Gareth Jones has been promoted from construction operative to a position as a senior manager, during the course of his career to date with Jones Bros.
Now a senior construction manager, Gareth’s first role upon joining the company in 1994 was as a construction operative.
He had just been made redundant as an operative working underground in the Point of Ayr coal mine, Flintshire, which closed in 1993.
As part of the redundancy programme he had been trained, and passed qualifications, to drive certain heavy plant vehicles.
Gareth’s first five years of service at Jones Bros were spent as a construction operative, carrying out drainage, kerbing and cabling works, before switching to drive machines.
Gareth explained: “I could already drive a Komatsu 210 excavator, but Jones Bros then trained me and paid for me to qualify to drive other heavy plant.” He spent around ten years as a plant operative, working on highways, business park infrastructure sites, and spending a lot of time on landfill contracts.
During this time, Gareth was also trained to work with the specialist plastic membrane materials used to line landfill cells. He also learned how to install and weld together the plastic piping used to extract gases from landfills.
He gained lots of varied experience on landfill sites in North Wales, Warrington and Leeds – and Yemen in the Middle East. Gareth explained: “Yemen was a one-off, four-week job that a client in the UK asked us to carry out. It was a fantastic experience.”
Next, Gareth was promoted to foreman, a position he held for around eight years, supervising teams of men working on various Jones Bros sites.
Gareth was also integral to the workforce as Jones Bros built and expanded its reputation as the UK’s leading wind farm infrastructure contractor.
His next promotion was to works manager, overseeing foremen who reported to him. In this role, Gareth received specialist training and had a particular responsibility for ensuring health and safety rules, together with environmental protection measures, were strictly adhered to on his sites.
During his role as a works manager he managed a team building Mid Hill Wind Farm, and built the access tracks, crane pads and turbine bases for a 54-turbine wind farm extension at Clyde, in Scotland.
Then, just two years on, Gareth’s commitment and hard work were again rewarded with promotion to the senior position of construction manager. Currently he has responsibility for overseeing all construction activities at the site of a new heliport and air base to serve an offshore wind farm off the coast of Cumbria. He works alongside the technical experts to ensure the construction team carry out their work to meet the project programme without compromising quality and safety standards.
Gareth said: “There are opportunities for regular promotion at Jones Bros if you want it. If you want to progress, the company will really help you.
“The managers are really keen for you get experience on lots of different sites, and to keep training and passing more qualifications. They provide support by enrolling you onto and covering the cost of training courses, entering exams, and for the annual refreshers we have to do, and you keep earning a wage and developing experience at the same time.
“Jones Bros invests so much in training to give their people the skills to help deliver the projects for our clients. You really feel part of the long-term future here.
“It’s also good working for a family firm because the leadership is very accessible. They get to know you and take a genuine interest in your career.
“The company was also very good to me when I needed time off to recover after surgery. Jones Bros knows that balancing life and work, and your health, can be difficult at times. They know when you have been working hard for the team, and were very reasonable and flexible.”