Banks Group welcomes new graduate intake

The Banks Group has welcomed the latest cohort onto its graduate training programme as several former trainees step into permanent roles with the business.

Six new graduates have joined the Durham-headquartered property, housebuilding and mining firm on its two-year training scheme, which combines structured development with hands-on experience across live projects.

As the new intake begins, three graduates from the previous cohort – Matt Bishop, Ollie Pocock and Matthew Noble – have all secured permanent positions with the family-owned firm after successfully completing the programme.

Five of the new recruits are based within Banks Property and Banks Homes, with the sixth joining Banks Mining on site.

Graduate development surveyor Jaja Inskeep and graduate project manager Muhammed Kasuji both studied at Leeds Beckett University. 

Matthew Newton, a civil engineering graduate from Teesside University, and Shabbir Boksh, who completed a master’s in civil and structural engineering at Newcastle University, have both joined as graduate development engineers.

Meanwhile, Liam Young joins as a graduate development planner following a master’s in city planning at the University of Glasgow, while Macauley Duke, who is studying real estate management at The University of the Built Environment, has joined Banks Mining as a graduate site engineer.

Launched in 2021, the Banks Group’s graduate programme offers real responsibility alongside structured support, mentoring and cross-department rotations to build understanding of the full development lifecycle. 

This year’s programme has been enhanced to include additional coaching in communication, teamwork and personal resilience, shaped by feedback from previous cohorts.

Russ Hall, managing director at Banks Property and Banks Homes, said: “Finding, training and bringing through skilled young people is crucial to the long-term, sustainable success of any business, and our graduate scheme has proven to be an extremely effective way of doing so for us.

“It gives ambitious young people the chance to get real responsibility at an early stage in their careers, and to learn, develop and deliver across a range of projects, disciplines and locations, and we see the benefits of their input to our work on a daily basis.

“Enhancing the programme to include the softer skills that complement their professional learning will add an extra dimension to what our new recruits get out of their training and will equip them with knowledge that will be useful right through their careers.

“The dedication, skills and levels of achievement shown by our preceding group of graduate trainees means they all thoroughly deserve the permanent roles that they’ve earned with us and we hope our latest intake will be inspired to follow their example.”

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