Wates named Organisation of the Year at UK Social Mobility Awards

Home News Wates named Organisation of the Year at UK Social Mobility Awards

The accolade, presented to the company by BBC Breakfast business journalist Steph McGovern (pictured above, with Wates director Jonny Wates) at the awards ceremony in London on 12 October, recognised Wates commitment to advancing social mobility in the communities in which it works, and through its award-winning sustainability programme, Reshaping Tomorrow.

Rachel Woolliscroft, Director of Sustainability, the Wates Group, commented:

“Wates has always been committed to the long-term future of the built environment and our sustainability programmes underpin our vision to become the most trusted partner in the built environment, leaving a positive legacy for the communities in which we work and live.

We are proud that our efforts have been recognised through this award, and confident that it will encourage us to work even harder to ensure we do as much as we can to embed sustainability and provide opportunities for the next generation.”

Wates Group, which was established by the Wates family in 1897, employs around 4,000 people in the UK, and was awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise for Sustainable Development in 2016.

Through Reshaping Tomorrow, the company runs a number of innovative programmes focused on promoting social and environmental sustainability, including:

In addition, the company is a founding partner of the Buy Social Corporate Challenge a business-wide initiative to spend £1billion with social enterprises, and is committed to working with social enterprises on every project it manages. Over the last five years Wates has spent over £10.5m via social enterprises, with £2.3m spent in 2016 alone.

Other finalists in the award category were: Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Rolls Royce; the Ministry of Justice; CBRE; and the Civil Service Fast Stream and Early Talent.