Therm Tech specialises in the design, manufacture and installation of industrial waste heat recovery systems and equipment used to remove contaminants from gas or water.

Read the full article published in the Manchester Evening News on Tuesday 24th January 2012

Workspace said the acquisition of Therm Tech for an undisclosed sum would help it increase its share of the growing energy-saving sector. Therm Tech manufactures heat recovery and recycling systems, as well as industrial heaters and activated carbon technology.

Workspace, which is based in Draperstown, already owns Homeseal, Northern Ireland’s biggest home insulation provider, and energy-efficient lighting firm Environment 2000.

Its chief executive Brian Murray said: “Therm Tech Limited is an already well-established business with an established customer base, a strong focus on its customers’ needs and an excellent reputation. This acquisition is a perfect fit for our growth strategy as it extends our capabilities and expertise in energy efficiency.

“Finding the right acquisition to complement our existing business has been a top priority for us.”

Workspace last year said it hoped to double annual sales from £7.6m in 2010 to £14m in the next four years.

Read the  article published in the Belfast Telegraph on Tuesday 17th January 2012

Name: Georgina Grieve

Company: Homeseal

Position: General manager

Role: To run all operational aspects of the home insulation company.

Track record: A Business Studies graduate, Georgina was corporate services manager at Workspace before joining from Grafton Recruitment

Article taken from the Belfast Telegraph Tuesday 8th January 2012

Read the full article in the Belfast Telegraph

The Workspace Group Plan 2011 – 2015

Environment 2000 in Draperstown, Co Derry, has won a new contract to upgrade part of Glasgow’s subway system. Celebrating the news are (l-r) Corporate Services Manager Adele Scullion, Lighting Installer Ron Clack, General Manager Oliver Phelan and Project Manager Cathal O’Kane

Article in the Belfast Telegraph

Margaret Heron, General manager, network personnel, the employability arm of the workspace group

What does your job entail?

We provide employability programmes, mainly on a contract basis, for the Department of Employment and Learning. These programmes are focused on improving people’s chances of getting work and finding them employment.

The programmes we deliver include Steps to Work, New Deal for Disabled, Work Preparation Programme and Progress to Work. Each of these programmes is focused on different client groupings with very specific needs.

We have a number of offices in Northern Ireland and employ 35 permanent staff. My role as general manager is to get the best performance from my team and to make sure that we exceed customer expectations — whether that’s the contractor or the unemployed individual whose life we want to improve by increasing their employability situation.

How did you get into this line of work?

I initially got into this line of work as I was aware of the social aims that the Workspace Group had and liked the idea of having a real positive impact on individuals from the local community. For me, the Workspace Group was different to other organisations. It has a very business-orientated focus, but a real interest in the local community.

When I started with Workspace, I didn’t expect to still be here all these years later, but the Workspace Group is an excellent organisation to work for and is growing each year. It has an even greater impact today on the local and wider community than I could have anticipated.

Outline your career to date?

After taking a career break to raise my family, I started with Workspace firstly as a core worker and then as assistant manager with the ACE Programme.

At that time, I was working with the long-term unemployed and disadvantaged.

Eleven years after starting on the ACE Scheme I moved on to co-ordinate the Worktrack programme, then in 2005, I got the opportunity to manage the business and was delighted to move into a role where I could make a real positive difference to both the business and the community.

What qualities are required for your job — personal and professional?

This job is all about people and communicating with people. I need to ensure our 35 staff and the team leaders within the company know what is expected of them and are given the opportunity to perform with support from the management team.

In addition, I need to ensure that they are not only delivering on the expected service, but that they are delivering a top-level service and delighting our customers.

Good interpersonal skills are critical, as is the ability to understand people’s individual situations and empathise with them. We need to be able to convince an employer that our candidates will be a valuable addition to their team so again communication skills, with a bit of selling, are the key qualities.

I also believe that in order to get the best from people and see their potential, we have to push them out of comfort zones and stretch their capabilities where possible.

As manager of Network Personnel, I try not only to stretch myself on a daily basis, but also to help my team stretch and see the potential they have.

A positive can do attitude, patience, ability to work in a team and a sense of humour also help.

What is the best advice you ever received?

The best advice I received and something I strongly believe in is that ‘relationships come first, |business will always follow’.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

If I follow the advice I would say that the balance between work and family is important and therefore, like most mothers and grandmothers, family takes up most of my spare time. On a day off work, I can be found doing anything from watching my own children participate at sports to babysitting my grandchildren.

Who has inspired you most in your life?

There are no business gurus that I would refer to for this. My inspiration mainly comes from the people whose lives we help to improve through our employability programmes.

Seeing people getting a job, improving their skills and improving their views on life is truly inspirational.

To know that I may have had some input into making this happen is even better but to do this as part of a social enterprise which impacts on our community in so many other ways is very rewarding.

In addition I have an excellent team at Network Personnel, who consistently deliver higher outputs than we are targeted to do and that inspires me as well.

Tell us an interesting fact about yourself.

I was the first female to hang glide in Northern Ireland.

Article taken from the Belfast Telegraph on Friday 28th October 2011.

Among the best performing social enterprises in Northern Ireland is a not-for-profit firm based in Draperstown.

The ‘Workspace Group’ is one of the top three fastest growing social enterprises in Northern Ireland.

A social enterprise is a business which trades with a social or environmental purpose rather than being focused primarily on the bottom line.

According to recent data, social enterprises are out-performing the rest of the UK economy in terms of growth. The Royal Bank of Scotland SE100 data report shows that social enterprises in Northern Ireland recorded an average growth of 18 per cent.

The Workspace Group is second in terms of growth to only one other social enterprise in the whole of Northern Ireland.

They work with a host of other businesses in order to provide help and to stimulate the local economy, getting people back to work.

The Workspace Group, who also has an office on Rainey Street in Magherafelt, provide business support services and business property. They are also involved in recruitment, training and employment initiatives, energy efficiency and insulation, event management, childcare and recreational activities.

These commercial activities are pursued to generate profits that are used to benefit the local community.

The figures also show that social enterprises in Northern Ireland recorded an average turnover of £4,567,301.

Peter Ibbetson, Chairman, small business, RBS commented: “The SE100 helps us demonstrate the unique roll this sector plays in terms of its social impact and rapidly increasing contribution to the UK economy.”

Article taken from the County Derry Post on Tuesday 26th July 2011

The idea originated when the local Enterprise Agency ‘Workspace’ through their Community Fund generously contributed money to the College to allow them to promote enterprise in the school. Smaller programmes such as mini-enterprise schemes have been on-going throughout the year but ‘Dragon’s Den’ was the first of its kind.

The competition allowed the Year 10 students working in groups of four to really display their entrepreneurial skills. The students had to create an original idea, conduct market research, market the product and present this to the Dragons. Teachers from the school along with Mr Enda Daly from Workspace and Mr Laurence O’Kane, O’Kane’s Pharmacy Draperstown made up the judging panel.

Speaking after the very successful event, Mrs Lorraine McCormack, Head of Business Studies commented on how proud she was of the Year 10 students who had put an enormous amount of work into their presentations. She went on to say that not only did they learn much about the world of business but also this competition afforded them an excellent opportunity to present in front of a panel of judges, a life skill which will be valuable in the world of work. She added that she would also like to thank Workspace Community Fund for their financial support and Mr Laurence O’Kane and Mr Enda Daly for their invaluable input on the day.

Pictured above are the winning groups from Year 10 with Mr Enda Daly, Workspace, Mr Laurence O’Kane, Pharmacy Supplies and Mrs L McCormack Head of Business Studies.

Article in the County Derry Post

Article in the Mid Ulster Mail

Feature in Local Women

Hundreds of people living in Draperstown will be safer in their homes thanks to an initiative supported by one of Northern Ireland’s leading social enterprises, The Workspace Group.

The organisation, which uses profits generated from its business to partly or wholly fund activities aimed at benefiting the whole community, is donating 200 carbon monoxide detectors to the St Vincent de Paul, the Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian Church, which will distribute the devices in the area.

Carbon monoxide detectors are used to detect the presence of colourless, odourless carbon monoxide gas in order to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.

Georgina Grieve, from Workspace, said:

“The benefits of a carbon monoxide detector should not be under-estimated. This poisonous gas is virtually undetectable without using detection technology so these alarms should provide a vital early warning should any gas escape.

“By working in partnership with organisations such as the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian Church and St Vincent de Paul, we hope our donation will help to make at least 200 homes a much safer place to be.”

Originally set up to stimulate social and economic regeneration in the Magherafelt area but now with three offices in mid-Ulster as well as Donegal and Wales, The Workspace Group provides a wide range of commercial business activities, including home insulation, energy efficient lighting, employability programmes, business start-up, business units and a recruitment agency.

All profits generated by Workspace are used to partly or wholly-fund non commercial social activities such as childcare projects and the Workspace Community Fund, which in 2009/10 awarded grants to almost 30 groups.

One of Northern Ireland’s biggest social enterprises, the Workspace Group, today reported a 55% jump in turnover and a rise in staff numbers to 117 for the year to end-March 2010 – a year it describes as one of its best ever.

Draperstown-based Workspace said the better-than-expected results were largely due to a strong performance at its commercial insulation and energy-saving businesses Homeseal and Environment 2000.

The group, originally set up to stimulate social and economic regeneration in the Magherafelt area but now with three offices in mid-Ulster as well as offices in Donegal and Wales, said yearly turnover rose to £7.6 million in 2009/10 from £4.9 million in 2008/09.

Over the last 10 years, Workspace said it had delivered a 600% increase in turnover, with staff numbers rising from 37 to 117 as the number of activities it embraced steadily grew. Profits generated from all ventures are used to partly or wholly fund non-commercial social projects.

A provider of enterprise units, business support services and employability initiatives, Workspace owns fast-growing home insulation provider Homeseal, which was successful in retendering with its partners for the government-funded Warm Homes Scheme last year.

Turnover at Homeseal climbed to more than £3 million in 2009/10 after it supplied loft and cavity insulation to more than 4,000 properties, 30% more than the year before.

Environment 2000, another Workspace company which provides energy-saving solutions such as energy efficient lighting, radiator panels and thermostats, reported a turnover of more than £1 million.

Workspace also owns Network Personnel, which in spite of the tougher economic climate, continued to expand its services across Northern Ireland as it stepped up the pace in the delivery of its government contracts.

Network Personnel was established 1989 to address local skills and employment needs. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Workspace, it has successfully delivered a broad spectrum of employability schemes funded by DEL, including its ‘Steps to Work’ programme.

Established in 1985 to provide enterprise units and business support services, Workspace is now regarded as one of Northern Ireland’s leading social enterprises.

 Workspace Group Chairman, Michael McAllister, said:

“Despite the tougher economic climate, Workspace has continued to deliver growth across all its activities, which means we can continue to contribute to more and more social and community projects such as the Youth Centre and the Recreation Centre in Draperstown as well as dozens of other local community organisations through our workspace Community Fund.

“Our Homeseal insulation business is now widely recognised as the largest insulation installer in Northern Ireland and we look forward to further growth in the year ahead.  Though 2010 was a challenging year for jobs generally, our Network Recruitment business has also performed well and we are confident in its ability to strengthen further.”

Chief Executive Brian Murray said the outlook for 2010/11 was promising.

“Last year was our best on record and though business conditions remain a concern, we are confident that we will report another strong year, with further growth across all our divisions. As always, we look forward to re-investing any of the profits we make into the local community.”