Few industries are as exposed to workforce pressure as construction. Skills shortages are no longer temporary. Retention is a constant concern. The average age of the workforce continues to rise, and as we all well know, you cannot solve structural challenges with surface-level fixes. That’s where culture comes into play. Not as a slogan or a values campaign, but as infrastructure. Something built deliberately and maintained consistently. Something that holds under pressure. The new infrastructure to your organisation. 

Our recognition as a 3 Star World Class employer by Best Companies in 2025 matters because it reinforces a simple truth about our culture: people come first. When we invest in our people, we enhance lives. Stronger teams deliver better outcomes, and better delivery builds confidence and trust.

When people are supported, the impact is visible. Sites are safer. Teams are stronger. Outcomes improve for clients, residents and delivery partners alike. People who feel respected are more likely to stay, develop and take pride in what they do, raising standards as they go.

For construction to attract and retain the next generation, it must offer more than a short-term route into work. It must offer progression, stability and a clear sense of purpose. It must be an industry where people can build lasting careers.

Listening before leading: RE:GEN Solutions

Our people-first approach runs throughout our group from business unit to business unit. During a period of uncertainty across the sector in 2023, we were able to offer continuity of employment to experienced asbestos professionals facing the loss of their roles and livelihoods. By retaining critical skills and protecting people through that moment, we strengthened our teams and, in a small but meaningful way, the industry around us.

RE:GEN Solutions itself emerged from a clear industry need. Across social housing and regeneration programmes, asbestos management was too often fragmented, difficult to track and poorly integrated into wider delivery. Limited visibility placed pressure on programmes and introduced unnecessary risk on site. Today, RE:GEN Solutions delivers asbestos surveying, removal and management as an embedded part of live works. They enable us to provide a comprehensive range of asset compliance and green services across the North of England, drawing on a long service history and a reputation for quality, safety and reliability. By combining technical expertise with investment in digital reporting and compliance systems, we give project teams clearer oversight, stronger control and greater confidence in decision-making, while keeping programmes moving.

The benefits of direct employment: RE:GEN Green

Another significant choice we have made in our journey has been around workforce structure, and the role we believe employers should play in shaping the future of the industry.

In a sector that often relies on fragmented labour models, we have chosen to invest in direct employment and the training of our own trades and operatives through RE:GEN Green. The business was established to deliver retrofit, decarbonisation, M&E, compliance and energy-efficiency works with teams who are directly employed, properly supported and developed for the long term. This approach is not the simplest route. It requires sustained investment, careful planning and a long-term view. But it creates accountability. It builds consistency across programmes. And it strengthens culture on site and beyond it.

Direct employment changes the dynamic of delivery. It allows us to develop skills in line with real demand, rather than relying on short-term labour solutions. It creates space for meaningful progression, higher standards and a deeper sense of ownership. Our teams understand not only the technical requirements of the work, but the responsibility that comes with delivering it in lived-in homes and active communities.

RE:GEN Green plays a critical role in supporting large-scale retrofit and decarbonisation programmes, where quality, safety and consistency are essential. By directly employing the people delivering the work, we can maintain greater control, build stronger relationships with clients and ensure a more reliable experience for residents. This alignment matters, particularly as decarbonisation and retrofit programmes continue to scale nationally and the industry is challenged to deliver more, better and faster, without losing sight of the people involved. 

But to do this, you need a solid training model. 

Where challenges arise, we create pathways: RE:GEN Academy

Every serious conversation about the future of construction eventually comes back to skills. The industry faces an ageing workforce at the same time as demand continues to grow, while too often the communities experiencing regeneration see little direct access to the opportunities created around them. RE:GEN Academy exists to close that gap. As the skills, training and social impact arm of the RE:GEN Group, the Academy connects people, employers and opportunity, creating clear, employer-led pathways into construction that align with live programmes and long-term demand. 

Working across our clients and supply chain, the Academy supports young people entering the industry for the first time, alongside adults reskilling or returning to work. Its focus is practical and people-centred: training that leads to jobs, with 74% of all learners progressing directly into employment, including residents living within the very communities being regenerated. Beyond employment outcomes, the Academy helps rebuild confidence, wellbeing and pride, ensuring regeneration delivers lasting impact for a growing NEET population.

A flagship element of our positive impact is the “Beyond the Doorstep” training programme. Developed in response to customer feedback and sector need, this bespoke initiative focuses on the lived experience of residents during refurbishment works. Co-created with believe housing, independently consulted on by TPAS, and endorsed as CPD by NOCN, the programme goes beyond technical competence to address behaviour, empathy and respect. Delivered in a fully immersive, life-like setting, the training equips operatives and customer-facing staff with the skills to communicate effectively, recognise vulnerability, challenge unconscious bias and uphold dignity in occupied homes. 

By improving everyday interactions, handling complaints early, and promoting safety and duty of care, the programme directly reduces stress and anxiety for residents during works. For staff, it improves confidence, emotional intelligence and job satisfaction, contributing to better mental wellbeing and safer working practices.

A collective responsibility

Progress rarely happens in isolation. In construction, it is shaped through collaboration across contractors, housing providers, professional bodies and policymakers, and through a willingness to share experience, challenge the norm and raise standards together.

That is why we remain actively engaged in industry forums and networks, particularly where delivery insight can help shape stronger standards, clearer skills pathways and more effective policy conversations.

Looking ahead, the industry will be asked to do more. Meeting that challenge will require sustained investment, deeper collaboration and a renewed focus on people. At RE:GEN, we are ready to play our part. With the right people behind us, and a long-term commitment to supporting them properly, the future of construction does not need to be defined by a people problem, but by a people opportunity.