Recruitment
“Sean Fitzpatrick has built the VGC Group from its beginnings in 1977 to a multi-million pound business providing employment for almost 1,000 people in the rail and construction sectors across the United Kingdom.
The group recorded a turnover of over £53m in 2014, with workers employed on some of the country’s biggest infrastructure projects including Crossrail, the north west electrification, and EGIP (Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme).
Under Sean’s leadership, VGC has always focused on ethical, fair and sustainable work practices, in a tough and competitive industry. Throughout economic cycles, however difficult the prevailing conditions, Sean has ensured that there is always fair treatment of staff, clients and suppliers.
The group’s accreditation to ISO 9001, 18001 and 14001, and a number of independent industry awards, are testament to sound business practices. These include ensuring that everyone who works for VGC is paid a fair rate, and that payment mechanisms are transparent, sustainable and on time.
Sean emphasises building strong, long-term relationships with clients who know VGC will deliver, in order to secure contracts that provide continuous employment for the group’s people.
He has always advocated high standards of safety. In 2001 VGC was one of the first construction labour companies to appoint a full time health and safety director, recruiting a well–respected, ex-British Rail expert from Balfour Beatty to ensure that work practices across the group are as safe as possible.
Equal opportunities and fairness are at the heart of the company. Despite its increased size, people repeatedly remark on the ‘family feel’ to working at VGC. As Sean has often pointed out, “we’re not just paying 1,000 workers: we are supporting up to 1,000 familiesâ€. This could be the reason for VGC’s high people retention levels (way above the industry average) and the regular awarding of five and ten year service awards to qualifying staff.
The recent Infrastructure 21 Training award as well as an ‘outstanding’ rating by NSARE (the National Skills Academy for Rail Engineering) underline the group’s emphasis on training people to work safely and to enhance and broaden their skills for a long-term career. Sean’s policy has always been to recognise good work - 133 ‘outperformance’ awards were handed out in 2014 – and to promote from within: most of VGC’s managers have been developed in-house.
Sean’s vision was for a company that did more than merely fill vacancies: he also wanted to have a responsible attitude to industry and the people working for him. VGC was one of the earliest labour companies to set up a training and competence management system. It also pioneered the group’s behaviour-based safety programme called ‘Be Safe by Choice with VGC’ which includes key influencer training and the adoption of VGC’s four ‘Be Safe’ rules by every worker.
The group’s mission statement, crystallised in 2013, sets out Sean’s priorities:
• We are dedicated to delivering high quality, cost effective solutions for our clients and to building long-lasting partnership with them.
• We value our business relationships and will remain fair and true in all our dealings with clients and staff.
• We have a commitment to a safe working environment, staff development, sustainability and to ethical business practices.
VGC has raised a substantial amount for charity, including in the past three years alone over £6,800 for Mesothelioma UK and nearly £6,000 for Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.
Sean (Matthew John) Fitzpatrick was born on 17 May 1945 in Cavan in Ireland. He moved to England in 1966 and taught maths, physics and computer science at Cardinal Wiseman High School in Greenford for 11 years. He retains links with the school – each year VGC offers at least one pupil the opportunity to experience life in its busy Ruislip head office to see what a career in the construction industry has to offer.
On 1 January 1977 Sean set up VGC with partner Bart Keaney, initially working from the kitchen table of his house. Bart retired in 2006, and in 2010 Sean moved from managing director to chairman. However, he has not stepped back from involvement in the group. Alongside managing director Laurence Mckidd, Sean leads VGC’s strategic planning, budgets and senior appointments, he keeps his finger on the business pulse generally. In addition, his door is always open for staff who might need help with a problem, however small.
While working on building his successful company, Sean has also devoted a great deal of time to charity. He serves as a trustee for Harlington Hospice, a community hospice which provides services to people at the end of their lives and supports families suffering from bereavement. He is treasurer of the A P Taylor Trust, which provides grants to the local community in Hayes (in 2013 the Trust donated a total of £53,850 to local cultural and community groups). He is chairman of the London St Patrick’s Festival Ball committee. He has also been chairman of the West London Irish Society for the past eight years, supporting people in the west London Irish community and raising funds for many worthy local charities including the Meadow House Hospice, Motor Neurone Association, Hillingdon Hospital Equipment Appeal, Cardiology Unit Hammersmith Hospital, and the Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign and was chairman of the Botwell Primary School Board of Governors for over 15 years.
Sean has won a number of awards, including ‘Irish World’ Businessman of the Year. But the ones of which he is most proud are the safety awards for VGC, including 2014 ‘Contractor of the Year’ for Costain Skanska JV at Bond Street Crossrail, Balfour Beatty’s ‘Zero Harm’ award for the M25 project, and a RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) Gold award.
“I get a great feeling of satisfaction seeing the business develop, delivering a good product, and seeing the workforce happy and safe,†he says.
His 70th birthday year offers a good reason to celebrate the enormous achievements of this remarkable man.“
“I have nominated Sean Fitzpatrick for a lifetime achievement award as I have worked with Sean for 25 years. During this time I can say that Sean has consistently strived to elevate the quality of the services we offer to our clients. Sean has also championed the profile and standard of safety at work within our business.“
“I attended the awards last weekend and very good they were too!”
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