Sophie Williams, Commercial Manager, shares:
“Our team are primarily based in Manchester, and support each of Morson Projects business divisions with all of their commercial requirements.
“Morson Projects’ offering to clients covers a vast number of sectors such as Aerospace, Defence, Power, Nuclear, Rail and Residential, and is always evolving in-line with our client’s needs. As a result of this, no two years are the same. This provides our team with an array of different projects to assist with in a Commercial capacity, ensuring an interesting variety of tasks and exposure to new and different industry sectors.
“The Commercial department is a central business function; with the team being responsible for generating weekly departmental payroll reports, monthly invoice and charge out instructions, weekly cost trackers, managing and updating the project management database and assisting the Project Managers with any other reporting needs.
“We work closely with other internal enabling departments such as Accounts, Administration and IT, which generates effective collaboration across the business and gives great team morale. The team are very close knit; with many team members having worked for Morson Projects for a number of years. We always support each other and pull together in challenging, busy periods – whilst making sure we still have some fun in the office!”
We interviewed some of the team to find out more about their roles and what they enjoy most about their jobs:
Hannah Worden, Senior Commercial Officer
Has worked at Morson Projects for 6.5 years and is currently studying for a BSc in Quantity Surveying at the University of Salford. She is due to graduate this year (Summer 2022) and her course has been fully funded for 5 years by Morson Projects.
What does your our day-to-day role entail?
Each day is different, but as an example, some of the key tasks I complete are:
- Reporting the weekly spend against various projects across all of the Morson Projects divisions both internally and externally
- Preparing and submitting invoices / payment applications for said projects
- More recently I have been supporting our Power department as appointed Junior Quantity Surveyor on their larger projects – this involves reviewing contracts, submitting the required commercial documents and liaising with the clients in relation to variations and project costings in general
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
I love the varied nature of the role and the clear route for progression following graduation. I also work within a great team who all support each other on a daily basis to ensure we achieve our goals and deadlines.
Hollie Miles, Commercial Officer
Hollie has worked at Morson Projects for 6 months and has just been accepted onto a Business Management with Logistics & Supply Chain Management degree at Edge Hill University, which is being funded by Morson Projects.
What does your our day-to-day role entail?
On Monday’s we do payroll, I process the timesheets for some of our Aerospace and Power teams. I produce hours/cost trackers for internal and external use. We set up new jobs and keep track of overspending.
The rest of the week/month is varied, but as a general rule the first week of the month we do invoicing, the second week is invoicing breakdowns, the third week is catching up on paperwork and other tasks, then the fourth/fifth week(s) are spent preparing for month end.
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
The Commercial department are a pivotal point within the company as we work closely with a lot of areas of the business – Accounts for payroll and invoicing; Project Managers for job creation, budgets, cost trackers and invoicing, Business Development for quotes. I enjoy that everyday is different and we get to see a lot of different aspects of the business within our role. Also, everyone is so friendly!
Ruth Scruton, Commercial Administration Manager
Ruth has worked at Morson Projects for 6 years, starting out as a Commercial Administrator before being promoted to Administration Manager. Ruth naturally takes on the role of a supportive mentor within the team and is pivotal in overseeing payroll and administration tasks carried out by everyone.
What does your our day-to-day role entail?
My role is very varied, but as an example, core tasks include keeping commercial tasks up to date, trackers, payroll, team tasks, our internal timesheet system and our internal Project Information Management System (PIMS) input/output.
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
The people who I work with and in particular the people in my team are definitely one of the favourite parts about my role, it’s also especially rewarding to see a rise in profit on a monthly/annual basis and knowing that we have contributed significantly to that.
Phil Scanlan, Senior Commercial Officer
Phil has worked at Morson Projects for 2.5 years, during his time with the business he has been studying for his self-funded Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) qualification. Phil took a break from this during COVID, but is looking to pick it up again this year.
What does your our day-to-day role entail?
Key tasks for me as a Senior Commercial Officer include managing commercial aspects of projects and departments throughout the business. this includes invoicing, time bookings and associated costs as well as reporting relevant information back to the decision makers within the business.
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
Getting to experience and learn about a wide array of different areas of the business all within one role.
Bonita Whysall, Commercial Office Manager
Bonita joined our Waldeck division in 2013, working as an Office Manager for our Peterborough office, since Waldeck’s acquisition by Morson Projects, Bonita has become a valued member of the wider Commercial team.
What does your our day-to-day role entail?
Day to day, I am responsible for the commercial administration for all of the Waldeck disciplines; Architecture, Digital, Civil & Structural Engineering and Mechanical & Electrical Building Services Design, this involve processing new quotes and new jobs on our internal Project Information Management System (PIMS). I also look after the Waldeck side of our timesheet system which is where all staff create and submit their timesheets, this is mainly checking and approving timesheets, updating projects lists and creating weekly payroll reports. I also deal with our internal Forecast Workbook for all projects and this has to be updated most days. I am also responsible for the invoicing requests for all of Waldeck’s disciplines at the end of each month.
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
It is a very varied job and I keep a list of all of my tasks as there is so much involved with the role. I am always extremely satisfied at the end of each day when I tick off what I have managed to get done that day!
Sam Jakeman, Projects Finance Administrator
Sam joined our team in Italy in June 2014 for Morson’s SRL division, which later became part of Morson Projects in 2016. Sam then moved back to UK in January 2018 to start working in our Yeovil Office.
What does your our day-to-day role entail?
My role includes invoicing and payroll support for our Italian office on a monthly basis, as well as project management using our Project Information Management System (PIMS) to check and update jobs when values have been reached. Tasks also include producing and filing paperwork and purchase orders for the Italian jobs and keeping trackers of all costs and invoices updated.
In addition to this I also look after payroll for the UK on a weekly basis every Monday and invoicing at the end of month. The rest of the time is spent catching up on paperwork and using our Project Information Management System (PIMS) to check and update jobs when values have been reached and keeping trackers of all costs and invoices updated
What do you find most rewarding about your role?
The role is varied, especially working alongside the Italian office. It’s also rewarding seeing how things can progress throughout the year!
Like what you hear and think you might be interested in joining our team?
If you, or anyone you know might be interested in joining our team, please follow the links below to view our current vacancies: