...Training targets

Within AC Beck there is a firmly held belief that just two factors make a company successful. Firstly, it is the type of work you do and the standard that work is executed, and secondly, the calibre and quality of labour you use.

Steve Beck said: "If you get these things right the rest looks after itself. Having targeted the work you want to do, the next stage is to train people properly". In support of this Steve alludes to the Manchester United Youth System, which targets youngsters and provides long-term training and support.

AC Beck currently has six young apprentices graduating through the firm and following a tailored skills-based programme.

With a general shortage of well-trained individuals in the building and construction industry and the introduction of CSCS 'skills' cards, a culture change is taking place geared to improving standards. It was the Egan report that drew attention to the need to raise standards and the CSCS Card system has been widely and enthusiastically adopted. By December 2003 everyone who works on an MCG site must have a CSCS card. To date, around half of AC Beck's trade staff have achieved this standard, and the remainder are actively pursuing it.

On a wider skills acquisition front, the firm's foremen and supervisors are taking First Aid abrasive wheel courses and Health and Safety training. Senior supervisor Mark Hill has undertaken a supervision course at the National Construction College in East Anglia.

A programme of appraisals is also being developed within the company alongside regular communication with supervisors.

Within every AC Beck contract, high standards operate, from the competent and often highly skilled people who undertake the job, to the foreman who is responsible for the quality of the work and visiting supervisors who assess progress within a formal quality control system.