After Gary Williamson of The Panelling Centre, Furry Park was named Branch Manager of the Year at the second annual Chadwicks Appreciation and Recognition Awards (CARAs), Building Ireland touched base with the highly-valued Chadwicks Group stalwart to gauge his reaction.
Celebrating and recognising colleague excellence across Chadwicks Group nationwide, the second annual Chadwicks Appreciation and Recognition Awards ceremony was staged at the Mansion House, Dublin on Friday night, January 26th.
With 350 Chadwicks Group colleagues attending to celebrate the achievements of colleagues, branches and departments across the country, the big winners on the night included Gary Williamson from The Panelling Centre, Furry Park, Santry, who was named Branch Manager of the Year for his commitment to consistently going above and beyond for both his customers and colleagues.
Gary first joined the Chadwicks team in 2000, working his way up the ranks from general operations to branch manager in 2017. He now manages a large, dedicated team of colleagues, all of whom work together tirelessly to ensure that best-in-class customer service is delivered at all times. Indeed, this was also recognised at the inaugural CARAs last year, where The Panelling Centre, Furry Park picked up the prestigious Destination Brand, Branch of the Year award.
Paying tribute to Gary and the twelve other 2024 Chadwicks Appreciation and Recognition Awards recipients, Patrick Atkinson, CEO of Chadwicks Group commented: “At Chadwicks Group our aim is to always provide our customers with excellence from best-in-class customer service to unrivalled product knowledge, and it’s our people that bring that excellence to life. That’s why these awards are so important and are an opportunity to show our appreciation for the people behind the brand. On behalf of Chadwicks Group, I would like to congratulate all of the winners on their well-deserved awards.”
Needless to say, Gary Williamson was delighted when his name was called out as Branch Manager of the Year: “It came as a real surprise to me,” he recalls. “It was a very strong category so I was delighted to get this recognition from Chadwicks Group. It was also wonderful to have so many colleagues from the Furry Park team there too, and its thanks to all my colleague’s that I was put forward for this nomination in the first place, so I thank them for that.
“It’s been a great twelve months in general for The Panelling Centre, Furry Park, starting with the Destination Brand Branch of the Year Award, which was a fantastic achievement. We are very proud of that one and we have the plaque on display at our trade counter.”
The fact that The Panelling Centre, Furry Park came back and won a second successive CARA shows that they are by no means resting on their laurels. To the contrary, they keep striving for improvement. “We are always looking at our performance and aiming to get even better,” Gary confirms. “It’s a new year and we’ll have new goals again – we need to be hitting our targets, acing our audits and to deliver the best possible customer service across the board.”
Ireland’s premier supplier of kitchens, wardrobes, appliances, flooring and wall panelling, The Panelling Centre is part of Chadwicks Group (Ireland’s leading builders merchants, with a network of over 50 branches nationwide). With showrooms in Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Cork and Clare, The Panelling Centre has been supplying kitchens and wardrobes to trade professionals and home owners alike for more than half a century, invariably sourcing the best of Irish and European products to provide a one-stop-shop for all home renovation projects.
Trusted by the trade since 1973, The Panelling Centre’s experts offer the best advice on the latest trends and provide quality products customers can rely on, with more than 30 kitchen styles to choose from across traditional, contemporary and handle-less collections – plus thousands of products across kitchens, wardrobes, appliances, joinery and hardware.
Extensive showrooms nationwide are open to the public as well as trade customers. From kitchen accessories, to flooring and appliances, they carry everything under one roof to create the dream kitchen or interior space. Expert planning advice is available at every branch showroom and also remotely via a user-friendly online design service.
Furry Park is the busiest Panelling Centre branch. “We have 37 people here altogether, between admin, trade sales, showroom sales, stock control, support office and warehousing,” says Gary. “The team are fully behind me and I am 100% behind them. I’ve been here for almost 24 years, having started out when I was only 15 years old, and it has been a very rewarding experience to come up through the various jobs in the business.
“For me to have started here as a young lad and worked my way up to branch manager, it just goes to show the opportunities that are available to those who are prepared to work hard. Chadwicks Group are brilliant for developing and upskilling staff and for genuinely bringing them on in the business based on merit. It’s a fantastic place to work – a very transparent company with excellent career opportunities.”
Indeed, Chadwicks, who have been part of the fabric of everyday life in Ireland for over 200 years, providing building materials to homes and business throughout the country, is recognised as one of Ireland’s Best Workplaces, holding official ‘Great Place to Work’ certification, with Furry Park scoring exceptionally high annually in terms of employee satisfaction.
Customer service – be it tradespeople or home owners – is what really sets The Panelling Centre apart. As well as offering a vast selection of high-quality products at affordable prices, they give each client unbeatable service and personal attention from the first point of contact through to realisation of their dream home improvement project.
“We are a very versatile business with the ability to accommodate all budget needs through our good, better and best range of kitchens & wardrobe solutions,” Gary continues. “We’re here for everybody and we offer a fantastic delivery service daily. On the trade side, we are here to assist and partner with our clients on all their needs and requirements, whether that be a delivery needed in a hurry or help with surveying a site project they are working on, we are here for them. We have excellent trade customers who have been very loyal to our business, some of these clients have been dealing with us for 25 to 30 years.
“On the showroom side, we have customers who have dealt with us over many years too. Not only have they bought kitchens at The Panelling Centre, but their family members and relations and friends have come to us on the back of that, this referral business has been very important to us over the years for sure. The service is fast and efficient. Showroom customers can make an appointment online or in person and its all done through our website www.panellingcentre.ie. We are very proud of the service we offer. We will design and quote a kitchen on the first appointment and our team will follow up and guide the customer through the next steps until the job is complete. We deliver Smart-Fit, pre-assembled kitchens direct to site for our showroom customers too”.
Looking to the future, Chadwicks Group’s personable Branch Manager of the Year says the plan at The Panelling Centre, Furry Park is to keep delivering exceptional standards of customer care: “To stay ahead of the times and continue to set the trend in order to ensure we are one step ahead of the competition – always,” Gary concludes.
“We’ll keep doing what we’re doing and make sure we continue to hit our targets and achieve our goals. One of my priorities is to retain the excellent team we already have and to build on that. We’re very lucky in that we have tremendous longevity in the workforce, with the vast majority of the team here for at least 10-20 years and some for up to 40 years.
“That speaks for itself. People are happy to work here and we are like a family, we work well together and look out for one another, always pushing for excellent results and always making sure to give our customers the best service we possibly can, it’s about being relevant to our customers. All in all, I am very proud of what we have built here in Furry Park and with our people, it’s a great place to work.”
The Panelling Centre,
Furry Park Industrial Estate,
Swords Road,
Dublin 9
Tel: 01 8841111
Mobile: 086 3415575
Email: [email protected]
Web: panellingcentre.ie
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PanellingCentre
This article was published in Building Ireland Magazine, August 2024, Vol 10 No 8
