12 March 2014

Costain’s Supply Chain Academy opened its doors for the fourth time recently, welcoming representatives from 15 companies to its offices in Manchester to get a better understanding of Costain’s business and its working culture.

Funded and organised by Costain, the Supply Chain Academy aims to support and develop small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in line with Costain Cares, the Company’s vision to build a longer-term sustainable business that creates economic, environmental and social value.

The aim of the Academy is to align the Company’s supply chain partners with the high standard of training and development adopted across the Group. With the success of the first three Academy intakes, the decision was taken to move it away from the southeast to another region in the UK.

“The first three Academies were held in Maidenhead but our supply chain is dynamic, growing in size and based all over the country, therefore moving the Academy to another UK location seemed like the next logical step,” said Richard Howell, Costain’s Head of Supply Chain and Manager of the Costain Supply Chain Academy.

There are 22 modules in total, covering areas like Leadership and Management; Financial Management; Safety, Health and Environment and Business Development. For the fourth intake, there are two new modules: Equality and Diversity, and Building Information Modelling (BIM).

With the UK Government requiring BIM to be used on all centrally procured projects by 2016, it is essential that more people working on a project are familiar with technology that enables collaboration and co-ordination between all parties, including the customer and the supply chain, in the sharing of managed asset information.

“The Costain Supply Chain Academy is a unique opportunity to receive a package of training not available elsewhere and it will help us meet our customers’ needs in a meaningful and mutually beneficial way. We are particularly pleased to see that a module covering BIM has been added as we feel it is important that we understand this topic as it will form such an important part of how we all need to operate in the future,” said Les Tingle, Managing Director of Lamplast Industrial Plastic.

Similarly, the Equality and Diversity Module refers to the Equality and Diversity Act 2010. The module provides delegates with the latest thinking on this increasingly important area of legislation and workplace practice.

“Equality and diversity is increasingly asked about in tenders and quotes for public bodies. The module will help delegates to understand the law, their responsibilities and how to improve communication through Best Practice and reduce the risk of a significant financial claim,” said Richard.

Since opening its doors in 2012, the Supply Chain Academy has welcomed around 600 attendees, all benefiting from a structured programme of learning delivered by experts from both within Costain and its strategic partners.

“It’s been a great start to the Costain Supply Chain Academy with some really interesting training modules to look forward to over the next six months. It’s good to see such a large organisation help to develop the SME community that they so heavily rely on. Thanks to Richard Howell for sponsoring the initiative,” said Aidan McManus, Operations Director at Tenet Consultants.

 

Ends