Recruitment
“Melanie Bryett formerly Station Manager Wolverhampton has been an integral part of the development of the Wolverhampton interchange. Mel has been the face of West Midlands Trains at Wolverhampton and the point of contact to make the project a success.
Mel’s leadership style conveys a clear vision of what needed to be delivered despite the hurdles that civil engineering projects incur being thrown her way. Mel always found a way to make Wolverhampton a key focus and whilst unprecedented circumstances with COVID-19 delayed the project by 2 years made her more focused on delivering for the customer.
Mel’s dedication to the Wolverhampton interchange project has seen her spend a total of Seven years on the project with some key milestones to note the contribution that Mel has offered.
2016 The Station Client brief was signed.
2016/2017 The new extension of the Multi Story Car Park was built and opened.
2019 The building works commenced and the team at Wolverhampton signed the steel for the new building which are in the steel of the front doors, those colleagues will always be a part of the history of Wolverhampton Station.
24th May 2020 The last day in the old station. The new station opened on May 25th during the Covid pandemic. It was a very busy weekend, and we did it with low numbers of staff to reduce the risk of infection.
12th September 2020 They began knocking down the old station.
26th June 2021 The team at Wolverhampton worked overnight again to open Phase 2 of the new building.
July 2022 Co-op & Costa opened, followed by WH Smith & the Change Makers Hub. This month Gourmet Coffee opened on platform 1 and Pumpkin closed for a refit and a new unit on platform 2/3.
29th July 2022 The hoarding was finally removed ready for the Commonwealth Games and the shuttle buses we had outside the front.
August 2023 Tram driver training starts.
September 2023 First passenger service leaves from Wolverhampton Station
As with any longevity projects see their casualties but Mel’s trauma rocked her world and rightfully needed to take a step back to spend time with family.
Anyone could note the personal contribution Mel had made to the overall project and near its end would have been understandable for Mel to hand it over to someone else to look after.
In true Melanie Bryett fashion, she came back stronger and more determined than ever to get the project complete and shed a tear when she saw the first tram come down into the Wolverhampton Plaza.
As the final push to get the Tram operational an emotional huddle took place inside the Change Makers Hub at the station. The hub is another one of Mel’s achievements whereby she was able to gain funding for 2 years for a community hub. Most notably raising a significant amount of money for Ukraine.
There was no better way to say goodbye to Mel than having all the stakeholders together to acknowledge the fantastic collaboration Mel offered.
The introduction of the Metro service in no way means that the interchange project is complete but as Melanie now moves on to her new role of Stations Partnership Manager, she still is an integral part of Wolverhampton and its continual development.
Mel is an inspirational leader who has a passion for delivery and for the colleagues working for her. I think every colleague at Wolverhampton has a story of how Mel has personally helped them over the time she has been here.
Stories of where Mel has personally taken colleagues to hospital, and attended funerals to support her most vulnerable colleagues, the style of welfare checks completed is always individually tailored to the colleague's needs, She encourages team building in difficult circumstances, uses her initiative, the most fantastic collaborator and finally a fantastic manager that is why I believe Mel should be recognised for Rail manager of the year.“
“I would like to nominate Melanie for Manager of the Year because simply for many of us, she is the best Manager. I have been working for Melanie for a number of years now in various roles. The respect that she shows to everyone, regardless of their job, status, or walk of life is outstanding. Melanie lives and breathes our core values. She is Proud, Real, Simple and Open. Melanie's phone is always on regardless of the time of the hour. She was even composing emails on her holidays when she didn't have to. Melanie's approach to her staff is phenomenal, she always goes way out of her way to support her staff. It often goes without saying or appreciation, but Melanie thoroughly deserves to be recognised as a great manager for many of us and many of us are looking up to her. As well as Managing an interchange station with over 5 million passengers per year Melanie also had been managing a station redevelopment project and wider interchange project including the metro extension to the station.
The latest reorg has seen Melanie lead a team of newly created Customer Experience Managers based at Wolverhampton. Since the team took over the change of attitudes and culture has seen a big change to the extent of the Customer Experience Manager will be introduced through the company. It cannot be omitted that without Melanie's lead, this change would not be possible. Melanie always sees the best in people, she is more than fair and often goes out of her way to support her staff.
Those who have the privilege of knowing Melanie will know exactly why she should be recognised for her hard work. Melanie's experience often sees other managers come to her to ask for her help, advice and support without doubt. Melanie is always helping everyone without hesitation. She is doing more than her own share of the work. We as a Team who worked under Melanie, all can agree that she is a great manager to work for.“
“I would like to nominate Melanie for Manager of the Year because simply for many of us, she is the best Manager. I have been working for Melanie for a number of years now in various roles. The respect that she shows to everyone, regardless of their job, status, or walk of life is outstanding. Melanie lives and breathes our core values. She is Proud, Real, Simple and Open. Melanie's phone is always on regardless of the time of the hour. She was even composing emails on her holidays when she didn't have to. Melanie's approach to her staff is phenomenal, she always goes way out of her way to support her staff. It often goes without saying or appreciation, but Melanie thoroughly deserves to be recognised as a great manager for many of us and many of us are looking up to her. As well as Managing an interchange station with over 5 million passengers per year Melanie also had been managing a station redevelopment project and wider interchange project including the metro extension to the station.
The latest reorg has seen Melanie lead a team of newly created Customer Experience Managers based at Wolverhampton. Since the team took over the change of attitudes and culture has seen a big change to the extent of the Customer Experience Manager will be introduced through the company. It cannot be omitted that without Melanie's lead, this change would not be possible. Melanie always sees the best in people, she is more than fair and often goes out of her way to support her staff.
Those who have the privilege of knowing Melanie will know exactly why she should be recognised for her hard work. Melanie's experience often sees other managers come to her to ask for her help, advice and support without doubt. Melanie is always helping everyone without hesitation. She is doing more than her own share of the work. We as a Team who worked under Melanie, all can agree that she is a great manager to work for.“
“Thank you so very much for an amazing evening last night. We all had a really great time and the tremendous hard work that you all went to, to stage such an event, with such careful attention to detail, was not unnoticed. Well done. Thank you so much too for the award and the cheque! I am not unmindful of the fact that there are hundreds of men and women across the railway industry that are equally deserving. Special tribute to those lone workers who work at single staffed stations who's commitment and dedication so often goes unnoticed. Again many thanks.”
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