Willmott Dixon is leading the way for social responsibility in the construction sector by being one of the first companies in Birmingham to adopt the City Council’s Business Charter for Social Responsibility.

The company’s repairs and maintenance brand, Willmott Dixon Partnerships, is just one of 17 businesses to be accepted as a signatory of the Charter, which sees companies agree to six key benchmarks for delivering social value to local communities in their contracts with Birmingham City Council.

It follows the company's 'Investing in Birmingham' campaign, where Willmott Dixon has trained over 50 apprentices since 2009 and invested £1 million to create the 4Life Academy, which trained 2,000 people alone in 2013.


As an adopter of the charter, Willmott Dixon will continue to deliver its award winning work experience programme and apprenticeship scheme across its housing maintenance contracts with Birmingham City Council, creating valuable training opportunities for local people. The company has also pledged to continue providing community projects of tangible value as outlined in its Transforming Communities report, leaving a lasting legacy for hundreds of people.

Willmott Dixon's operations director Pauline Chatt said: "We are proud to be be voluntary signatories of the Birmingham Business Charter of Social Responsibility as the principles of the Charter reflect Willmott Dixon’s company ethos of leaving a lasting legacy. We aim to tackle social exclusion with transferable industry skills through investments such as the Willmott Dixon 4Life Academy, which delivers training to 2,000 local people a year. Our community projects work to provide support of a tangible value to local charities and organisations across Birmingham."

(CD/MH)