At Milestone Infrastructure, we are passionate about creating opportunities to give back to the local communities in which we work, in line with our commitment to social value.
In 2023, we launched our Social Value Strategy, to set out and ensure we create positive value for the economies, communities, and places where we work.
Over the past year, we have harnessed our future talent, by opening further support for new apprentices, while continuing to offer new opportunities for our current cohorts. To find out more, read below…
The 5% Club
Across our business, we aim to provide opportunities for local emerging talent to join our workforce and gain the skills they need to become the next generation of highways workers. We are proud to be a member of the 5% club, which extends our commitment to having at least 5% of our workforce classed as emerging talent, working with us through apprenticeships, sponsored student placements, or as graduates.
Opening new opportunities
At Milestone, we currently have 84 people in formal upskilling programmes. With over 12 courses available, we are continuously looking at ways to introduce new courses which both benefit our people and the direction in which the industry is headed. This year, we launched several digital apprenticeships, offering an opportunity for our people to expand their communities and inspire new ways of working.
Digital technology inspires innovation in the work we undertake daily, and our digital apprenticeships give our people an opportunity to harness the skills to successfully introduce this innovation to our business.
Our Apprentice development scheme
Our Apprenticeship Development Scheme (ADS) provides our apprentices with additional development opportunities alongside their official apprenticeship standard.
Earlier this year, our second cohort took part in the scheme, which included several face-to-face workshops, alongside a one-week residential in Devon. As part of the scheme, the group pf apprentices worked in small teams on a community project, enabling them to demonstrate and develop their teamwork and project management skills, as well as a chance to get to know the communities in which we work.
Once the community projects were complete, the apprentices had the opportunity to present their community projects to members of the Milestone leadership team, and it was clear all projects had made a real difference to the communities they had supported.
Apprentices inspire at STEM events
As well as their formal apprenticeship course, our apprentices are keen to inspire the next generation of highly skilled, forward thinking and technically competent people by taking part in STEM events across the areas in which we work.
Recently, our apprentices took part in one of the biggest careers events in Oxfordshire, attending Careers Fest 24. Our team were delighted to get student involved in interactive activities, including the fun game of ‘fill the pothole’ which proved to be a massive hit.
Looking to the future
As part of our continuing commitment to emerging talent, we are proud to have partnered with the Association of Apprentices, which is a Social Enterprise to provide eLearning/ EPA support for our apprentices.
Becoming a partner of Association of Apprentices has opened access to a network of peer-to-peer support for our apprentices, as well as access to guidance and resources to help them as they continue their education.
Looking to the future, Milestone is committed to developing and retaining the next generation of highways workers, creating local economic prosperity opportunities in line with our social value commitments.
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