Youth is playing a key role, writes Anthony Harrington

Many developers in the construction sector are looking at a reasonably profitable 2016, after a number of difficult years. Brexit, of course, cast a real, if momentary, shadow across the sector as many thought that investment and commissions would dry up under all the uncertainty. However, so far, Brexit has not been more than a rather short lived bump in the road and building appears to be continuing as normal.

One of the big, and more enduring fears with Brexit, however, has to do with recruitment. Many think that the real problems ahead are likely to be where to find the skilled trades to carry through the projects that are bound to open up as and when the improvement in the UK economy becomes more widespread. With immigration likely to be at least a difficult topic as the UK negotiates its exit from Europe, companies could struggle to get the skilled European trades people that the sector needs.

However, one firm to have found its own, unique solution to the construction sector’s perennial labour issues is Ashleigh Building. The company’s managing director, David Smith, emphasises that the firm puts a very strong emphasis on "growing its own" across all the roles in the company.

"One of the unique features of our company – and it goes to our extremely high staff retention rate – is that no one needs to feel that they are limited to the role they are currently fulfilling.

"If I look around our top table, many of the managers there came up through the ranks as trades people, and then as assistant project managers and project managers. We really are all about giving people scope to grow their potential and their talent and we pay a huge amount of attention to the entry level positions in the company," he says.

Ashleigh’s focus on securing the best talent right at the entry level goes beyond its thriving modern apprenticeship programme, into the sustained effort the company puts into its outreach programme. This involves senior staff engaging with the community through primary and secondary schools, as well as at further education colleges and universities, in order to alert young people to what Smith sees as the excellent prospects available in a career in construction.

"We currently have some 24 apprentices in our apprenticeship programme, including trades and professional apprentices, all at various stages, from year one to year four. We put a huge amount of time and effort into the development of our young work force and it really has been paying off," he says.

However, the work the firm has been putting in among high school and primary school pupils has been really exciting, Smith notes. "We are now at the point where we are seeing people applying for our apprenticeship courses who have done work experience placements with us, or who have been through our mock "training" interviews and careers talks.

"So this makes it a real no-brainer for us to approve their applications. We already know them and know the caliber of person we are getting. We know they can go far in the company and it is a delight to welcome them onboard," he says.

The apprentices have also been playing a role in the company’s community and social commitment initiative. "We recently sent a couple of apprentices to build a four metre high permanent wigwam for a local school for autistic children. That was extremely well received and the lead apprentice there showed real project management skills and potential," Smith says.

2016 has turned out to be an excellent year for the company, and Smith says that the outlook for the next 12 months is at least as good. "One of our core activities is building homes for the social housing sector. A number of the big housing associations have quite large budgets that they are committed to and we have developed a very strong reputation in this sector over recent years. As a result we have been awarded a number of large projects that we are already active on," Smith comments.

In addition, the company has secured a number of wins for construction projects from local authorities for schools and community projects. Plus it is also involved in some student residential work.

"We have created a fantastic reputation for quality over the last five years and the amount of opportunities that we are now getting in Glasgow, Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway means that we have been able to bring projects back to our core areas. We are no longer having to have teams travel for hours to go to projects, which is a real help," he adds.

The confidence in the future pipeline has led to the company going ahead with building new offices for itself in both Dumfries and Prestwick. As Smith notes, this is a powerful signal to clients of the firm’s commitment to the regions, as well as a testimony to its confidence in the future.

Smith points out that last year the company turned over some £36 million, with a staff of 140 employed directly, supplemented through our tried and trusted supply chain.

"We are in a very good place right now, with a full order book, and the challenge today is to deliver on the contracts we have entered into," he comments.

Typical of the projects Ashleigh has been involved in in recent months are a number of Education projects for East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire, sheltered accommodation for North Ayrshire and large affordable housing developments for Cunninghame Housing Association Ltd and Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association.

Smith is also proud of his recent appointment in the role of Chair of the Developing the Young Workforce Ayrshire (DYW) which reflects his own personal views alongside those of Ashleigh.

"Having been involved with the DYW since its inception I was honoured to be asked to take the role. I believe that every successful organisation has an ethical obligation and moral responsibility in the provision of opportunities for our up and coming talent".