Yorkshire and Lincolnshire construction firm, Hobson & Porter’s, latest award win means the firm has achieved a hat-trick of people development awards in just over a year.
Hobson & Porter has been awarded the Employer Commitment to Development (over 50 employees) Award at the Yorkshire & Humber Generation for Change (G4C) Awards, which recognise the best of young talent in the construction and built environment sector and the companies that support, mentor and shape their professional development.
The judges applauded the firm’s approach to employee development and its pioneering Foundations Programme, which promotes and enhances careers in the construction, engineering and built environment sectors.
As well as the ongoing Foundations initiatives that run throughout the year, Hobson & Porter also organises the hugely popular Foundations Live event which will take place this week at Bishop Burton College on 19th October and there’s still time to register to attend.
The free event will attract over 70 exhibitors and hundreds of visitors, including dozens of schools and colleges, as well as employers, suppliers, trade organisations and industry professionals to network and discover further opportunities available in the sector.
David Blades from Hobson & Porter, said: “It’s a credit to all our team, supply chain partners, consultants and education partners that we have won a third award for our commitment to people development and our Foundations Programme.”
In 2022 Hobson & Porter won both the regional and national People Development Awards at the Constructing Excellence in Yorkshire & Humberside (CEYH) Awards. David added: “We formalised the Foundations Programme back in 2016, creating a totally unique initiative for our sector in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, which has become hugely successful, helping to address the huge skills shortages in our industry.
“We started the Foundations Programme following the realisation that the industry skills problem is much larger and more diverse than main contractors like us, could ever overcome by just promoting our own apprenticeships or training programmes.
“The Foundations Programme is for the greater good of the industry as a whole and it continues to grow and diversify year-on-year, with an over-arching emphasis upon creating real and tangible links between potential candidates, ourselves and most importantly our supply chain. It’s crucial that we help address the skills shortages in our supply chain and subcontractors too, as more than 90% of our subcontractors are SMEs or Micro-SMEs, without the resources to promote themselves to potential employees.”
As well as the ongoing Foundations initiatives that run throughout the year, Hobson & Porter also organises the hugely popular Foundations Live event every October. This year’s event will attract over 70 exhibitors and hundreds of visitors, including dozens of schools and colleges. The event welcomes employers, suppliers and trade organisations exhibiting to hundreds of students and attracts industry professionals to network and discover further opportunities available in the sector.
In addition to attracting new people into the industry via the Foundations Programme, Hobson & Porter also invests six-figures every year in the continuous training and development of its 120 strong team, which spans everything from NVQ-level qualifications through to full-funded masters degrees, each delivered via a bespoke training plan.
