Leiths

James Allen – Montrose

James has worked in the precast industry for 25 years since he left school.

Over the past couple of years, James has been training to take over foreman duties in the factory at Montrose and in 2015 he officially became Foreman of the team. He has enjoyed the new responsibilities that the job has brought, including the volumetric mixer which was installed early in 2015. 

There have been a lot of improvements at Montrose Precast this year, the housekeeping has improved drastically, in both the factory and the yard which has been complimented by customers and delivery drivers entering the site.  New systems have been put in place to reduce the risk of workplace accidents and a new Daily Brief Scheme to improve communication between factory and office which has notably improved a lot of aspects of the day to day running of the Precast.  A ‘3 positives a week’ plan was also introduced recently and seems to improve attitude to work throughout precast.

James feels he has a good team behind him at Montrose, open to change and modernisation to keep constantly improving. He says “things have changed a lot since I started in this factory when it was owned by Robert Pert, it was a small local business. Since Leiths took over it has expanded and changed for the better”.   

James also helps make the work programme for the factory alongside the office; this has created a massive improvement at Montrose. He has also made a good bond with a lot of regular customers at Montrose, they will often ask James for advice and have complimented him on his skills and on quality of items.

James has been married for 10 years to wife Donna, and has two young children, Emma, 6 and Jamie, 5.  He is a Rangers fan and enjoys going to games when he can. He enjoys spending time with his family and taking his children for walks at the weekends.

Scott Grant – Lochton

Scott Grant has worked for Leiths since leaving school and has recently been promoted to Workshop Supervisor at Lochton Precast in Banchory. Whilst growing up and living with his family in Montrose, Scott attended Montrose Academy.  In 2004, he was given the opportunity to train as a Joiner with Leith’s. This started his career with Leith’s where he trained as an Apprentice Joiner aged 16. Alongside his apprenticeship, he studied at Aberdeen Gallowgate obtaining his SVQ level 3 in Carpentry & Joinery. Now, aged 28 and working up through the ranks, Scott has progressed to Workshop Supervisor at Lochton.

Scott is an amateur musician in his spare time, writing and playing his own music.  He is a guitarist with local Montrose band called “If all Else Fails”, who last year supported Ash, a well-known Rock Group and Scott can be seen playing with his band in and around venues within Angus.

Scott is also a dedicated family man who lives with his partner, Samantha, and her daughter Amae, aged 4.  They currently live in Dundee but are looking to move to Montrose in the future.