Dortech were delighted to hear the News that Wates Constructions' Broadgate Refurbishment Project scooped yet another award, winning the RICS Pro Yorkshire Commercial Development award.

The award was presented to the most outstanding commercial building, structure or development which clearly demonstrates the qualities of good investment and has the interests of the wider community at heart.

Broadgate has refreshed the urban and commercial landscape in Leeds with its 300,000 square feet of mixed use space. Designed by Architects, the Fairhurst Design Group, the ambitious new build and restoration project has brought life back into the iconic building which was the first retail store to open in Leeds in 1932. The quality build will set the standard in the city for some time to come.

Dortechs work included the design, manufacture and installation of over 3,200m2 of curtain walling, utilising Schuco’s visible grid and structural silicone glazed curtain wall suits.
 

Dortechs Chairman’s daughter, Leonie Sutherland is in training for one of the worlds greatest challenges, a 'Round the World' clipper race in which she will circumnavigate the globe with a small team of people.

The event has been arranged to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity devoted to improving the lives of teenagers and young adults with cancer. 

The Clipper race was set up in 1995 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to ever sail single-handedly non-stop around the world. The Clipper Race of 2011-2012 will be the eight race of its kind in history for non-professional sailors who will log approximately 40,000 nautical miles in the race.  The sleek, stripped down 68 foot racing yachts are built for speed and not for comfort as Sir Robin wanted everyone to have the opportunity to experience the challenge and exhilaration of ocean racing. As he says, "fewer people have raced a yacht around the globe than have climbed Mount Everest".

Dortech is delighted to announce that during June 2010 it was elevated to Strategic Supplier status as a consequence of the high quality work carried out on Interserve's Kingswood School, Corby Site.

Interserves Contracts Manager, Jason Simpson thanked the Dortech team: "Thank you for managing the project in a collaborative manner, without entering into too much contractual dialogue, which on a project of this scale, is a creditable achievement, and is testament to the relationship that has been forged.  Thank all of your staff for me, personally, they have done a great job."

Interserve are a key client to Dortech, having secured its first ever order with them in 2002. The prestigious Kingswood School project was secured in 2009 and was completed in 2010. Dortech's work included the design, manufacture and installation of over 1,400m2 of glazing including curtain walling, structural glazing, aluminium windows and entrance doors.    

Dortech were delighted to receieve news from BAM constructions Project Manager, Ivan Gethin that Newcastle Under Lyme College & Construction Centre had been nominated for, yet another award!

"We were delighted to receieve 2 gold awards at the National Considerate Constructors Ceremony for our efforts a NULC. In addition, we have been nominated for the overall Most Considerate Site in the UK."

Dortech's work at the college consisted of the design, manufacture and installation of over 6,400m2 of glazing products , with a value exceeding £1.5 million including; curtain walling, windows, doors and bi-folding doors. The glazing was installed on 15 degree, forward leaning pitches and facets. Another particularly interesting feature to the building are its courtyard bi-folding doors which Dortech constructed, measuring 16 meters in width and 2.8 meters in height.

Dortech's Managing Director, James Sutherland has just signed up to a joint charity initiative with Wates Construction's Leeds office to cycle from Flaxby to Flanders. All money raised will be donated to Help for Heroes and Martin House.

The ride is going to take place on Friday 24th to Sunday 26th  September starting at The Flaxby Project in Harrogate and finishing in Flanders, Belgium. All the riders taking part have committed to cycle the whole route covering 130 miles over 2 days.

Please lend your support to this excellent cause by clicking on the button below and making a donation. Any contributions made, whether big or small will be most gratefully received. Thank you for your support!

Dortech has successfully delivered another excellent quality glazing project at the University of Leeds for Main Contractors, Willmott Dixon.  Dortechs work at the University's New Pool & Fitness Centre  included the  design, manufacture and installation of curtain walling, windows, doors, interstitial blinds, revolving doors and aluminium panels. The building was designed to be modern and vibrant, incorporating lots of natural light delivered through large, unbroken sheets of glass.

This complex is the latest in a series of improvements the University has made to its sports facilities in recent years and will be open to an expected 12,000 users.

Dortech has already completed the glazing works to the University's Earth & Environment Building and is currently on site installing over 3,000m2 of glazing to Charles Morris Halls on a fast track programme for Main Contractors Morgan Ashurst.

Dortech is the most recent local company to be awarded a key role in the construction  of Huddersfield Universities School of Business. The University of Huddersfield’s Vice-Chancellor, Prof Bob Cryan, made a pledge to combat the recession by awarding work to firms in the local area. Hiring Dortech provides a double boost to Huddersfield’s economy, because the actual manufacture of the specially designed glass units was also carried out by a local firm Dual Seal.

Dortech was awarded the glazing contract by BAM construction following the successful completion of the glazing work to the University's Creative Arts Media Building. The contract was worth over £1 million and included over 1,500m2 of glazing utilising Technal FXi65 windows and Schuco FW50 curtain walling.
 
Huddersfield University's, Bob Cryan (pictured right) and Dortech's James Sutherland (pictured left). 

Dortechs work appeared on location at Wakefield Westgate during filming of the BBC's One Show. The initiative behind the event was to cut site workers hair 'on site'. A number of people from Clegg Construction and other Sub-Contractors participated in the event which led to some quite amusing footage.

The Westgate development is part of a key development initiative in Wakefield. Clegg Construction are the lead contractors on the project and have appointed Dortech to design, manufacture and install over 3,000m2 of glazing.

Dortechs featured work included Curtain Walling, Windows, Doors, Coloured Spandrel Panels and large 'full height' entrance screens. Dortechs work is scheduled to complete within the next couple of months.

Dortech recognizes the importance of CDM in respect to improving health and safety in our industry, having the right people for the right job at the right time to manage the risks on site and focusing on effective planning and management of risk.

Dortech had already implemented a number of CDM initiatives and processes pre-dating the regulations enforcement in April 2007. However, to further strengthen its knowledge and performance Dortechs Design and Scheduling departments have just completed an official, accredited CDM training course.

We are actively working with our customers to improve the co-ordination and co-operation between designers and contractors, raise standards and improve Health & Safety performance further.

Against fierce competition, Dortech have yet again succeeded in winning a Gold Award from BAM Construction on the Huddersfield University School of Business Site. In addition, the company reached the top of the table on BAM's (North East Region) Quartely Health, Safety & Environment Review. Over 59 sub-contract company's featured in the report including 4 other specialist glazing sub-contractors. Dortechs Health & Safety audit score during the October to December period reached an impressive 99.4%.

Dortechs Health and Safety Officer was overjoyed with the success stating; "BAM keep raising the bar and making it more and more difficult to win the Gold Award, but we've done it! I'm happy with all the work our site teams have delivered. They have really excelled. With a good site environment, like the ones BAM create for you, sub-contractors can really perform."

In December Dortech donated some new aluminium entrance doors to St Michael and St Helen's Church, a local church in Huddersfield. Their old doors were in a state of serious disrepair and needed to be replaced urgently.

The Churchs Reverend was overjoyed stating: “The doors  have made a huge improvement to the church, both in terms of appearance and security, since they replaced the original doors which were fitted over 50 years ago.

We are immensely grateful and the doors finish off the work we’ve been doing to improve the entrance to the building.  I took a photograph of the main entrance doors along with some of the children who come to our Saturday teatime service – I’ve attached the photo.

Once again, many thanks for the kind donation of the doors. Wishing you every blessing for the new year, and may Dortech continue to prosper in 2010 and beyond.
Kind Regards,
Revd. Maureen Browell”