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Dougie wins Outstanding Driver award at building contractors William Skinner
Added: (Fri May 05 2006)
LEADING Ayrshire building contractors William Skinner & Son have announced their inaugural Outstanding Company Driver Award.
The winner is Dougie Dempsey (49) from Ayr who works as a roofer.
Dougie received a cheque for £100 from managing director Sandy Cunningham, who said: “William Skinner and Son is rapidly becoming a UK-wide company - in addition to our headquarters in Ayr, we also have offices in the Highlands of Scotland and in south-east England.
“We operate a fleet of 45 vehicles, and these form an important part of the image that we as a company present to the public.
“We therefore make a conscious effort to keep our fleet in a safe, efficient and clean condition at all times.”
Sandy continued: “We are also aware of our obligation to contribute towards a healthier environment, and we see our Outstanding Company Driver Award as being part of this obligation, as it provides our colleagues with an incentive to maintain their vehicles in optimum condition, and to drive them in the safest and most fuel-efficient manner.
“A useful by-product of this is that we also keep our overheads to a minimum, making William Skinner & Son an even more efficient business organisation.”
Skinners now employ around 100 people from their head office at Highfield, St Quivox, just on the perimeter of Prestwick Airport.
In the last three years the company has trebled its turnover and quadrupled its profits.
Skinners concentrate predominantly upon refurbishment work rather than the construction of new buildings on green field sites, but also specialise in several other construction disciplines like joinery, tiling and plumbing.
Over the years the company has been successful in winning many large high-value contracts - for instance the refurbishment work it has done on outlets of the giant supermarket chain Tesco.
Looking to the future, renewable energy figures prominently in William Skinner & Co’s plans.
The company has obtained planning permission to install a 6kW wind turbine at its St Quivox headquarters near Prestwick Airport, and they have also ordered a photovoltaic system as well as two solar panel heating systems.
The wind turbine will be supplied by Stewarton company Proven Energy.
Both the wind turbine, generating electricity from the wind, and the photovoltaic cells, which generate electricity directly from the sun, will feed into the National Grid any energy that Skinners generate but don’t need at the time, and the solar panels will produce much of the hot water they need.
Company chairman John Quinton commented: "Most people won’t want a wind turbine in their back garden, at least not until the new range of small domestic models becomes available, but everybody, surely, would like some free hot water.
"Within the next couple of months we shall be offering locally, and installing in one day, a solar hot water system which will generate half the hot water a typical household needs.
"It costs nothing to run it, what it produces is free, and there is a 30% grant available towards the very modest cost of installation."
And finally, detailed business targets have now been set by William Skinner & Son for the next five years, and this eminently successful Ayrshire company confidently expects to double its sales turnover again by 2010, whilst still maintaining its current level of profitability.
-ends-
Issued on behalf of William Skinner & Son Ltd by Fame Publicity Services.
William Skinner & Son Ltd
Cunningham House
Highfield
St Quivox
AYR, Ayrshire
KA6 5HQ
Scotland
Telephone: 01292 671188
Fax: 01292 671133
E-mail: enquiries@williamskinner.co.uk
Website: www.williamskinner.co.uk
Murdoch MacDonald
Fame Publicity Services
10 Miller Road
AYR, Ayrshire
KA7 2AY
Scotland
Telephone: 01292 281498
Mobile: 07833 667322
E-mail: famepublicity@aol.com
Websites: www.famepublicity.co.uk