Welcome to the bumper Winter issue of the combined July/August newsletter! In this edition we have an update on the Brisbane market and contributions from Jim and Steve for our CGC social review including Steve’s report on our End of Financial Year two day conference in the Gold Coast.
Brisbane Update, David Hope, Associate Director
CGC Brisbane is well and truly off the ground with over 32 placements confirmed since January 2016 in the building market and more recently the Building Services/Civil Structural sectors.
Regarding the QLD building market – although the short term forecast is looking at a slight decline, as of a couple of weeks ago, there were a total of 488 projects (valued $3m+) with a combined value of $22.8bn at construction stage in Queensland. Add to this a further 164 projects at tender, with a combined value of $3.83bn.
In recent weeks there has been a high demand in the commercial fit out sector for Site Managers and Project Managers with multiple projects coming on line in the CBD which is an indication that Brisbane is still on the up and we expect it to be very robust for the next 12 months.
If you are looking for a new opportunity or need help finding the right person for your business, please contact David Hope on 0406 665 799 or email david.hope@cgcrecruitment.com
CGC Social
July: The winter fashions have been paraded through CGC during the month of July. Whilst the Brisbane office inform us that its always “hot up here”, Sydney have experienced somewhat of a cold snap.
Hollie has just landed from the UK and likens it to “a lovely Manchester summers day”, Trev has been rocking the fur lined hooded parker (having recently purchased a scooter, it’s part of the uniform), Glynis follows Trev’s lead with an orange parker, Rory has opted for the ‘street’ body warmer and beanie look, whilst Matt has been wearing a ‘Nick Curtis hand me down’ jacket.
Billy, Curtis, Loomes and DT are consistent throughout the seasons and continue to look like dapper gentleman no matter the size of the dent in the finances the new purchases make.
Nic M, Azri and James G merely purchased a jumper each believing it to be satisfactory to deal with the temperature drop. Tough men.
CGC had an excellent end to the financial year and were pleased to promote the following members of staff; Billy Versey (Associate Director), James Loomes (Associate Director), Steve Morris (Team Leader) and David Thompson (Principal Consultant). Huge congratulations to the guys and to mark the occasion the four guys enjoyed a celebratory lunch.
To mark the end of Q4, and to welcome Jamie Ryde, Hollie Burt and Karina Bjordal to the business, the team had an early finish and went to the Opera Bar on Sydney’s harbour foreshore for a few drinks. The upcoming End of Financial Year Conference – Gold Coast, dominated the discussion around the table.
Three birthdays have been celebrated in the month of July. Billy Versey (7th), Rory Todd and Dan Kundi (27th).
Azri Azlan turned two at CGC this month. Azri lists the following amongst his targets for the fin year 2016/17: 1) Bench pressing the weight of a small car, 2) 100 chin ups whilst strapping a fridge to his body and 3) Eating more protein than the daily recommended limit for a Lion.
A huge shout out to Glynis Macdonald who raised $800 for the Act for Peace ‘Ration Challenge’ this month. Glynis ate the same rations as a Syrian refugee for a week (basically beans, rice and lentils) and hid her crankiness (onset by a starving and shrinking stomach) quite well!
August: Having finished a successful financial year with a strong final quarter, we are delighted to promote four of our staff. Congratulations to Billy Versey (Associate Director), James Loomes (Associate Director), Steve Morris (Team Leader) and David Thompson (Principal Consultant). These four have all significantly contributed to CGC’s success and making it a pleasant place to work.
This month, we celebrated two CGC staff anniversaries: Matt Weighill’s 1 year anniversary, and Glynis Macdonald’s 3 years. Since coming aboard the good ship CGC in August 2015, Matt has achieved some outstanding results. For Matt, success has come from having an excellent work ethic, effective work processes and immersing himself in the market he recruits. Glynis Macdonald has been a vital part of assisting CGC grow during the last 3 years. Always cool under pressure, Glynis is responsible for a magnitude of responsibilities ensuring the smooth running of the office & is a positive ray of sunshine. Happy anniversary to both of you!
The EOFY Wrap: August saw CGC take to the road for our end of financial year conference in the Gold Coast. Now that CGC has offices in both Sydney and Brisbane, there was bound to be some inter-office rivalry. All I’ll say is that Sydney had an ever-present record whilst the Brisbane office went AWOL on more than one occasion.
After an early start at the airport, we arrived in the Gold Coast at our accommodation, the hugely impressive Q1 building and this was the venue for the end of year wrap-up where there were a number of significant achievements that were deservedly recognised both in terms of outstanding fee deliveries and personal achievements. Jim and Nick outlined the business strategy for the next 12 months and unveiled plans for further exciting growth within the business (if you want to be a part of this then get in touch!).
After a quick check-in and scoping out our awesome rooms with impressive views across the Gold Coast we assembled for our first activity of the trip – a highly competitive treasure hunt. Teams were picked and sent out around the GC. I think the idea was to keep us out of the pub, but fortunately for us everyone managed to re-hydrate at regular intervals along the way. Ring-leaders of this were Jim and Rory who had grown frustrated at their team’s lack of ability to decipher a very simple code. They disguised their frustrations well though, and continued in the spirit of the game with no grumbling (hmmm). Winners and losers were announced and DT started off his march to MVP of the trip picking up his first trophy.
After heading to the very top of the Q1 where Evan took an incredible photo of the spectacular views (shown above), we headed to the number 1 rated restaurant in the GC with teppanyaki at Misono Japanese Restaurant. The food was incredible and the chefs put on a real display of cooking flair which had us all on the edge of our seats. From here we headed to Stingrays at the QT Hotel for yet more drinks and cocktails and the hard core members of the group kicked on further to god knows where until the early hours! Highlights of this include what Steve calls dancing but is in fact more like a one-man limbo competition and a late night grappling contest courtesy of some fine coaching from our resident grappling expert and coach Trevor Brown. Some excellent lessons were dished out and conversations over the next couple of days were dominated with grappling facts and coaching tips.
Day 2, the group was split between golf and the spa at the Q1, with Nick leading the charge at the spa. DT picked up his second trophy of the day, this time alongside Evan and Little Nic, winning the golf. Most memorable moment though goes to Rory who barely made it out of the taxi before getting back in and crying “get me home governor” for some much needed recovery time. Don’t worry about it! After another impressive feed at Seaduction accompanied by more grappling debate, bowling followed, with DT claiming a dubious win, and a deserved win in killer pool. What a champ!
Some of the more serious grapplers had worked up a bit of a sweat throughout the day and so went home for an early bath, whilst the rest of us enjoyed an Italian meal followed by karaoke. After lots of initial protests about getting up on stage everyone got fully into the swing of things and we were there for hours! Particular highlights being Rory’s Freddy Mercury impression and the office quiet-man Azri owning the stage and the audience with an awesome presence.
This was certainly marked down as a trip for the CGC memory books, thanks to Glynis for organising a fantastic itinerary and here’s to another hugely successful 12 months for all at CGC.
