Lifelong Learning

Herbert T Forrest Ltd is a general building contractor, specialising in the social housing segment of the construction industry. Its business model is
to self-deliver all core trades and services and it directly employs circa 300 people.Forrest's has formed an innovative partnership with the largest
school in the country to develop the POWER WAVE Construction Skills
Centre as a centre for the delivery of specialised diplomas

The company has celebrated its 52ND year in business with a flurry of activity, expanding its presence in social housing refurbishment and newbuild housing for social rent through inclusion on a number of frameworks including GM Procure, Fusion 21 and the Plus Group. It has also secured two prestigious national awards for ‘Contractor of the Year’.

Turnover has increased from £21 million in 04/05 to £34 million in 05/06 with a turnover of £41 million predicted for the financial year 2007/08, and for the first time the company has secured forward work of over £100 million.

H T Forrest carry out the whole range of works associated with the Decent Homes Standard, both internally and externally, including the environmental packages associated with Decent Homes Plus. Work is programmed either on an elemental or whole house approach – dependant on the strategy of the client and the needs of the end users.

The company MD Tim Forrest, son of the founder Herbert, reflects on the changing market conditions that have impacted on how the company operates: “The shift away from compulsory competitive tendering and the increased amount of public money being invested into the sector meant that our core market place was attracting more interest from national construction companies. It was apparent that major changes in the industry were imminent and we set to work on a strategy that would ensure that the company was ready for the changes and would be recognised as Egan compliant.”

He continues: “Because we were sensitive to the changes taking place within the market place we introduced internal changes that enabled Herbert T Forrest to compete for works within emerging growth markets. These emerging markets were not price driven; instead they were driven by best value and quality of end product and service which have historically been pre-requisites of an H T Forrest job.”

Forrest’s introduced a range of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that would allow the company to benchmark performance against industry standards and demonstrate improvement in terms of predictability, cost, time and quality. The pursuit of continual improvement encouraged a more holistic approach to quality and service delivery than was previously apparent.

Business development manager Andrew Falconer believes that the procurement process has become more complex over the last few years:

“Buyers are not looking for rhetoric,” he says. “Our clients and potential clients are looking for tangible evidence of performance across a diverse range of KPIs. We are able to supply data that provides evidence of upper quartile performance and we consistently outperform our competitors.”

Both Forrest and Falconer acknowledge that the culture, or the ‘Forrest Way’ as they describe it, is part of what allows the organisation to

thrive in collaborative relationships.

Forrest says: “We identified five key areas that defined the Forrest Way – quality, customer focus, our people, partnering and change management.

Falconer adds: “Our culture differentiates us and gives us an advantage because it is not something that our competitors can replicate – after all it has been 52 years in the making! Our managers and operatives do things in particular ways because it is expected behaviour – it’s just ‘the way we do things around here’ and is what we refer to as the Forrest Way. “

The company has a history of investing in the training and development of its people, Forrest’s currently has 18 per cent of employees on long term courses such as NVQ’s and surveying degrees and has over 30 apprentices plus trainees that have come through joint initiatives with partners such as GM Procure, Bolton at Home and Fusion 21. Tim says: ”There is clear evidence that investing in good and relevant training improves the quality of the end product, increases loyalty and motivates employees”

It was this inherent commitment to training that led to H T Forrest forming a partnership with Rivington and Blackrod High School and POWER WAVE. School deputy principal David Waugh said: “The partnership with ourselves and H T Forrest will work within an exclusive relationship in developing the POWER WAVE Construction Skills Centre as a centre for delivery of the specialised diplomas.” He adds: “This represents a significant partnership and will allow us both to position ourselves at the heart of the biggest change to the English school curriculum for over twenty years. We look forward to working together for the benefit of the young learners in Bolton.”

POWER WAVE came to the attention of Forrest via an internal suggestion box scheme, which was introduced in summer ’06 to support and share best practice and capture innovations and bright ideas. Falconer explains: “The original idea came from Joanne Bradshaw who is one of our contracts co-ordinators working on the Bolton at Home partnership. We then had a number of meetings to determine the required input and we committed to the POWER WAVE initiative.”

Although still in the embryonic stage the centre takes in 300 pupils per week, and Forrest’s first contribution was to support the introduction of the plumbing rooms in which pupils learn basics in fitting kitchens, bathrooms and heating. As the partnership develops Forrest’s support is likely to take the form of: Materials and resources to support subject delivery; materials, resources and infrastructure for the building of the C&BE Laboratory; work placements for diploma students; site tours for diploma students; guaranteed interviews for diploma students for any relevant and vacant job position; specialist lecture support to assist in the delivery of the diploma subject content; specialist equipment presentations to assist in the enrichment of the diploma curriculum, and teacher-lecture work placements for diploma deliverers.

Construction and the built environment is one of the first five lines of learning, the others being health and development, engineering, IT and creative media and society. These diplomas are designed to provide, for the first time, a holistic blend of applied and general learning relating to the fabric of the world in which we live and its impact on individuals and communities. They will develop a comprehensive picture of the physical extent and significance of the built environment and an understanding of the activities that shape, develop and influence the built environment.

The diplomas are built around three integrated themes of design, create and value and use the built environment. The thematic approach provides, again for the first time, an opportunity to make explicit the whole built environment cycle, rather than focusing exclusively on specific parts of that cycle. This approach will provide the best possible basis for learners to understand the progression possibilities and career pathways within the sector, and to make informed decisions about their future, as well as providing them with a wealth of general employment skills.

There is a single topic at each level that focuses on career pathways in the sector, where learners will be introduced to the pathways and opportunities that make up the areas of craft, technical, supervisory and management roles. At level three, they will explore the roles of the various professional institutions.

Personal learning and thinking skills are integral to the diploma at each level, with opportunities for teamwork, research, investigation, self-management and independent enquiry. At levels two and three learners will have the opportunity to develop and apply their skills to explore different formats of graphical and written information, including assessing specifications, schedules and drawings from electronic databases.

The topics at level one cover design influences; applying design principles; using tools; methods and materials, and an introduction to the value and use of the built environment.

At level two, these topics are developed to encompass the use of materials and structures within design; the contribution the built environment makes to the physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing and economic prosperity of individuals and sustainable communities, and the role of facilities management and support services.

The topics are developed further at level three to include physical and environmental influences on design; health safety and environmental influences and management processes associated with construction of the built environment; engagement with and impact of the built environment on the wider community, and protection and maintenance of the built environment and the role of asset management.

Topics at each level use up to date and relevant contexts in which to develop knowledge, understanding and skills that learners will need. The focus is on the development of skills, knowledge and understanding through application within work-related contexts and with many opportunities for learning through doing rather than writing about.

Forrest concludes: “To have the opportunity to be an early adopter and be able to influence an area that significantly impacts society is something that we felt we needed to support. The diplomas provide a joined up approach that employers will certainly appreciate. H T Forrest have never been afraid to change or innovate and if we hadn’t been sensitive to and reacted to recent changes in our market such as procurement routes and collaborative working then we wouldn’t have survived and grown in a period of immense change in the construction industry. The drive and ambition of POWER WAVE and the positive social benefits reflect so much of how we have evolved as a company and to be chosen as the partner contractor says so much about the culture of our company and respect that it has within the industry.”