Our excellence in staff training and development has been recognised with a prestigious Royal Award.
Our Accommodation and Commercial Services Department, within the Estates and Facilities Directorate, has received the Princess Royal Training Award.
It was awarded by HRH The Princess Royal herself at a ceremony in St James’s Palace.
The Award celebrates organisations that have invested in staff development and have been able to evidence the positive impact this has brought to their employees and their organisation.
The Princess Royal Training Award is underpinned by the City and Guilds.
There were over 170 applications in 2023 and only 53 organisations received the Award, with our Accommodation and Commercial Services being one of them.
The Award was given to our Accommodation and Commercial Services team in recognition of their Succession Planning Programme.
The programme creates career progression opportunities for team members through a structured Staff Development Programme.
Among the programme’s success stories is Callum Hornsby from Chilton who joined us in 2018, aged 20, as a grade one member of our Housekeeping and Cleaning Services team.
Through a bespoke skills development programme, he progressed over a four-year period to his current role, a grade five Estates and Facilities Relationship Management Coordinator.
Callum was invited by Helen Strangward, Director of Accommodation and Commercial Services, to join her and Catherine Olley, Head of Estates and Facilities Relationship Management, at the awards ceremony at St James’s Palace.
Helen said: “This programme, and Callum’s success, demonstrates how we create real career opportunities for all staff, no matter where they start within our organisation.
“We are truly honoured to be recognised by the Princess Royal Training Awards for the impact our staff development programme has had on our team members.
“All too often, organisations run development programmes for administrative or supervisory positions and above, and forget about the frontline staff.
“Within our department we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to progress, and it is an added bonus that this approach has been recognised through the receipt of The Princess Royal Training Award.”
Main picture shows Callum Hornsby with the Princess Royal Training Award and speaking to HRH The Princess Royal at St James’s Palace.
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