Russwood reflections 2020
2020 may be a year to forget in many people’s eyes, but despite its challenges, it has been a good year in many ways too. As we round out the year, we reflect back on the moments of celebration, our favourite projects, and what we decided to do for Christmas this year.
An ‘event-full’ start
Russwood’s flooring team started the year off with a visit to Domotex 2020 in Hannover, Germany. This is a great event, which shows all the newest, international innovations in floors and floor coverings. There were plans to attend a number of other events, amongst which some sponsored by Russwood, like the Aviemore 100 bike event. Sadly, most of these events were cancelled or postponed until next year. We look forward to attending these when it’s safe to do so again!
A growing team
Throughout the year, Russwood have been lucky enough to continue welcoming new members to our ever-growing team. In the yard we’ve welcomed back Calum Grover as a Yard Operative, and are pleased to have also recruited Declan Brennan as Yard Operative, Kenneth Harrigan as Sawmill Operative, and Fraser Stewart and Daniel Brown as Paint Line Operatives.
In the office Craig Campbell started as a Cladding and Decking Sales Advisor and Roxana Cercelaru joined the Architecture Liaison Team. These two great additions will be joining our team in Glasgow, much to the Glasgow team’s delight. Lastly there’s me – Manouk, I joined the Marketing Team in March and this is my first blog ?.
It’s been a difficult year to start a new career anywhere, and it’s safe to say our new recruits have done really well, learning the ropes and getting familiar with both the work and the teams alike. We’ve also said farewell to a few staff who have left Russwood to take on new and different roles and opportunities, and we’d like to say thank you to them for their hard work and commitment over the duration of their time here: thank you Lynsey, David, Scott, and Chantal.
We are currently recruiting for new roles both in the yard and the office – take a look at our Careers Page if you are interested in joining our team. You can also read about what it’s like to work at Russwood, and what our employees are like at our Meet the Team Blogs.
Favourite projects
While construction was halted across the country for a period, Russwood have been lucky to have supplied timber for a wide variety of amazing, inspiring projects throughout the UK this year. A few of our favourites include beautiful Oak Parquet Flooring in a private home in the Cairngorms, stylish Scotlarch® Cladding on the isle of Iona, and the mixed widths Siberian Larch cladding, factory-coated with SiOO:X, on a home by Gerry Robb Architectural.
A cause for celebration
October promised to be a month full of celebrations, with Russwood turning 30, Russwood’s Managing Director John Russell turning 60, and Flooring Manager Naomi Russell turning 30 as well! Though festivities had to be reconsidered, we still managed to get cake round, and the team expressed congratulations and celebrated from their remote offices and spread-out workplaces. With Russwood celebrating 30 years in business, congratulations were in order as well for Commercial Director Lorna Crombie and Operations Director PJ Mackintosh, who have been with Russwood from the start, and therefore celebrated three decades of employment with the company. Read more about 30 years of Russwood in our anniversary blog.
A new-look website
More reason for celebration was the launch of our new website in May. Russwood joined forces with Inverness-based web design agency Strut to design a new, user-friendly, stylish, and modern website. Finishing off this project while working from home, and with some staff furloughed, was a challenge but with a lot of hard work from both Strut and the Russwood Marketing Team, the launch of the website was a success. We are grateful for the positive feedback we’ve had on the new website so far, if you have any feedback (good or bad!) please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Christmas donations
This year, in lieu of sending Christmas cards, Russwood have made donations to two charities: Chest Heart and Stroke Scotland (CHSS), and The Lodging House Mission in Glasgow. Russwood would have been supporting CHSS through our sponsorship of the Aviemore 100 bike event, which was postponed this year. CHSS are a charity which helps families who are living with the effects of serious chest and heart and stroke conditions. The Lodging House Mission located near our Glasgow office, provides care and support to homeless, vulnerable, and socially excluded people.
A sustainable future
Russwood cares about the future, and are committed to our production and processes being in line with our sustainable values. We are constantly looking for environmentally friendly options on the market, and support new initiatives and technologies that seek to eliminate negative impacts on the environment in construction and use of timber.
We want to carry on innovating, improving and growing and hopefully 2021 will be full of opportunities to do so. From the whole team at Russwood, we wish you and your family happiness and health this festive season and the year to come.
We are closed from the 25th December until the 4th January 2021. Please see our Visit Russwood Page for more information. We are looking forward to seeing you back in the new year!