Keepmoat Academy

Keepmoat has established its own Academy to ensure we fully develop the people who will take the business forward in the future.

The Academy develops the management and leadership capacity we need to meet our ambitious growth plans.

Keepmoat already employs more than 3,000 people across the Midlands and North of England - the Academy is a crucial part of our mission to develop the full potential of all our employees.

There are five key components to the Academy's work:

• Recruitment
• Mentoring
• Career Development
• Diploma in Management Studies
• Senior Leadership Programme

Through the Academy, Keepmoat is developing closer links with schools, colleges and universities, as well as providing a more coordinated approach to recruitment. A comprehensive recruitment pack and a web-based recruitment process are now being developed.

A mentoring scheme has been introduced right across the Keepmoat Group to support our people in their developing careers. Mentors are trained by one of Britain's leading mentoring experts, Awaken Consulting. So far, we have more than 50 staff providing formal mentoring to one or more Keepmoat employees.

Our career development programme helps provide an overview of Keepmoat's management and leadership capabilities, as well as the potential of individual employees and builds on our successful succession planning. We aim to ensure that the career aspirations of employees are aligned with the development needs of the business.

Eleven managers, including representatives from our supply chain partners, are studying a two-year Diploma in Management Studies, at Nottingham Trent Business School. The programme, which is being run jointly with a leading food manufacturing business, began with a team development weekend at Lakeside in Cumbria. A key advantage of this joint approach, a fundamental part of Keepmoat's community ethos, is the sharing of skills, knowledge and experience.

Through the Academy, thirty-two senior staff have also completed a bespoke Senior Leadership Programme at Ashridge Business School, one of the top 15 business schools in the world. A further 16 people will start the programme later this year.

Throughout the Keepmoat Group, people of all ages are working towards, or have already achieved, the Construction Skills Certification Scheme card appropriate to their trade or profession. We have established Assessment Centres for On-site Assessment and Training and all members of the workforce who undertake site visits or activities are registered with the scheme - three quarters have already achieved fully carded status.

The Keepmoat Academy is committed to recognising the potential and performance of our people and to using leading edge training and development methods and providers.

The work of the Academy is already bearing fruit, with people from across the group gaining promotion, developing their careers and raising their aspirations for themselves and the company.

The Academy is also helping to attract the highest quality people to Keepmoat.