National accolade for Chepstow Plant International

Quarry and earthmoving contractor wins IQ Excellence Award for high standards and professionalism

CHEPSTOW Plant International, one of the leading quarrying and earthmoving contractors for the mineral products sector, have won a national award for their staff training and development initiative, known as ‘Project Fusion’.

The privately-owned company, which was founded in 1995, was announced as one of three winners in the ‘Best Personal Development Project’ category of the Standards & Professionalism segment in this year’s IQ Excellence Awards, which celebrate the achievements and success of individuals and teams across the mineral products sector.

For Chepstow, the award win is a strong indicator to both their customers and competitors that the company is aspiring to maintain its pole position in when it comes to addressing the industry’s skills and knowledge gap.

When it was established in 2017, the primary objective of Project Fusion was to engage and empower Chepstow’s teams across the UK and to also help members of staff reach their full potential. The name ‘Fusion’ was derived from the company’s desire to fuse training and upskilling with the needs and requirements of the industry in which the company operates.

There were three key phases to Project Fusion. The first focused on understanding staff competency within the business and the introduction of bespoke training plans that addressed any learning requirements that had been identified, while the second phase concentrated on the continued delivery of training and staff assessment programmes to build the team’s skills and knowledge.

During the third phase of the programme, Chepstow ensured that employees were both operating to and being developed in line with recognized industry standards. The company also launched new communications platforms to provide an efficient method of delivery for training and assessment materials, and to drive down site costs.

Commenting on the award, John Corcoran, managing director of Chepstow Plant International, said: ‘We’re incredibly proud of Project Fusion at Chepstow, and this award is testament to the hard work and effort the team have put into growing our training and competency schemes over the last three years.

‘We’re committed to ensuring that our workforce positively continues the journey of development in our industry, and we’ll continue in our mission to create an aspirational work environment where every member of staff is well equipped in knowledge and feels both challenged and fulfilled to work for us.

‘As a business, we can now provide solutions for plant licensing, vocational qualifications, bespoke accredited courses, best-practice training and the mandatory core competency courses required for safe operations. The result is we can continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible within a very challenging climate.

‘We will continue to work hard to ensure we have the best staff for the job, and we’ll also use our leadership position to continue contributing to relevant industry council groups, working committees, institute events and the Quarries National Joint Advisory Committee (QNJAC).’

Sarah Fry, head of membership and marketing at the Institute of Quarrying, said: ‘We would like to congratulate the team at Chepstow Plant International on this well-deserved award. As a three-phase approach to addressing the industry-wide skills and knowledge shortage, Project Fusion is a structured and well-planned investment that will help Chepstow to both strengthen their team and deliver work more efficiently every day.

‘The aim of the IQ Excellence Awards is to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of people and teams across the industry, and we truly believe that the hard work Chepstow have undertaken to combat a key issue we’ve been facing, and will continue to face, as an industry is definitely an achievement to celebrate.’