The COVID-19 lockdown has delivered a sales surge for Gelder Group’s online business ‘LoveDIY’ but amongst the thousands of tins of emulsion, 844 tins of shed & fence paint, 367 tins of doorstep paint and 402 hanging basket brackets however one item, above all others stands out, 52 ‘Gold Pans’!

LoveDIY Manager Martin Ward comments:

We started stocking gold pans as part of a manufacturing deal for tools, not expecting to sell many, if any at all. This all changed during lockdown when 52 where dispatched, mainly to customers from Wales.

Like many online businesses, LoveDIY has seen sales in various home improvement lines rocket during the COVID-19 pandemic but even with the gold price rising by over 50% since April a surge in Gold pans wasn’t predicted.

For more details on LoveDIY, the services offered or to reserve a gold pan visit www.loveDIY.com or call 08443 351 262.

Buy a gold pan online with at LoveDIY.

A back log of delayed property claims caused by the Covid-19 lockdown coupled with a surge of February flood claims still in the system has seen a spike in instructions to Gelder Group’s Insurance Repair and Renovation Division.

On the spike, Head of the Division and Group Director Louisa Sharpe comments:

Despite working throughout the lockdown period many claims were put on hold either by insurers, loss adjusters or where policyholders were shielding, but over the past two weeks these claims have started to resurface. These together with new instructions and existing flood claims still in the system has seen our forward order-book jump by a very healthy 85% up to a level not seen since the December 2015 flooding in Cumbria and has led us to bring resources in from other areas of the Group.

Operating across the East Midlands and South Yorkshire, Gelder Group’s Insurance Repair and Renovation Division completes fulfilment, validation and cash settlements services on approximately 6,000 separate insurance property claims annually for all well-known loss adjusters, insurers, insurance brokers and individual policyholders.

Around 25% of Gelder Group sales are derived from insurance claims so in times of high demand resources from other areas of the Group are redeployed ensuring the high standards of service are maintained.

Over the course of 32 years in business Gelder Group has raised a significant amount of money for charitable causes including £33,000 raised to celebrate the company’s 25 years in business, which was donated to St Barnabas and the Alzheimer’s Society.

More recently the Group has been focused on supporting its own staff and their endeavours in raising money for charities and following the sudden and sad passing of a member of staff the group has been supporting his family through a financially and emotionally difficult period. With this in mind the Group decided to set up a charitable fund which could be accessed by staff and families who were in need of financial support through bereavement or ill health. The trust has now been formally recognised by the Charity commission and a team will be established to run the charity.

Steve Gelder, Chief Executive Officer comments on the Trust:

A big part of our 20:20 Vision is to champion community initiatives and build strong communities, gaining official charity status will not only help us achieve our Vision, it will enable us to continue to contribute to support our local community going forward. I am absolutely delighted that we now have our own charitable trust.

The team at Gelder Group’s Insurance Repair and Renovation department have been working to restore properties for policy holders who are desperately trying to get back to normal, and in the case of Mr & Mrs Clancy who are urgently trying to get back to work in their hairdressers. Work was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic but the team worked tirelessly to resume work and get the property back open for the 4th July when hairdressers are officially allowed to open to the public.

Chris Kent, Contract Manager commented:

I’m so happy we could get the work completed for Mr & Mrs Clancy, myself and the team just wanted to get them back open in time for the 4th July and I’m so pleased we were able to achieve with a couple of days to spare.

As staff return to work we have been interested to learn what they have all been up to during furlough, and two staff have shared their remarkable stories.

Lisa Mumby, Accounts Assistant joined a Facebook group shortly after being furloughed called ‘For the Love of Scrubs’ which was set up by a Lincolnshire nurse and quickly became national. As we all know the national shortage of PPE was in the news often and thousands of sewists across the UK got together through this group and others to sew scrubs, face masks, laundry bags etc. for the NHS workers.  Lisa was assigned to the Nottinghamshire group and made scrubs and laundry bags which ended up in GP surgeries in Nottingham. Lisa also sewed an additional 60 masks for friends and family.

Philip Newborough, Web Developer lives in the small village of Swinderby where members club together to purchase heating oil, with the idea that they purchase in bulk and receive a cheaper rate. The person who managed this system (manually) wrote an article in the local parish magazine and asked villagers if they would collectively contribute a couple of thousand pounds to have a custom system developed to aid in the administration of the scheme.

Membership to the scheme is free and it’s a non-profit, so whilst Phillip was furloughed, he offered to undertake the work and develop the system for free, saving the villagers some money.

 Philip developed a custom website with a registration system and member accounts area. All members can login to the website and request an amount of oil. The system keeps track of the total amount of oil that has been requested by members and when the amount reaches 18,000 litres, a purchase order is raised with the cheapest supplier. All members are then automatically emailed with details of the oil delivery, supplier, date and price etc. The system has been running successfully for the last few months and the villagers have already benefited from the savings.

Arran Fullwood, Finance Director who manages both Lisa and Philip commented:

I was inspired and humbled when I spoke to Lisa and Philip and discovered what they had achieved during the period they were furloughed.  I’m equally overwhelmed by the staff who kept working during the entire period doing essential work at Lincoln hospital.  We have a fantastic team at Gelder Group and I’m very proud to be a part of it.

Pictured: Home made PPE

The Swinderby CHOPS website.

Gelder Group’s Insurance Repair and Renovation department have yet again achieved FSQS certification from Hellios.

FSQS (Financial Services Qualification System) is a community of financial institutions including banks, building societies, insurance companies and investment services, collaborating to agree a single standard for collecting the increasing amount and complexity of third party information needed to demonstrate compliance to regulators, internal policies and governance controls.

Gelder Group fulfil over 2000 insurance claims per annum and have three regional offices within the East Midlands.

FSQS Certificate

Gelder Group Apprentice Surveyor Jack Bateman (18) would normally travel to a survey with a fully qualified Surveyor, however during the Covid-19 pandemic Jack must now observe social distancing guidelines and he is delighted to have received his own vehicle to ensure he is able to both, continue with his training but also remain safe at work.

Insurance Director Louisa Sharpe commented:

We are working in a new world and having to make changes to normal practice everyday to keep all our staff safe, however we must continue to train and develop all our staff so they are able to move forward with their apprenticeships. This is just one of many initiatives we have adopted towards that goal.

Apprentice Surveyor Jack Bateman with his new vehicle.

Now part of  Stallard Kane Associates, PAT Test UK are the latest company to lease a unit at Gelder Investments neighbourhood centre at Bob Rainsforth Way, Gainsborough.

PAT Test UK, who have taken a 5 year lease, provide complete electrical solutions across the UK ranging from portable compliance solutions to full re-wires.

The Centre was developed by Gelder Group’s Commercial Division  in 2012 the neighbourhood centre forms part of Gelder Group’s property portfolio, is managed internally and has remained popular and fully occupied for several years.

Great Places Housing Group has placed social value at the heart of its new £750m Innovation Chain North framework of Contractors and Consultants, as the successful organisations on the new four-year framework are announced.

Helen Spencer, Great Places’ Director of Development, said: “We are delighted to be working with Gelder Group on our new ICN framework. We are confident they will be able to work with us and the clients of ICN in delivering the sector’s extensive development ambitions in the North. We were delighted to have a huge response from the market and receive high quality proposals and substantial social value pledges for our communities”.

The framework has been designed to support delivery of new homes across the north of England, not only to support Great Places’ very ambitious development programme, but also those of other Housing Associations operating across the north of England.

The framework renewal saw a 56 per cent increase in bidders seeking to deliver works and services; 183 companies applied to supply the framework. The majority of bidders applied for multiple lots, and in total, 726 bids were evaluated across the 23 lots.

The successful organisations were selected based on their technical competence, price and their commitment to social value. The new £750m framework will run until June 2024.

Social value pledges, including apprenticeships, work experience opportunities and volunteering hours, were proposed by all suppliers and through a collaborative approach, we will be seeking these pledges to be applied on every new development.

Joanne Whitehead, Great Places’ Procurement and Performance Manager, said: “Well done to Gelder Group and all the organisations who have been awarded a place on the framework. We received a large number of high quality bids, and we now have an excellent group of contractors and consultants, covering a wide range of disciplines, to support our housing delivery ambitions. Great Places and the other housing providers who access the framework, look forward to working with them all in the future”.

Following a delayed completion caused by the UK wide Coronavirus lockdown, Dave and Lynette Shaw (Pictured) have finally completed their purchase and safely moved into their new three bedroom executive bungalow, situated at Heynings Close, Knaith Park.

‘Gelder Living’ is a subsidiary of Gelder Group and is currently completing the build of just nine, three bedroom executive bungalows to an award winning standard on this site, with only six properties still available.

For further information on Gelder Living developments; email info@gelder.co.uk

Mr & Mrs Shaw enjoying a glass of Champagne in their new home