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Winner

The Chartered Surveyor’s Training Trust
The Chartered Surveyor’s Training Trust (CSTT) stood out in this category for its efforts to open the surveying profession to individuals from all backgrounds and provide an alternative to graduate recruitment. It does this by helping young people from underprivileged und underrepresented groups enter prestigious apprenticeships and offering financial support for their surveying qualifications. Candidates develop through a revision programme, which assesses the trainees in bi-monthly appraisal meetings.

The success of in recruiting from these groups is evident in the figures: out of its current trainees, 9% are women, 27% come from ethnic minority groups and 5% are disabled – and these numbers are well above industry norms.

The CSTT works with industry’s biggest names, such as Balfour Beatty, EC Harris and Wates, and the training initiative has a high success rate, with over 90% of students progressing beyond the apprenticeship and onto a degree.

Runners-up

Faithful + Gould
Trainees on Faithful + Gould’s graduate programme beat national APC pass rates by 15% this year, with over 95% passing the exams. This triumph is because of the commitment of its graduate development team, a group of eight busy surveyors who take time out of their day jobs to coordinate the scheme. With 150 graduates, 85 supervisors and 50 counsellors – a fifth of Faithful + Gould’s entire staff – involved in the programme, managing it is no mean feat.

The graduate community is highly diverse, with 20% female, a variety from non-cognitive degree backgrounds and candidates from across the world. Furthermore, clients have been so impressed with the scheme that some have asked if their staff can join it.

Maitland QS
This firm aims to address the lack of M&E knowledge by training the QSs in this subject for the whole industry. It does this through courses designed to allow both employees and clients to develop specific knowledge in mechanical and electrical surveying without the need for qualification in a building services degree. For example, its building services technology course is delivered over a four-day period and uses interactive methods to deliver the information.

The measurement course concentrates on basic principles to ensure students can develop more complex skills with ease. It is also committed to supporting its employees by sponsoring various training courses – this year it sent almost 30% of its staff on further education schemes.

Sponsored by:

Sponsor

The GF Partnership specialises in providing commercial support primarily to main contractors. Our team of 75 surveyors & consultants can support all stages of a construction project; from pre-contract BOQ preparation to post-contract on-site quantity surveyor support, review and advice on contractual issues, dispute avoidance and dispute resolution.

As a company, we place great importance on site personnel training, CPD and guiding our surveyors through their RICS APC studies. We are delighted to sponsor the QS Awards and the ‘Best Training Initiative’ category as we believe such an event highlights the importance of the QS role and may assist in attracting people to enter the profession.