Willmott Dixon, the UK’s leading privately owned construction and interior fit-out company, has announced that it is formally launching a much-needed mentoring scheme in Wales having trialled it in 2018.

Working alongside Inspire2Work and Communities for Work, Willmott Dixon’s scheme aims to enhance the personal and professional development of young people and adults through the provision of training. This includes Health and Safety, CSCS (Construction Skills Certification Scheme) and life skills including mock interviews, application support and team building exercises.

Willmott Dixon, which employs a 140-strong workforce at its Cardiff Bay office and 290 people across Wales and South West England, has worked with job centres and partner training schemes across Wales to identify eligible individuals to support on local projects including the Taff Vale redevelopment project in Pontypridd.

The move has come following an initial trial which took place in Rhondda Cynon Taf last summer. The trial resulted in 36 participants, 86% of which passed and gained a CSCS qualification and 47% went on to gain employment.

Willmott Dixon is committed to providing opportunity to long term unemployed and those struggling to find employment. In 2018, the company supported just shy of 450 individuals across Wales.  This included 55 long-term unemployed workers, 234 apprentices and 156 work experience individuals from local communities across Wales.

Those signing up to the programme will be with Willmott Dixon for between 5 and 10 days and will have the chance to experience a mix of classroom style working and practical on-site experience.

Neal Stephens, Managing Director for Willmott Dixon Wales and South West, says:

“At Willmott Dixon, we’re committed to providing opportunity for those in need for employment, as demonstrated by our recent Queens Award for Enterprise. This scheme was developed by Kimberley Sweet-Roberts, one of our community liaison managers in our social value team, to address the ongoing skills shortage that the UK is facing.  As a result, the social value team will be working hard to educate people on what an exciting industry construction can be. As a business, we feel deeply rooted in the Wales, and hope that this new initiative will not only support the industry, but the local community too. It’s important to us to be able to give something back.”