Culture

From the very start it was David Barnes' intention that The Barnes Group would not only be a good construction business that delivered quality buildings, but that the staff would be happy, content and feel included as a part of a true family business.

With many staff having joined from trainee, employees are highly valued and genuinely feel part of the Barnes family. This is demonstrated by the care and attention paid to their people. For example, retired long-serving employees are hosted by the Chair together with current employees and their families at an annual summer party. This is a people-centred business which values fairness, ingenuity, and diversity, with a focus on supporting employees through their own training and development.

Social Value

Social value has been at the core of the Group's operations since 1978.
Delivering tangible and measurable social value is of increasing importance to The Barnes Group and their clients, and to streamline this, they have adopted Thrive software as a social value measurement tool. It utilises the Impact Evaluation Standard (IES) which aligns directly to, and builds upon, the UK Government’s Social Value Model, allowing them to measure the value added at both a project and company level. 

Charity

Core to their business ethos are the many charities and good causes The Barnes Group support each year. Having always been strong supporters of local charities and good causes, each year The Group supports a range of local causes dealing with homelessness, broken families and supporting the needy through foodbank supply.

Education and training

To The Barnes Group, it is important that any investment into the community is reciprocal through ensuring local people can benefit. From formal employment and skills plans at project level, through to long standing relationships with local educational and training institutions in Suffolk to identify opportunities to give back to the communities that they serve.

They achieve this through:

• Proudly investing in the Management Trainee programme to gain experience in each of the professional disciplines whilst being supported through a fully-funded degree course.
• Engaging with local schools to promote careers in construction, including attending careers fairs, hosting work experience students, and supporting the wider curriculum as appropriate.
• Taking a proactive stance on engaging with SMEs, encouraging them to join the supply chain and supporting them with training and development as required. Additionally, the Group plays an active role in organisations which support the wider construction industry, such as the SJCC, CIOB and Interact. 

For the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham framework, the Barnes team have provided over 100 hours of work experience, creating two full time positions, four apprenticeships with local sub-contractors, and over 4000+ hours of student contact time for all of their LA Frameworks.