Working on local authority or government contracts for portable accommodation has always been a double-edged sword.  On the positive side, these contracts are often quite prestigious and therefore, they provide us with a fair amount of kudos but on the flip side, the price in terms of tender preparation and prequalification can be high.

For the Portable Offices business we have good news on this front, as we have once again achieved accreditation from Constructionline – the UK’s largest register for pre-qualified suppliers contractors and consultants.

Accreditation means that the company is pre-qualified for local authority and government contacts and will be able to optimise its time and response to local government tender opportunities. In effect this means we get a head start in tendering for these contracts and means it costs us less in terms of man-hours to tender.

Essentially, accreditation to Constructionline means that companies no longer need to repeatedly fill in standard pre-qualification forms for every construction tender, and, with 8,000 buyers already using the Constructionline database to source contractors and consultants, it also provides us with an effective marketing tool to get in front of these decision-makers.

As part of the accreditation process, we had to secure a number of trade references from our customers which required them to provide Constructionline with some intel about our product and service. We were delighted to see how highly our customers rated us.  Needless to say, this vital feedback was instrumental in us achieving accreditation, so I’d like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all those who responded so promptly and positively.

Health and safety also featured prominently in the process and with our achievement of Contractors Health & Safety Assessment Scheme or CHAS in 2010 combined with our international standards ISO 14001 9001 and so many of our efforts recently being focussed on this area, we were well rewarded by Constructionline’s approval of our measures.

Another benefit of this accreditation is the credibility it brings to our operation, marking us as a high quality and reputable provider in today’s marketplace.

I will keep you posted on how it pans out for us in the future.