________________________________________________________________________________________________ Palmers
Group
Adam shares.“ We have also strengthened regional management teams, ensuring decision-making remains close to the projects and clients we support.
“ More recently, we completed a senior management restructure to position the business for its next phase of growth. This has introduced clearer responsibilities, greater leadership capacity and additional specialist support as projects become increasingly complex.”
We have focused on building skilled, stable teams through experienced recruitment, internal development, training, apprenticeships and clearer career progression
Safety and specialist expertise
As Palmers grows, a key focus has been creating greater consistency across every region through common standards, processes, reporting and digital systems. This has involved improving procedures, strengthening accountability and using digital systems to better monitor labour, productivity, safety, quality, programme and commercial performance.
“ Our approach to workforce growth has been equally considered,” he elaborates.“ Rather than simply increasing numbers, we have focused on building skilled, stable teams through experienced recruitment, internal development, training, apprenticeships and clearer career progression.”
Considering scaffolding is one of construction’ s higher risk trades, for Tony Mileham, Regional Director, safety has to be personal.“ We ask people to work at height in challenging environments, so safety can never become just a set of procedures or statistics,” he reinforces.
“ It begins with thorough planning. Every scaffold must be properly designed, risk assessed, supervised and inspected by competent people, with the right temporary works controls in place. Just as importantly, our workforce must understand the plan and feel confident challenging anything that doesn’ t look right.
“ Good safety comes from engagement as much as enforcement. We encourage scaffolders and supervisors to report close calls, raise concerns and suggest better ways of working. No one should ever feel pressured to compromise safety because of programme or cost.”
Operating across nuclear, rail and aviation requires both consistency and specialist expertise. Paul explains how Palmers balances company-wide standards with sector-specific knowledge to meet the differing demands of nuclear, rail and aviation projects.
“ The reality is that these are all very different environments, so we don’ t manage them in the same way. Each sector is led by an operations director with specialist expertise, ensuring we understand the unique compliance, safety and operational requirements from the outset.”
Designing access over a live, Grade IIlisted station, for example, required extensive early collaboration and careful planning. Dave Bowring, Projects Director, explains how Palmers developed a bespoke solution that kept Liverpool Street operational while enabling the roof renewal.
“ The project demonstrates the value of involving a specialist access contractor early. By developing the solution before contract award and carrying it through to completion, we delivered an access system that was safe, practical and tailored to the station’ s unique
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