Meet our Travel & Reception Lead - Ursula McParland

Ursula joined Alternative Heat Ltd 6.5 years ago, initially as Receptionist, before being promoted to Senior Receptionist, and most recently to our Travel and Reception Lead.

 We recently caught up with Ursula to learn more about her journey with AH:

 “Joining AH was a complete career change from the motor industry, where I previously worked.  I have always loved being front of house and building relationships with employees and clients. With the continued growth of AH, I could see that there was progression opportunities within the company and during my time with the company I have been promoted to Senior Receptionist and more recently Travel & Reception Lead.’’

 “Within the Senior Receptionist current role, I didn’t only look after the day-to-day responsibilities of reception, I also booked the travel for the entire company and sub-contractors. As our teams and number of projects continued to increase, I was promoted to Travel and Reception lead. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to manage the Reception team, while developing the company’s inhouse travel requirements to the highest possible standard.”

 “Travel from when I first started with the company until now has rapidly expanded from travel requirements within the UK and Ireland only to multiple destinations throughout Europe to include Paris, Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. This initially was a challenge not being familiar with these destinations in relation to understanding the airlines that fly here and the locations of our sites for sorting out accommodation; car hire; and local amenities overviews for our teams, however, overcoming these challenges and overseeing positive outcomes has been a great achievement for me personally.’’

 “As Travel Lead for the company, I thrive to know and understand the needs and requirements for each individual traveller, as I know this significantly helps them to settle into their new project location and will ultimately benefit the job’s performance. I enjoy going above and beyond to achieve this.”

 “The role plays a critical part in the success of all travel arrangements throughout the company.

Within the role I book everything from scheduling flights to ground transportation (car hire/taxi, carparks) and fast track security. I look after all accommodation requirements from hotel bookings close to each site or, for any rotational employees, I look for a more home from home feel apartment/house, to ensure everyone is happy.”

 “The rapport and relationships I have gained with booking the travel with employee’s, clients, hotels, and landlords has giving me great satisfaction especially looking after my boys i.e. the guys in Contracts have given me the nickname of their ‘Work Mum’ as I will go above and beyond to ensure all is in order for when they are travelling and away on site.”