Inspiring Change in the Community 2016 – London Highways Academy of Excellence
This ground-breaking pre-apprenticeship programme, developed with contractor FM Conway and the Worshipful Company of Paviors, has genuine equality of opportunity attracting candidates from diverse backgrounds ranging from homelessness through to first class civil engineering degrees. Candidates are given structured support to overcome some of the barriers that would otherwise prevent candidates from completing courses. This has led to a high rate of completions, which have subsequently been converted into apprenticeships and other jobs, helping to meet the industry’s future skills requirements. Inspiring Change in Education 2016 – Esh Construction – Build My Skills Esh Construction is a North East-based contractor that has taken an industry-leading approach to engagement with schools in its area. Rather than work alone, it has attracted more than 100 other businesses to work with it, going into schools to provide sessions with industry speakers, mock interviews and work placements. In the last year alone more than 9,000 school children have been through the Build My Skills system, each meeting with six different employers to get a taste of construction and other sectors. Inspiring Change in the Workplace 2016 - Joint Winner: John Graham Construction The judges saw the work that Graham had undertaken to build a culture of fairness, inclusion and respect within the business was industry-leading, with leadership from managing director level down through the business and out into the supply chain. FIR Champions at all levels in the business drove rapid changes in the company’s approach, leading to benefits including a significant uplift in recruitment from under-represented groups, a massive reduction in staff absenteeism and more than £100 million in business from new customers. Inspiring Change in the Workplace 2016 - Joint Winner: Balfour Beatty Balfour Beatty’s LGBT Affinity Network is seen as an exemplar of what a company can do to inspire change not only in their workplace but in workplaces across the sector. Since its launch in 2014 the network has doubled in size and is supporting Balfour Beatty’s efforts to deliver its three Diversity Blueprint strategy. The network works with counterparts at other leading construction businesses to increase visibility of LGBT issues across the sector, as does its work with Stonewall and the Considerate Contractors Scheme to develop LGBT toolbox talks. Inspiring Change – SME Award 2016 – JT Mackley The judges chose to commend JT Mackley as an SME business in the sector that was taking a genuinely innovative approach to the challenge of students who might otherwise drop out of civil engineering courses in their first year. The company is providing real-life insight for first year students to demonstrate the reality of the industry as a counterpoint to the theoretical elements learned on their course. |
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You can download details of all the entrants to the inaugural CECA Inspiring Change Awards here: