The Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire visited our Knockin head office to present our King’s Award for Enterprise, recognising five years of investing in people through our Looking After Our Workforce initiative.
We were honoured to welcome the Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, Anna Turner, and Vice Lord-Lieutenant Mandy Thorn to our head office in Knockin on Monday 12th October. Anna presented Pave Aways with the King’s Award for Enterprise for Promoting Opportunity, along with our official award warrant, signed by His Majesty The King, formally recognising the company’s achievement.
The Lord-Lieutenant congratulated the team, describing the recognition as a sign that we are “exceptional” and praising our outstanding record of promoting opportunity.
“This recognition belongs to the whole team. To be recognised by the King is a huge honour, and we will display this King’s Award emblem with pride, as a Shropshire business and as a team.” said Managing Director Steven Owen.
Putting people at the heart of what we do
The award recognises our Looking After Our Workforce initiative, which brings together recruitment, upskilling, retention and the promotion of construction careers. It reflects our belief that investing in people makes our business and our region stronger, and it is a model we hope other rural construction companies can adopt and adapt. It is also a practical expression of our motto, #BuildingOurFutureTogether. Over the five-year period covered by our entry:
- 61% of our 472 participant engagements involved people from disadvantaged backgrounds (engagements, not individuals, as some people were supported across several years)
- 94 employees promoted from within
- 10.8 years average length of service, with some colleagues past the 40-year mark
- 9.1% employee turnover in 2024, against a UK construction average of 21.4%
- 17 apprentices recruited, and more than a third of our workforce started out as apprentices.
Meeting the people behind the figures
During the visit, the Lord-Lieutenant spent time talking with colleagues across the business, from some of our longest-serving team members to our newest recruits.
Paul Brooke, one of our longest-serving employees, has been a respected carpentry mentor to many of our previous apprentices. “Seeing someone you’ve taught go on to do the job properly, and take pride in it, is the best part of the job,” he said.
Sabrina Davies joined us as a receptionist and is now our training and welfare manager, with an Open University course funded by the business. She looks after the onboarding and mentoring of our apprentices. “It’s a hugely rewarding position,” she said. “It also reminds me that everyone deserves a second chance, just like the one I had.”
The Lord-Lieutenant also met two of our newest team members, trainee Seb Singh and apprentice Ben Worrall, who is one of six apprentices who joined Pave Aways in September.
We finished the afternoon with tea, cake and a lot of pride. This award belongs to everyone who makes Pave Aways what it is, and we’d like to thank the Shropshire Lieutenancy for presenting it. #BuildingOurFutureTogether
