2020 Round Up

An interesting year!

We’ve made it to the end of 2020

Dear colleagues,

Well, what can I say about 2020. In many respects, I would imagine that this year has been the most challenging that any of us will have endured. Covid has been absolutely devastating in so many ways and I hope that everyone across the group, your families and friends remain safe and well.

There has been some silver lining however… Online meetings and training has been normalised so there’s less need for travel and therefore less impact on the environment. Moving forward, sites will be better equipped for online meetings from day one. This is never going to replace regular face to face meetings to secure work and we still need to go to site to actually drill wells, but it’s something!

There’s also likely to be a push for government infrastructure spending on and power stations (to run all those electric cars and drilling rigs!) and we’ll look to be part of that development.

And further good news is that in spite of the impact of the pandemic on many industries, WJ is in good health. Thanks to all your sterling efforts we close out 2020 in a strong position. Read on for a few highlights from WJ’s team around the world and check out our end of year photo competition to win an iPad…

WJ in Toronto September 2020 Lower Thames Crossing safety award for best worksite Bogdan took the SM5 for a trip to Wroclaw Mina Zayed Tunnel

Canada on the (high) rise

WJ Canada has had an excellent year, building on the success of the Eglinton Metro and strengthening our positioning in tunnelling projects and expanding our focus to include High Rise developments – a key growth area in Toronto and the wider country.

We had excellent collaboration from WJ Group staff from Qatar, Turkey and the UK supporting our Canadian operations and helping WJ Canada to secure it’s most successful year to date. This sort of international support demonstrates just how far we’ve come as a truly global business. Well done to all involved. We also said “cheerio” to UK intern Jack Lawrie.

Toronto say cheerio to Jack

In March, we welcomed George and Joemar as permanent members of our Canadian Team, but they weren’t new arrivals to WJ by any stretch. Both are experienced Drill Rig Mechanics and have worked for WJ for longer than any of our other WJ Canada employees!

Working in our Qatar operations, Joemar has over 8 years of service and George has nearly 11! We are thrilled to have them onboard and hope they like Canada enough to stay with WJ for many more years to come!

WJ in Toronto September 2020

WJ in Toronto September 2020

Braydon joined the WJ Canada team in November 2017 as one of our first yard staff.

Coming from a family full of mechanics and well drillers, Braydon and his brothers, Travis and Randy, who work along side him as yard labourers, have obviously inherited their talent for mechanical work.

During his three years at WJ, Braydon’s proven skill and dedication to the success of WJ’s Canadian operations quickly led to his first promotion to Logistics Specialist in 2018 and to his second promotion to Yard Supervisor in September.

Braydon continues to make a wonderful addition to our team and we are proud to welcome him to WJ management!

WJ Canada has a growing ex- Schlumberger presence! Our official contracts department was established in March with the addition of our Contracts Manager, Gabriel. Joining us from Schlumberger, an international oil field company, Gabriel has over 10 years of experience working in 8 countries including India, Brazil, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia. For the last 9 months, Gabriel has been working with Mark, our VP of Client Services, to win several large projects.

As a result of Gabriel’s work we have added numerous projects to our docket for the coming months and years and brought on Pourang in February to head our Operations team to ensure all these projects come to fruition as planned. Like Gabriel, Pourang has experience with the oil field company, Schlumberger

Gabriel and Pourang all started at WJ at the beginning of this year, but all three have quickly become vital members of our operations and it is a privilege to have them onboard!

WJ Canada welcomed George

WJ Canada welcomed Joemar

We welcome Braydon to WJ management after 3 years with us

UK wins and awards

Most construction remained open in the UK throughout the pandemic so we were fortunate to be able to continue to operate when many other industries shut down.

We were also delighted to win the Lower Thames Crossing safety award for best worksite!

In addition to the site safety award, our very own Aimee Parkinson was a finalist in the prestigious Women in Construction and Engineering Awards.

Reaching the finalist stage is a fantastic achievement, and you can read more about Aimee on the WJ UK site.

Lower Thames Crossing safety award for best worksite

Lower Thames Crossing safety award for best worksite

Aimee Parkinson WICE Award finalist

The Electric MC6 over the BLABF shaft

SHEQ Manager Dan Wolfe

We also welcomed our new Safety, Health, Environment and Quality, Dan Wolfe. Dan joined us back in September as our new SHEQ (Safety, Health, Environment, Quality) Manager.

With 22 years working in heavy civil engineering and marine environments, Dan has the experience needed to elevate our SHEQ approach and ensure we not only meet but exceed our stringent targets in these key areas. You can find out more on the WJ UK site.

Plus we’re happy to report that we’re moving to more and more environmentally friendly kit. We’ve always strived to use the least polluting diesel engines possible. As the world goes evermore electric, we’re taking the lead in the industry and introducing new electric rigs and equipment.

We focussed on the new kit on the WJ UK website and in our blog post She’s Electric.

Lodz Shaft

Lodz Shaft

Poland has Lodz to celebrate

Poland has been having a lively year with the country having successfully prevented a first wave of the virus. WJ Poland began their work as part of the new railway tunnel in Lodz.

We’ve also invested further in kit for WJ Poland and Bogdan has finally got his own SM5 rig!

Bogdan took the SM5 for a trip to Wroclaw

Bogdan took the SM5 for a trip to Wroclaw

Galata Port, Istanbul – Complete

WJ Turkey has completed the Galata Port project – a fantastic achievement with an estimated 5 million cubic meters of groundwater discharged during the three years of site operation.

Well done to our site team of Emre Cetin and the Koksal brothers.

Find out more about this impressive new development in the case study.

Middle East Updates

We’re delighted that our current joint venture in Israel goes from strength to strength.

Our team in Qatar bravely battled on and worked hard to achieve success in spite of a challenging market, the blockade by its neighbours and Covid. We said goodbye and thank you to our General Manager Shankar Govidaswamy. We wish him all the best on his return home to India

And in Dubai, on top of juggling Covid and business operations, Oli took some time out to produce a baby! Say hello to baby Sophie…

We’ve had a fantastic project in Abu Dhabi as part of phase one of the Mina Zayed Tunnel, which is approximately 1.3km in length, 120m wide and 25m in depth. WJ has successfully achieved the drawdown in the first section ahead of schedule.

One of the great success stories on this project came in the Summer when, during infrastructure trenching works, very high inflows of water of 1300 l/s were encountered. Water entered into the 100m by 5m trench though a band of cobbles connected directly to the adjacent sea. With the use of WJ’s existing fleet of 8” electrical and hydraulic sump pumps we were able to control the inflows and allow our client to complete their works.

Pepito and the SM14 by the Med

Pepito and the SM14 by the Med

Shankar’s leaving party in Qatar

Annabel & Baby Sophie Vincent

Annabel & Baby Sophie Vincent

Mina Zayed Tunnel

Mina Zayed Tunnel

WIN AN IPAD

In our end of year competition!

We want to see your best work-related photos from the year and to give you a little incentive, we’re running a little competition! The best photo of WJ staff, equipment or site will win an iPad!

Email your entry to photocompetition@wjgl.com (Max 10 entries per person please!)

Photos will be judged based on the best composition, WJ interest and creativity! The competition is open to all staff of WJ and closes on January 15 2021. Judging will be by the WJ UK Marketing Team.

If we use any entry for any purpose in the future (i.e. internal or external marketing) the owner will be credited.

Thank you!

Once again, thank you for all your hard work and efforts throughout the pandemic. We have some exciting projects lined up for next year and continue to invest for growth.

Best wishes to everyone and their families for a safe and happy holiday period and a prosperous 2021.


Richard

WJ Group Admin2020 Roundup