Latest News from CK Walker Damp & Timbers

The Property Care Association Awards 2023 was a great success. Our Lead Operative Jordan was awarded Highly Commended Employee of the Year.

This is a national award that recognises Jordan as being one of the best employees in the preservation industry.

It was great to finally get back to networking with the preservation and waterproofing industries finest companies. Due to Covid the last couple of Property Care Association Conferences and Award Ceremonies were cancelled.

These events are so important as they allow for best practice to be shared, the opportunity to learn something new and the chance to win an award.

In July 2021, Danny joined our team as an Apprentice Plasterer/ Remedial Technician.

He will be undertaking a plastering apprenticeship through Derby College by attending one day a week. The rest of the time he will be learning new skills with our existing team.

We would like to welcome him to the team.

Not a training course we ever imagined having to take before the start of the COVID-19 panedemic. But as part of our commitment to ensuring the safety of our employees and clients, we have undertaken a course run by CITB on setting up and operating a safe construction site during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This course is designed to help site supervisors ensure that their sites are as safe as possible.

We will be delivering further training to our sites operatives and ensuring that they all have the suitable PPE requried to operate during these unusal times.

In January 2019, we welcomed Jordan to our team as a Remedial Technician/Plasterer.

Jordan has previously worked in the preservation industry so already brings to our team the skills required to undertake his role.

As a company, we will ensure that Jordan continues to be upskilled by supporting him in undertaking further training and qualifications.  He has already been signed up for an NVQ Level 2 in Plastering and the Property Care Association Remedial Technician's Course.

CK Walker Damp & Timbers are proud to be part of the latest Derbyshire Trusted Trader promotional campaign.

We have been involved with promotional videos, radio interviews (BBC Radio Derby & Erewash Sound) and social media posts.

The Trusted Trader scheme has been running fo 10 years and CK Walker Damp & Timbers have been members from the beginning.

More information about our interviews and videos are available on our Media page.

CK Walker Damp & Timbers were very proud to have two of our employees winning awards at this years Property Care Association Conference.

The Property Care Association (PCA) awards are the annual event held after the main conference. The awards are a prestigious affair with independent judges deciding on those who deserve special praise via a coveted PCA award.

This year saw a record number of applications/nominations from the best of the Property Care Association membership.

Three independent judges are responsible for picking the winners.

We are very proud that our employees won the following awards:

David McPeake - Winner 'Employee of the Year'

Paul Walker - Joint Winner - Technician of the Year (Structural Waterproofing)'

We have recently reached over 200 reviews of our company and the works we undertake.

All our reviews have come from Derbyshire Trading Standards Trusted Trader Scheme. This means you can be assured that all our reviews are genuine.

Our next aim is to reach 300 reviews.

If you have the time, you can read through all our reviews on our testimonials page.

CK Walker Damp & Timbers recently undertook some damp proofing works at a property in Allestree, Derby.

A leading manufacturer in the preservation industry Safeguard Europe, who are also one of our main suppliers asked if they could undertake a case study on the works undertaken.

You can read the full Case Study on Safeguard Europes website: http://www.safeguardeurope.com/case-studies/treating-rising-damp

More goods news for David this month.

He has now gained his PCAQT - Property Care Association Qualified Technician in Damp & Timber qualification.

Our newest member of the team David has been awarded Highly Commended Employee of the Year at the 2017 Property Care Association Awards.

Now in its 8th year, the PCA Awards recognise and reward the cream of UK businesses working within our specialist industry.

David has been with us for just over two years and in that short time he has become an invaluable member of the team.

The qualifications keep on rolling in at CK Walker Damp & Timbers.

Our Surveyor Paul has achieved more qualifications by attending training courses and examinations by the Property Care Association:

PCAQTSW - Technician Structural Waterproofing.

CSSW - Certificated Surveyor in Structural Waterproofing.

The CSSW is a nationally recognised professional qualification for individuals involved in diagnosing problems with water entering structures below ground level and who recommend design solutions.

Keeping our staff trained to a high level is very important to us. We believe this demonstrates a proffesional company who want to be the best at what they do.

Recently we were called to Long Eaton Baptist Church to assess the condition of the external brickwork as it was noted that it was deteriorating quite badly.

The church required a solution that would protect the walls for many more years to come but did not want to change the external appearance of the building.

Our Surveyor Paul visited the site and suggested that the walls could be treated with Stormdry water repellent cream.  Stormdry has BBA accreditation and is also the only damp-proofing cream that has been independently shown to not only prevent penetrating damp from rain; but also, enhance the thermal efficiency of walls.

It was proposed that a single coat of Stromdry be applied to the full height of two of the external walls of the church.

The works were carried out on a lovely sunny day by the full CK Walker team. We also had a professional photographer attend during the works to take photos for a case study of the product/works.

You can see the case study for these works on the Safeguard Europe Website.

We are very proud that our Surveyor Paul Walker CSRT received Highly Commended in the Employee of the Year 2015 category at the Property Care Association Awards.

Now in its 6th year, the PCA Awards recognise and reward the cream of UK businesses working within our specialist industry.

The Awards ceremony took place at Girton College – part of Cambridge University – in the evening following the PCA Conference and AGM.

(Picture above shows - Paul Walker CSRT with Steve Hodgson the Chief Executive Officer of the PCA - Photo by the PCA)

A property in Breaston, Derbyshire required the expertise of CK Walker Damp & Timbers recently.

Phil Spencer’s Secret Agent programme contacted us to provide a damp survey to the property in Breaston.

The survey revealed a problem with condensation which was resulting in black mould growth within the property.

After providing a full written survey report we were invited back to take part in the filming of the show.

Our surveyor Paul Walker appeared on camera giving Phil advice on how the property owner could deal with the condensation/mould problem.

The episode has now been aired on Channel 4.

We have recently been featured in an article on the Preservationexpert website about CK Walker Damp & Timbers becoming members of the Property Care Association (PCA).

Bryan Hindle interviewed our Surveyor Paul to ask all about the process CK Walker Damp & Timbers went through to join the PCA.

In the early part of 2015 we became members of the Property Care Association & TrustMark.

Formerly part of the BWPDA (British Wood Preserving and Damp-proofing Association), the PCA is the trade body for the structural and basement waterproofing, wood preservation, damp proofing, wall tie replacement and structural maintenance industries in the UK.

Only companies within the preservation industry which can demonstrate all the strict criteria require by the PCA can join. We had to go through an application stage and undertake a long audit process which involved a visit from a PCA Auditor.

PCA companies are seen as being the cream of the industry which is why we are so proud to have become members. Consumers can be assured that when using a PCA company they can trust that the company has been fully vetted and checked that they employ qualified staff.