Looking back at a busy year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from everyone at MSBC!

2020 has been challenging for everyone. Despite the complications of COVID-19, we’re pleased to say we’ve had a successful year! Having closed down for the initial lockdown period, we worked hard to make sure our team and clients were happy and ready for sites to reopen - providing PPE and putting in place site-specific measures.

As soon as we could, we fulfilled all our pre-lockdown projects. Then, we embarked on some exciting new projects, including phase 2 of work on St Paul’s church, Chichester, consisting of new extensions and internal and external alterations. We were delighted to be awarded phase 1 and 2 of a project for homeless charity Stonepillow’s Chichester lodge, St Josephs. A whole new floor is being added, plus a roof built off-site to speed up delivery, as we work to a very tight programme. These works will provide 8 new much-needed self-contained accommodation units.

The second half of 2020 also saw various other projects completed, including an extension to a college in Winchester, internal structure alterations to a home in Fontwell and sensitive waterproofing of a historic tower in Havant. Every client we’ve worked with this year has expressed their praise for the way we work and our dedicated teams on-site. Our client relationships are something we continue to be incredibly proud of.

This year also saw us take on a maintenance contract at Cowdray Estate. The works are currently in their final stages, headed up by our site manager Leon, and overseen by one of our contracts managers, Dave. Works included new chimneys, extensive paintwork across several properties, the replacement of one of the estate’s famous yellow windows and a variety of sensitive brick repairs. It was great to work on such an iconic local landmark, and to overcome the challenges of local conservation requirements.

By October we had a new team member join us – Ellie Watson, who is managing our social media accounts. To see photographs of our work at Cowdray and some of our other projects, find us on Instagram @themartinsewellbuildingcompany; Twitter @MartinSewellBC; Facebook and LinkedIn.

In November we were nominated for two Sussex Heritage Awards, for the Small-Scale Residential category. Being continuously recognised for our work locally is a real honour – especially when in such good company! Congratulations to all the winners from this year’s awards.

This Christmas we are pleased to be able to support Children on the Edge through The Big Give appeal. All donations were matched by The Big Give, raising over £41,000 to help educate Dalit children in a safe space.

The start of 2021 is also looking strong for MSBC. January will see a further two new members join our team: Kyle Smithson a Carpenter and Jay Peterson a Construction Operative. We are really looking forward to welcoming them in the New Year.

We are in the final design stages of some exciting projects, where we’ve partnered with clients to bring their projects to life. Keep an eye out for updates on these on our social media!