Halcrow Pensioners Reunion in Edinburgh

Halcrow Pensioners Reunion in Edinburgh (Photos below)

Reported by Vic Scott

The Scottish biennial reunion took place as planned at The Royal Overseas Club in Princes Street on Saturday 6th Oct. About 30 pensioners gathered on a beautiful sunny day with a view to the castle which provided regular cannon fire from the battlements (I don’t know why). After chatter and a delicious lunch, Brian Shelton, Commercial Financial Director of CH2MHILL Europe, addressed the group and spoke on CH2MHILL’s global role, the similarity of CH2/Halcrow philosophy and the potential strength and reach of the combination. He mentioned some of their current major work such the London Olympics and the Panama Canal expansion. He pulled no punches on the precarious financial state of Halcrow at takeover, even worse than they had expected, and indicated that Halcrow were still not operating at a profit. This is expected to be turned around in the near term and CH2 remain committed and optimistic of a successful future. Brian indicated that in the course of time he expected that the Halcrow name would be subsumed into the CH2MHILL brand. He left me, as a pensioner, feeling more secure in CH2 hands.

Paula Gibbons, our Pensions Manager and secretary to the Trustees, tested us on pensioner statistics in the form of a quiz e.g. oldest pensioner (98 years), youngest pensioner (8 years), pensioners on email (75%). Winners were awarded high quality Halcrow branded prizes (before stock becomes obsolete). Derek Pollock, chairman of HPS Trustees, brought us up to date on HPS investment strategy and we inferred the difficult role of the Trustees over the last year. He confirmed that all this year’s payments to HPS, as formerly scheduled by Halcrow, have been met by CH2 including the scheduled 2012 increase. (ref. HPS 2011 Report--It is unlikely that Halcrow would have been able to meet these payments). Finally, Neil Johnstone, Halcrow Director for continental Europe, also an HPS Trustee, had kindly agreed to speak to us for the third successive Scottish reunion and described the scope of his European role and some the interesting projects he is involved in.

A vote of thanks by Vic Scott to the speakers and to Roy and Ann Dargie for organising the event concluded formalities and after a bit more blethering and agreement that the reunion had been a great success the company dispersed looking forward to meeting again in 2014.

 Photos of the reunion (click on photos to enlarge)