Applebridge Construction are a Civil Engineering and Groundworks contractor who have demonstrated a controlled expansion within the workforce, both in the North East and Yorkshire, within the past year. We have been committed to the upskilling of current staff through professional development and training and promoting from within, with 80 staff enrolled onto programmes. Both our Commercial and Construction teams have expanded to deal with our growth, the company now has a Head of Commercial and a Construction Manager for both the North East and Yorkshire regions.
We have also launched a construction-based education facility: The Applebridge Academy to provide construction opportunities to people across the North East and Yorkshire. Our aim is to provide a facility and support structure to recruit the next generation of Applebridge, whilst offering re-skilling and employment opportunities to candidates from outside of the industry, as well as upskilling programmes to our existing staff. We recently launched a nine-day sector-based programme with MFC Foundation to give youth a direct route in a career in construction.
We have invested in a bespoke built task management ‘Applebridge App’ and I-pads for each site, to transform the way in which Quality Assurance, site controls and Health & Safety are managed on site.
To keep up to date with technological advancements and sustain project demand, whilst ensuring the safety of our staff, we have invested over £3million in new pioneering plant and machinery. We have welcomed D6 dozers with satellite and GPS control, a tractor unit with a Noteboom trailer whilst investing in purpose-built bowsers and an in-house fuelling station.
We have secured a Tier 1 contract with Virgin Media to design, install, and commission new Telecoms and Fibre Infrastructure. We are the only regional contractor who is NERS, WIRS, GIRS and MURS accredited and by working in partnership with our Civils division, our joint capacity will replace the need for a third-party contractor, making Applebridge the regions only civil engineering contractor able to deliver a full, turnkey, in-house, below-ground solution. This will see us create a further 50 staff positions including 10 trainee and apprentice roles. We will be also undertaking further office modernisation and extensions to cater for our growth.
Last year, we supported our local community, along with the MFC Foundation, to prepare and distribute free school meals to those families in need during the Covid-19 crisis. We worked with local companies to ensure the correct requirements were in place; we hired specialist vans from ‘Icicle fridge vans’ in Bedale, used local sign company; Sign Design to wrap them, invited our employees to help rack out the insides to accommodate the trays and encouraged our employees to become distribution drivers. Our employees, including our Managing Director, and their families became volunteers in their own time; helping to cook and package the meals for distribution. Alongside our time and organisation, we also donated £40,000 to the cause. Our commitment to charity, saw us crowned Winners of the Outstanding Charity of the Year for Small to Medium Size Companies award at the North-East Charity Awards.
To ensure staff were regularly updated with company news during the Covid-19 pandemic, we released weekly covid bulletins, quarterly internal and external newsletters and became more active on social media, sharing staff and company achievements, new projects, investments, and visions for the year ahead.
