In a bold, strategic move, coming out of the pandemic Castle Building Services challenged itself to diversify into the role of principal and specialist fit out contractor, working directly for private and public sector organisations. To enable this move, we have embarked on a rolling recruitment process and invested heavily in training and software, to allow us to operate across multi-discipline projects. We now offer a wider range of services in the capacity of principal and specialist fit out contractor, whilst maintaining our position as MEP contractor.
We have maintained high employee retention, starting 2022 with 44 employees and finishing with 50, and have made a number of significant appointments onto our senior management team. We have also appointed a new managing director, Andrew Dawson, in January 2022, who has been with Castle for 13 years, as we look to futureproof the business.
To bridge the skills gap within the sector, we continue to invest and upskill our team. In line with this, members of each department of our business have undertaken a Passivhaus course and continue to attend forums and seminars. This covers both design and trades personnel. We also have a number of young personnel who are studying with our local universities and colleges and/or, learning their trades via training providers such as PlanBEE.
Three Winning Facts:
- A key achievement has been the diversification of our services to principal and specialist fit out contractor, working directly for private and public sector organisations. Despite difficult economic trading conditions, we are excited about the opportunities presenting themselves in principal contractor roles and have invested in the appropriate staff, training and software, to enable us to operate across multi discipline projects.
- Social value. The local communities in which we operate have always been important to us. We look to give back where we can and encourage our employees to enter local colleges/educational settings to inform young people to consider a career in construction.
As one of the original sponsors of the PlanBEE initiative, we continue to train two apprentices each year who gain full time employment at the company once their training is complete.
By working closely with local colleges, we enable young construction students to gain experience on a live site. An example being students invited onto the project at the Haymarket development in Edinburgh.
We also look to support our supply chain within the projects that we work on and have helped to support a number of regional grass roots sports and charities. - We have embarked on our journey to becoming carbon neutral and are currently migrating our fleet of diesel fuelled company vehicles to a fully electric / hybrid fleet. Our current fleet is 65% fully electric vehicles. We are on target to achieve this by the end of 2023.
Weare also committed to attracting and retaining our team. Our restructuring of the senior management team to help future proof the business with both senior and younger colleagues, has highlighted the progression routes available at Castle Building Services.
