Frances Dixon joined O’Keefe just after International Women’s Day 2022. We sat down with Frances to reflect on her experiences within the construction industry and in relation to the “Embrace Equity” theme of International Women’s Day 2023.

I recently visited our site at Kitchener Barracks where O’Keefe are starting on the final phase of residential development utilising volumetric modules manufactured by Top Hat. This concrete wall is poignant – it is the dividing line between cutting edge 21st Century housing provision and 18th Century military accommodation, known as Kitchener Barracks. So, I pondered on what was each side of the wall.

The energy crisis is affecting us all – directly and indirectly. In construction we are reliant on heavy oil or red diesel that has a much reduced tax levy, but all of that is about to change in April with the scrapping of the use of red diesel or rebated fuel as it is correctly known. There will be some exceptions but construction operations is not one of them. Our Operations Director, Derek Gilburt posed some questions to our Plant Fleet Manager, Ronnie Cusack to get a feel for the impact on our business.

We are attending the Kent Construction Expo for the third year in a row.

How does this fit in with my new career in the construction industry? Moving into an organised, structured and well-disciplined company has made my transition easier than first thought.

WE DID IT !

In the week where football made a comeback to our TVs, we still managed to walk 1,546.43 miles since the end of week 2, meaning to date we have walked 2,554.43 miles.

As week two was drawing to a close, we had a check of the miles we had walked so far. By Friday 12th June we had a walked a collective total of 1,008 miles, so we need a really big team effort over the weekend to chip some more miles off of our 5,000 mile target.

Our #okeefe5000 challenge of walking 5,000 miles to raise £15,000 for our three chosen charities; NHS Charities Together, The Lighthouse Club and of course 21 Together, has been up and running for a week now, so here is our update from week 1.

Two members of our team spent 2 days trekking the Atlas Mountains in Morocco for three chosen charities.

Dave Foley, our demolition contracts manager and Declan Kelly, our project manager, trekked more than 2,000 kilometres across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.

One of the things I find having a strong NEBOSH background does, is it prepares you very well for dealing with unfamiliar situations. Basically, you can draw on a wealth of information to help you problem-solve.

Contractor O’Keefe has used cement stabilisation techniques to improve ground conditions at a large brownfield site for the Port of Tilbury. David Taylor reports

Twenty years after we helped to prepare the ground for the new Darent Valley Hospital in its home county of Kent, we have made a return…

On Friday, our low loader driver Steve Ashdown stopped at a junction on the A205 south circular waiting for the lights to change. Before pulling away, Steve checked his mirrors and then noticed an object at the front of his lorry…

People still think of demolition as being a dangerous industry. In fact, it’s not dangerous, although it is high-risk.

Our business development manager Michael Louth completed the 39th Virgin London Marathon yesterday, despite never being a runner before!

As part of our Community Foundations programme, we have helped a Scout group local to our new head office, with the foundations to their very own headquarters.