3:27pm Thursday 4th September 2008
By Richard Garfield
AN UNDER-UTILISED building in Basingstoke has been transformed into a national training centre for one of the country's largest privately-owned construction companies.
Willmott Dixon Group, which has had an office at Elmwood, in Chineham Business Park, for 20 years, has transformed a spacious two-storey unit into a new facility to train its 3,000 staff from around the UK.
Rick Willmott, chief executive of the Hertfordshire-based company, told visiting colleagues and guests, who were at the centre's opening on Monday, that the unit had pretty much been vacant and that he asked for it to be put to good use.
Subsequently, the company decided to turn it into a training centre, offering leadership development, which will be on offer to new managers and those at board level, technical training for surveyors and site people, as well as a full range of IT and software application training, plus health and safety training.
The training centre will also be made available for other local businesses to use at discounted rates.
Speaking at the launch, Mr Willmott said: "I'm delighted that the unit has been brought back into working life.
"Its space and location made it suitable to house our dedicated national training facility. It has taken five weeks to carry out the transformation and it was completed on time and on budget."
"We spent £1million last year on training staff who, on average, spent four days training," added Mr Willmott. "Often, the first thing that gets cut during a period of recession or economic downturn is training, but we are bucking the trend here. We need to keep people to be the best place to work in the building sector."
The company won high praise from the Deputy Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane, Councillor Brian Gurden, who cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.
Cllr Gurden said: "I'm overjoyed to see the opening of a new training centre in the Basingstoke area and it is something that I feel is fundamentally wonderful."
Cllr Gurden praised Willmott Dixon for empowering its employees, allowing them the opportunity to discover hidden talents and to move forward, benefiting the company as a result.
Businesses wishing to use the training centre should contact Sarah Packman or David Lock on 01256 374910.
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