1,422,000. Of that,

75% are men meaning only a quarter are women. Only 10% of this

population is made up of the Emirati people.

DUBAIDUBAI

Top: Mohammad Ali Bin Suwailem (our sponsor), Chris

Welford and John Jefferies

Above: Chris Welford looking at the new office.

Find out more about our new Gulf

operation in the Autumn edition of

Laidlaw News!

Our People 6

“Muay Thai” translates into “Thai boxing” in English, and this is mainly what it is known as in Europe. I

originally trained at this club about 12 years ago but gave up due to injury. However, once I’d stopped

smoking my son pushed me to start again, mainly because he wanted to go. At one of the classes I got

talking to the instructor about a web site, and it snowballed from there.

Here is a bit of history about Muay Thai as on the web site.

Muay Thai as it is today originally evolved from battle field techniques taught to Siamese soldiers, one

version of events credits the beginning evolution from battlefield fighting system to King Naresuan in

1584, during the time known as the Ayuddhaya period.

During one of the many battles between Burma and Siam he was captured, and was forced to fight one

of the best Burmese Lethwei fighters for his freedom. The king won and was released. Upon his return to

Siam, the king was proclaimed a hero and he arranged for this fighting style to become a form of

entertainment. It was also adopted as the Siamese national sport.

The site took about 3 weeks to get right due to research and photos, but also I had to learn as I went as

I have never built one before. The web address is www.bristolmuaythai.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk if you want

to visit. If you want to see a live fight, you can find many matches on video sites across the internet.

The WWWorld Of Muay Thai - Mark Taylor (Bristol Branch Manager)

Laidlaw employees tell us about their lives and

achievements outside of the company

I have been lucky enough to get my handicap down to scratch

so that I am able to enter the British Open qualifying rounds at

either Prestbury or Pleasington which will take place early July.

I recently shot 71 (one under par) at Heswall and that meant

that my handicap came down to 0.3. Hopefully I will be suc-

cessful at the Prestbury/Pleasington event, in which case I will

go through to the local qualifying which takes place at:

Southport and Ainsdale

Hillside

West Lancashire

I just want to thank all staff who have congratulated me,

especially those at the Liverpool Branch.

Up To Scratch

Lewis Cornford (Marketing Department)

Laidlaw recently hosted a golf weekend in Portugal for Laing O’Rourke

whereby we played three top courses; Vila Sol, Quinta do Lago and

Pinheiros Altos. Pictured below is our own Nigel Bligh who got a “hole

in one” on the final day at Pinheiros Altos. A great weekend was had

by all and it gave us the opportunity to build on our relationship with

one of our key customers

Hole In One

Nigel Bligh (Market Development Director)

Laidlaw Kids

JOHN CAIRNS IS A

GRANDAD! Sam was born on 23rd

December 2007, weighing

8lb 4oz.

The family call him Sam the

Man!

JOANNE FELLOWS

BECOMES A MUM

FOR THE FIRST TIME Joanne from Timber Doors

and her husband Dave

became parents for the first

time in December.

Francesca Rose Fellows

was born on the 13th

December weighing 7llbs

6oz.

Major Projects Proud parents and grandparents this quarter...

Dave Manley married his bride Angela on Thursday March 20th 2008

at Woburn Abbey. Congratulations and we wish you both much

happiness in your lives together.

Manager Marries!

Left to right: Dave Goodwin, Melissa Walker, Steve Lefley, Dave Manley & Angela

Manley, Simon Shury and Mike McCann.

7

Ian Stewart Celebrates

Congratulations to

Ian Stewart who

celebrated 25 years

service with Laidlaw.

Ian joined Laidlaw

on 21st March 1983

as a warehouse

operative at our

Perth branch. He progressed to

become warehouse manager

and eventually took over

responsibility for the trade

counter also before moving into

purchasing. He now works for

group operations with

responsibility for data integrity

and creating new items on Unison. Ian is pictured here (above)

receiving his gift from Peter O’Brien.

Top: (Left to right) Peter O’Brien, David Calderwood, Tommy Mannion, John Ferguson,

Gerry Graham, Paul Alexander, Hazel Sinclair, Ian Burgess, Ian Stewart, John Lovatt and

Ian Walker.

Left to right: Keir Morton, Russell Naylor,Andrew Freebre,Bradley Fleming,Darren

Eyre,Brett Fleming and Martin Rendle

The day out at Wembley to see Torquay United play Ebsfleet United

came about because Keir Morton’s friend is a Torquay fan. Kier’s

brother works for a company called Global Draw who have an

executive box which was not being used for this game so they were

invited to watch the game from the box. It was the first time any of

them had been to the new Wembley Stadium and thanks to Lee Morton

and Global Draw the experience was even more special. The picture

below is taken outside the executive box..

Sheffield Get To

Lightbulb Scheme Winners (continued...) May Winner

Debra Yates

Debra’s idea is to use Sharepoint to manage project information in order to

improve co-ordination and thus reduce paper consumption. Well done, yet

another great idea!

Do you have a great idea that could save the company money, and maybe

help us become a more environmentally friendly business? You have one

last chance to be able to win £50 in gift vouchers, and maybe even a

weekend trip for two to Prague! So e-mail your idea to

lightbulb@laidlaw.net right now!

In The Next Issue... An in-depth look at our new Dubai office, and even more stories from our people in the Autumn

edition of Laidlaw News. If you have a story you want to share, please e-mail Sian at sian.mills@laidlaw.net.

25 Years With Laidlaw Wembley

As part of continual efforts to reduce our carbon footprint, this brochure was printed on a

FSC approved paper stock which originates from well-managed forests, controlled

sources and recycled wood or fibre as indicated by the logos below.

www.laidlaw.net

8 FOCUS On Distribution

Our central distribution and warehouse is headed by Gareth Evans

has 9 staff.

The team have a total of 101 years continued service between

them.

Don Johnson has 35 years service and Simon Bannister 22 years

service with Laidlaw.

Although the warehouse is one department, it is made up of 4

sections. Goods In, Picking, Packing/Despatch and Door

Bagging.

At any one time this warehouse has around 3000 lines of stock

on the shelves.

In the last 12 calendar months the warehouse has despatched

over 100,000 lines of stock.

The warehouse does it’s bit for the environment by either reusing

where possible or recycling 100% of the cardboard that comes

through it’s doors.

Facts & Figures

A Bit Of Fun Our favourite saying in the warehouse

(especially towards month end) courtesy of

Dave Brent from ‘The Office’:

“We thought we saw light at

the end of the tunnel...

but it was just somebody with

a torch bringing more work.”

Above: (Left to right) Gareth Evans, Chris Thompson, Simon Bannister, Glyn

Johnson, Don Johnson, Tony Faulkner, Steve ‘Stretch’ Timmings, Christian

West, Mike Martin.

Below: A very organised dispatch area.

Above: The team pick and pack the various orders that they have received.