Persimmon Homes Anglia sets the standard

Persimmon Homes Anglia is pleased to announce that it is one of only a handful of housebuilders that has certified 98 per cent of its site staff as fully qualified operatives, two years ahead of the scheduled target date.

A scheme set out by ConstructionSkills in partnership with the Major Home Builders Group (MHBG), which is made up of 12 of the UK’s most prominent housebuilders, the Qualifying the Workforce Initiative (QWI) was set up to ensure that only technically competent operatives work on new home developments by December 2010.

All site staff, including Persimmon employees and sub-contractors, were informed that by December 2007, they would need to take a trade examination and Health & Safety test to achieve a Construction Skills Certification Scheme card.

Andy Fuller, deputy managing director for Persimmon Homes Anglia, comments: “To achieve 98 per cent of skilled workers on site already has been a great achievement for the company, especially as many of the homebuilders in the MHBG have not yet been able to reach this standard.

“Of the two per cent outstanding, all of these have passed the applicable Health & Safety test and are working towards obtaining their card within the next three months. With this latest result, we are on target to achieve 100 per cent well before the intended 2010 goal.

“The accomplishment further demonstrates the quality of our workforce and the high standard of the homes we produce and we couldn’t have attained this target without the support and dedication of our sub-contractors who have assisted us in raising the bar across the whole industry.”