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Interview
developments across Lancashire , Staffordshire , Merseyside , and Yorkshire .
“ Our goal is to solve customers ’ problems with an end-to-end solution , and as a group of businesses , we can often find an answer or solve problems in a different unit or division ,” Nicola states . “ Our painting and maintenance division offers a range of maintenance work , most of which works with housing associations to combat mould , and our housing partnerships business completes a high number of refurbishments and retrofits .”
Throughout her career , Nicola has witnessed the shift in industry priorities as organisations awaken to the importance of sustainability . “ We ’ re increasingly seeing demands for sustainability come through in public sector bids ,” she says . “ We ’ re experiencing a steady stream of retrofit decarbonisation work , as well as increased demand for low energy homes .
“ The entirety of operations in the engineering services division are dominated by decarbonisation , whether in homes or private contracts like civic buildings , schools , and leisure centres . When it comes to sustainability , it ’ s crucial to get involved at an early stage , having open and collaborative conversations during the design stage about how ‘ green ’ the client wants to be while considering budget .
“ Seddon isn ’ t the cheapest option ; our customers not only pay for a project , but they also buy a genuine working partnership with us . Relationships are crucial in the construction sector ; although the quality of our work is inevitably important , people remember how the journey felt in terms of the relationship . At Seddon , the feeling people get during and after working with us often lasts longer than the building itself !
“ However , such positive relationships can only be forged when you ’ ve built a knowledgeable , yet diverse team , and I believe that diverse teams produce better results . We blend people ’ s natural talents to create diverse teams that embrace people ’ s differing characteristics , careers , age profiles , or educational backgrounds . We recognise that many of these factors uniquely shape who we are and instead of shying away from difference , we champion it .”
Positive influence
Nicola ’ s passion for diversity is something she ’ s successfully translated into Seddon ’ s company culture . “ When we took over from our father , we identified a set of behavioural standards and worked hard to embed these values into our culture ,” she elaborates . “ I ’ m particularly passionate about providing opportunities for our people , whether that
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