Banks Group marks IIP milestone

A County Durham property, housebuilding and mining firm is celebrating 25 years of recognition for its approach to people management and workplace development.

The Banks Group has marked the silver anniversary of its first Investors in People (IIP) accreditation, having held the standard continuously since 2001.

The family-owned firm achieved silver status in 2018 before reaching gold accreditation in 2024, placing it among a small number of North East businesses to secure the higher standard.

The milestone comes as Banks also celebrates its 50th anniversary and continues to invest in staff development, leadership, performance management and long-term workforce planning.

Nick Hobdey, group HR director at the Banks Group, said: “The long-term investment we’ve made in training and HR resources demonstrates the emphasis that our senior team places on this aspect of the business, with the IIP accreditations we’ve gained over the last 25 years showing the clear impact that this approach has on our day-to-day operations.

“The Investors In People process has a direct impact on the way in which our business operations have been managed and enhanced over a quarter of a century, with a range of enhancements to the ways in which we monitor and reward high performance resulting from preparations for and conversations during the assessment process.

“In what is already a landmark year for the business, we’re very pleased to have reached this additional milestone and are very much focused on retaining and building on our Gold accreditation when our next formal IIP assessment takes place in 2027.”

During its time with Investors in People, the company has evolved from a business largely focused on surface mining into a diversified group operating across renewable energy, plant management, contract mining and housebuilding.

The accreditation assesses organisations across areas including leadership, values, empowerment, capability, performance, improvement and sustainable success.

Investors In People assessor Graeme Mills added: “Investors In People is all about recognising and encouraging high performance, what goes into achieving these standards and what businesses and management teams can do to sustain them over the long-term.

“The companies that achieve the highest IIP accreditations are the ones that authentically live their values, shaping their decisions and behaviours around the standards they set and seeing the positive impact of these choices permeating right through their operations.

“The Banks Group has a rare combination of being a family business with a long heritage that is also quick to respond to new commercial opportunities and to adapt to what it needs to do to equip its team with the additional skills and resources required to take advantage of them.”

As part of the process, assessors have visited Banks’ Meadowfield headquarters and other sites to interview employees across different roles, seniority levels and lengths of service.

Feedback from the 2024 assessment praised the firm’s strategic approach to people development, leadership ambition and employee confidence in the company’s future.

Dan Matthews, group learning and development manager at the Banks Group, added: “The most important asset of any business is always its people, and having a forum through which colleagues can provide direct, honest feedback on the company’s current activities and future plans is absolutely invaluable for all of us.

“The insight that the IIP assessment process provides is an essential part of attracting, developing and retaining high calibre staff, and helps to ensures they’re equipped with the skills they to reach their goals and are properly rewarded when they do so.”

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