Miller homes celebrates its own graduation day

Miller Homes employees from four regions, were joined by their families, friends and colleagues at Pride Park Stadium in Derby to receive their Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) Certificates from Past President of the CIOB, Professor John Bale.

Forty two Miller Homes employees from the East Midlands, North West, Northern Home Counties and Yorkshire received their certificates at the grand Toyota Suite ceremony, which was also attended by Miller Group chief executive, Keith Miller CBE, Miller Homes’ chief executive, Tim Hough and other dignitaries from the CIOB and National House Building Council (NHBC).

The certificates received by the Miller Homes employees on the day signified their degrees of membership to the CIOB – which are earnt by them successfully completing NVQ building qualifications.

Professor John Bale, Past President of the CIOB, said of the awards after presenting the members with their certificates:

“It’s nice to see an organisation working in partnership with its employees to aid their development – providing them with support to compliment that which they receive from their families and friends during their studies.

“House building is a very practical industry and it’s not often that people get dressed up for what is effectively a graduation day.

“The industry as a whole needs to embrace days like this to enable those working within it to celebrate their own very relevant levels of professionalism. There are many pressures facing these people during their careers, such as the elements, health and safety requirements, environmental standards which must be met and ultimately, the challenge of constructing an excellent quality product that customers want to buy - and so these achievements have to be celebrated as they are in other crucial industries.”
This is the second time that Miller Homes East Midlands has hosted this ceremony at Pride Park Stadium and the fourth time that Miller Homes has held the ceremony, which on this occasion saw Chris Endsor, Miller Homes’ Midlands regional chairman as Master of Ceremonies.

Keith Miller CBE announced that the day’s presentations marked the fact that the company had now helped 200 managers achieve varying degrees of membership to the CIOB, and reiterated its commitment to ensuring that Miller Homes will go on to help many more.

One of the day’s certificate recipients, Don Burley, contracts manager for Miller Homes East Midlands who has worked for the company for four years, has just completed his ICIOB level 4 and he said of the day and the programme as a whole:

“Miller Homes really encourages people to take part in these courses and gain more qualifications and I was supported every step of the way. Having an event like this is nice to celebrate our achievements. I am already starting my NVQ level 5.”

This graduation day is just one of the many initiatives that Miller Homes East Midlands has launched to support the development of its people. Other initiatives include the company’s Graduate Training programme, its Site Management Awards and, more recently, the launch of its quarterly Forklift Awards, which help to ensure on-site health and safety and increased driver professionalism.

Testament to this pursuit of excellent standards is the company’s ongoing high level of achievement in the NHBC’s Pride in the Job Awards, where Miller’s site managers have taken their place amongst the nation’s elite professionals for the past three years in a row.