CASE STUDIES

The Equality Trailblazer

Balfour Beatty Scotland, members of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, are a leading international infrastructure group.

Balfour Beatty Scotland, members of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, are a leading international infrastructure group.

They have an annual Value Everyone Plan, which is managed by a dedicated Value Everyone Steering Group, who meet every month to drive forward their D&I objectives. This group has its own budget, its own Chair and membership is voluntary – the group currently has 25 staff members.

Balfour Beatty are rolling out a national Right to Respect campaign, and their senior management team recently attended a 50-hour Anti Racism training programme, delivered in partnership with BE-ST. In addition, Balfour Beatty have been supporting the LGBTQ+ community by hosting breakfast seminars, sponsoring fleet at the Glasgow Pride event (this July), as well as running national Rainbow Day campaigns this year.

Balfour Beatty have also been supporting Muslim colleagues to share their experiences of Eid celebrations this year, by hosting free lunch and learn workshops in the Euro central Offices.

Balfour Beatty’s dedicated Social Impact team are able to engage the communities at the heart of their infrastructure projects. For example, in Edinburgh, they worked with Capital City Partnership in April 2023, to deliver a construction academy programme for Ukrainian refugees. 40 candidates attended the information day which included a tour of Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI), before 13 were selected to complete a week of training and then complete a placement at CCWEL, EFI or North Bridge. Seven job offers have been made so far.

In October 2022, Balfour Beatty and Mott MacDonald hosted a graduate event in Glasgow, in partnership with the Association for Black and Minority Engineers, to promote graduate opportunities and to facilitate mock interviews with twenty AFBE student members.

In November/December 2022, Balfour Beatty hosted seven students from the Enable Scotland ‘Breaking Barrier’s programme. Students on the programme completed the programme, which is part of a specialist course developed for young people with learning disabilities and was hosted by the University of Strathclyde and delivered by Enable Scotland. Students studying the Applied Science Breaking Barriers course completed the Balfour Beatty ‘Hydrogen Research’ project across 6 weekly sessions, which included a mixture of face-to-face workshops in Maxim Euro central office, TEAMs sessions and a site visit to the BE-ST Construction Innovation Centre in Blantyre.

In total, each of the seven students completed approx. 20-25 hours of learning through the project and gained Bronze Industrial Cadet certification through presenting their final project proposals to members of Balfour Beatty’s Senior Leadership team.

“Before Breaking Barriers, I wasn’t doing too much, I had been working at Amazon for a while but quit because I really didn’t like working there at all. My favourite part of the programme was the work placement at Balfour Beatty, specifically going to the innovation centre and seeing the wooden house. It’s helped by making me engage with my peers and get to know them, along with presenting to them at the end, both of which were a real help developing my confidence. I hope to next go into work/training to learn how to drive HGV Vehicles and pursue a career path that way.”

Kieran, Breaking Barriers participant

CASE STUDIES

Company Growth

On the back of the success of the brewery site and events, Dal then set his sights on expanding both the range of products on offer and the footprint of the business. In December 2021, Dal agreed a 20-year lease on Christchurch Spire in Coventry city centre. The unique venue serves Dhillon’s beers and ales on tap, as well as offering hot drinks and food, to create a family friendly environment.

Dhillon’s next venture was the Sky Blue Tavern, a brand-new sports bar in the city centre, in partnership with Coventry City Football Club. The Tavern is a hub for Sky Blues fans to meet and enjoy a drink, whether on matchdays or non-matchdays, and helps to generate revenue and support for the club. As one of the only dedicated sports bars in Coventry, football and sports fans can watch the latest action on big screens and in individual booths.

Dhillon’s Brewery have now also secured several catering contracts, including with Historic Coventry Trust, where they provide food and beverage operations at the historic Drapers’ Hall, as well as at other Trust locations.

The company’s vision and long-term growth plan continues to be focused on its close association with Coventry whilst securing further locations and contracts, to build a sustainable, profitable business model whilst continuing Dal’s original passion for brewing beautifully crafted beer.