Novus is delighted to have been shortlisted for two Construction News Workforce Awards for both the Best Place to Work and CSR Initiative of the Year categories!
These prestigious awards recognise the outstanding achievements of those striving to make the construction industry and their organisations a great place to work. The awards will bring together the brightest workforce talent and recognise those making a difference in recruitment, workforce development, wellbeing, diversity, inclusion and more.
Best Place to Work – Contractor Award
As a family-owned contractor, we have always taken a people-centric approach to doing business. In 2021, we implemented several initiatives – both internally and externally – to include growth and development targets for all employees and further create an inclusive and supportive working environment for all, regardless of identity and background.
From the formation of our Women in Novus network and the introduction of a new Menopause Policy, to proudly supporting LGBTQ+ charity projects and an award-winning internal communications strategy throughout the pandemic, we truly embody our position as a forward-thinking ‘21st century’ contractor.
It is through this and our core values that we have been shortlisted for The Best Place to Work – Contractor award at the Construction News Workforce Awards.
Commenting on our commitment to creating an inclusive and diverse culture and workforce – in particular the WiN network – Lee Hartley, Executive Director and our Board Sponsor for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion has said: “The WiN Network is truly inclusive, extending its reach beyond office-based female colleagues, or those on leadership paths, to tackle common issues affecting women and other underrepresented groups. Making paths to career progression for women is a laudable goal – but we cannot ignore more prosaic barriers, such as lack of inclusive PPE and welfare facilities on site. The WiN network takes a root and branch approach to creating a culture of equality and inclusivity across every level of Novus and for that its leaders, members, and allies deserve every credit. WiN’s power also comes from each member making a personal pledge to address an issue identified by female colleagues, so we have a bottom-up perspective on what needs to change.
“By taking on issues including menopause symptoms and flexible annual leave for carers, WiN deals with the reality of women’s lives –making it significantly easier for women to progress and succeed in the workplace, regardless of role or ambition. With prominent women like Non-Executive Director Sophie Seddon Hall, Claire Bailey-Jones and Aine Girn championing the cause, internally and externally, junior members of our team can interact with viable and inspirational role models to help them fulfil their potential.”
CSR Initiative of the Year
Being shortlisted for the CSR Initiative of the Year Award recognised our commitment to being a responsible business and a force for good. In response to the Covid-19 outbreak, we partnered with Business in the Community to launch our Build Back Better initiative in early 2021. The initiative combines contract-based social value projects and regular additional challenges, and sees us donate time, labour, materials and money to deserving causes across Great Britain with a particular focus on the themes of reducing poverty, good health and wellbeing, and environmental action.
Since its launch, our Build Back Better scheme has seen us complete 197 projects, benefitting 5,100 people and delivering £1.87 million of social value.
Hendrix Lancaster, CEO at Coffee4Craig – the first recipient of the Build Back Better Challenge donation – has said: “As a benefactor of support from Novus I was very impressed with Novus’ culture – all the Novus team I met were a pleasure to have involved in our Homeless Project, and as a charity we really appreciated that Novus listened to what we wanted and then made it happen. This may seem like a straightforward thing but so many businesses have their own agenda and dictate to us what they want. With Novus this was not the case, and from start to finish they only had one aim which was to help solve some of our challenges, which the refurbishment of key areas of our centre did.”
Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons Trust’s Executive Director Lukasz Konieczka added: “We are a small charity with very limited resources, which is why we’re so grateful that Novus is serious about aiming to make a real difference in the community. These repair works would have been close to impossible for us to fund given the current climate and considering the health and safety risks we would have had to close the centre – but thankfully Novus came to the rescue.”
The Construction News Workforce Awards will be held on Tuesday 8th November at Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
