A company is only ever as strong as its employees; a happy team equals happy clients. As you may know, we put a lot of work into creating an upbeat and safe environment that allows our employees to excel, promoting teamwork with a family feel. In recent years we have developed processes and workshops that heavily focus on enriching our employees, providing a clear road map for development, and equipping individuals with the tools to grow. 

Champions of Change

December 2019 saw us deliver the Champions of Change program, with development, engagement and support being at the heart of all we do. The enrichment program provides top training courses for personal and professional development and charity fundraising incentives to support the local community.

Champions of Change is all about looking after yourself and those around you. Community is one of the foundations of the program. Shenton Group’s goal is to have a positive impact in the industry as well as in peoples lives, giving people the opportunity to be the best they can be.

Health Care Support

Support for our employees goes further than just the workplace. 

Mental health has been getting a lot of coverage in the media, especially in these challenging times through COVID19. Our employees have access to GP services, counselling, legal assistance, all in their pocket via an app. 

Personal and Professional Development Courses

Pre pandemic, we would often have external trainers into our offices providing guidance and life skills on a range of topics. As face-to-face training isn’t an option at the moment, a number of our team have been upskilling online. Shenton Group puts significant investment into training and development, and we have some great courses in the pipeline when face-to-face training is safe once again. 

Development of our Training Station for Apprentices 

There are plans to develop a training area for new engineers and apprentices. We are a fast-growing team and have a lot of involvement with the local colleges and universities around our HQ in Hampshire. Talks of workshops and courses are in the pipeline so that young professionals can learn best practices before they head out into the field. Bridging the gap between education and the workplace is something Shenton Group are passionate about, and what better way to do it than getting involved with the local community. This is an exciting development. Watch this space!  

Industry Employer of Choice

Shenton Group is over 80 staff strong. The average time an employee stays within the team is five years, with some of our longest-serving employees having worked here for more than three decades! There are a couple of dinosaurs walking around with a lot of experience! 

We ask some employees what their experience is working at Shenton Group:

“The family feel is definitely apparent. There is a level of care and transparency throughout the company, and management do all they can to support you and your goals. This is, by far, one of the best places I have worked. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that a fair number of people who do leave ask to come back.” 

Nicole Wells – Brand Manager Shenton Group

Engineer Andy Ralph suffered a heart attack and explains the support he received from Shenton Group. “I was blown away by the backing I’ve received throughout”, Andy stated. Hear Any Ralphs story.

Working With Shenton Group

By offering healthy work culture that promotes trust, integrity and development, we encourage all of our employees to flourish. Along with offering competitive staff benefits, we aim to attract the best talent. We still have a long way to go and certainly don’t claim to have everything right. However, the ‘Champions of Change’ belief and mindset is really gathering pace. Over the past year, we have seen an influx of job applications coming directly to Shenton Group. This is a step in the right direction in our journey to becoming the Industry Employer of Choice.

Are you interested in joining the team? Check out our careers page or get in touch!

The headline story in recent weeks has been the much discussed planned multi-billion pound spend on renewable energy that is set to arrive throughout the next decade, with vast amounts invested in energy storage technology, nuclear power and the UK’s EV charging network.

New Petrol & Diesel Cars Banned From 2030

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that new cars and vans powered by petrol and diesel would no longer be sold in the UK from 2030, sparking a new dawn and forming part of a “green industrial revolution.” In the race to clean up motoring, the UK now sits in second place behind Norway whose fossil fuel abolition date is 2025.

As we steer towards a new world of relying on electric vehicles, there are questions around where we will charge our cars and how this energy will be generated in the first place. The government has a ten-point plan including offshore wind power and hydrogen production for industry, transport, power and homes, while there are also plans to invest £1.3 billion in EV charging points and improving charge point infrastructure.

Can the UK energy grid cope with a rise in EVs?

Graeme Cooper, National Grid’s Project Director – Transport Decarbonisation, addressed this question on the National Grid website back in February.

He referred to two key points –

1.      Enough capacity exists to cope.

With improved energy efficiency, such as the installation of solar panels, the national peak demand has fallen by 16% since 2002, when the demand for electricity was 62GW. Even if the UK switched to EVs overnight, Mr Cooper said ‘we think demand would only increase by around 10 per cent. So we’d still be using less power as a nation than we did in 2002 and this is well within the range of manageable load fluctuation.’

2.      When the demand occurs

The more complicated issue for the National Grid would be when the demand for power occurs, as the majority of commuters head home around 6pm to 8pm to plug in their EV’s at what is already peak time in terms of cooking, heating the home, using appliances and enjoying downtime.

Mr Cooper said of this challenge ‘If we want to provide sufficient infrastructure and energy for EVs as cheaply as possible for consumers, we ideally don’t want to add to that evening peak and need to spread that demand better.’

Future car chargers will need to be ‘smart by design’ so the vehicle will charge, but pause at peak times when demand is high and energy costs are at their peak.

New Consoles Drive Record Broadband Data Use

The UK’s leading internet providers have experienced record broadband use in recent weeks with the new PS5 & Xbox consoles driving demand, as well as the large files being downloaded for fresh releases including the Call of Duty games franchise.

The BBC reported that for BT “broadband traffic peaked at 18 terabits per second (Tbps) – equivalent to delivering about 1,510 hours of high-definition video every second.”

Throughout the lockdown periods, there has been an increased demand for connectivity and power at residential property, whether that is for work purposes, or to meet the rising demands required for continually innovative games consoles.  This has demand for energy to power the consoles as gamers enjoy the newest releases, has however been offset with less electricity required for industrial or commercial usage.

Britain Fires up Coal Plants to Meet Electricity Shortfall

All of the ‘Green Economy’ plans outlined are a sign that the UK is heading in the right direction to a cleaner future, but right now electricity shortfalls are still commonplace.

Some of the last remaining coal power plants are still being used to help keep the lights on up and down the country whenever the supply from wind turbines tails off, as seen as recently as Thursday 26^th November, where energy generated from coal supplied 6% of our electricity.

The colder weather and slowdown in wind power has meant that power plants in Drax remain operational to provide a cushion of extra supplies when renewable generation levels vary.  

The tighter margins have been commonplace in recent months as seen via the National Grids ESO Twitter account –

There are continued tight margins on the electricity system, owing to colder temperatures & varying renewable generation levels over periods w/ higher demand.

While we have enough generation to meet demand, we've issued an electricity margin notice (EMN) for Sunday evening [1/3]

— National Grid ESO (@ng_eso) December 5, 2020

Reliable Power Solutions

If your business depends on power continuity, why not contact Shenton Group to discuss the solutions available to safeguard your power security? Power cuts continually cause issues across the UK, as seen during the last week in Bournemouth, Newport on the Isle of Wight and in Yorkshire.

It pays to have a backup power solution to ensure a reliable energy source, even when there is a disruption with the National Grid. 2020 has caused enough disruption to businesses and organisations already, and our team have been working hard to support clients during the pandemic with more pressure than ever to keep power supplies secure.  

Get in touch and speak to our experts today.