Team Member Profile: Martyn Rhodes
Today we’d like to introduce Martyn Rhodes, another of our talented workshop employees.
Liverpool FC supporter Martyn joined GS Contracts 6 years ago, at the age of 31 when he was made redundant from his previous job. Fed up of starting over, Martyn decided it was time to learn a trade and so, he found himself in college once a week (with some much younger classmates!) completing an apprenticeship in Bench Joinery and working for GS Contracts, gaining and honing the practical skills for the other 4 days a week.
Martyn did so well and enjoyed the experience so much that he chose to complete a third year too which bagged him an additional advanced craft qualification and a Level 3 NVQ. The apprenticeship was funded through the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and they also helped us to be sure we were supporting Martyn every step along the way.
Martyn is now a skilled and valued member of our joinery team, making desks, cupboards, bars, seating and bespoke pieces for many of our projects. He was the one tasked with remaking the bar for exclusive London café & deli Queens of Mayfair fit-out, which despite being built to spec, came up to almost neck height when actually installed, as the angle of the floor hadn’t been taken into account! Martyn remodelled the piece, which had brass plinths and so couldn’t simply be cut down, and both he and the client were over the moon with the finished article in-situ.
Another favourite job of Martyn’s was building a totally bespoke coffee hut for a client that now sits in Hyde Park – it was made at our joinery workshop, and Martyn vividly remembers that, after weeks of glorious weather, the day the client arrived with a 4 x 4 and a trailer to pick it up, it poured with rain!
- What’s your favourite food? Pizza!
- What’s your favourite material to work in? Walnut
- Which celebrity would you like to have dinner with? Jurgen Klopp
- What’s your favourite ever project so far? Bird Street pop-up units
- What was your favourite subject at school? PE
- What’s your favourite tool? Plunge saw
- What hobby takes up most of your time? Watching, playing and coaching football
- What’s your favourite music to work to? Dance music
- What item would you most like to make if money and time were no object? An entire house to my own specification
- What’s the best thing about working at GS Contracts? The people!
The people, eh? We couldn’t agree more. We’re super proud of our team of visionary designers, talented craftspeople and astute project managers.
Make our team your team. Just give us a call Contact us!