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Mace has changed the final grade required to be accepted into his graduate program in order to attract a larger group of youth to the company.

Previously, the company required prospects to have a 2: 1 or higher, but that was lowered to 2: 2.

A company spokesman said: “We want to be the most inclusive employer in our industry and in 2022 we removed our 2: 1 academic admission requirement for our graduates in order to provide opportunities and opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds who are passionate about building Consultant careers. “

Last September, the company released a diversity and inclusivity strategy that aims to achieve a number of goals by 2023, including improving the gender-race pay gap by at least 5% year-over-year and increasing the number of new hires black and ethnic minorities by 5% and the number of new female hires by the same number.

At the time, CEO Mark Reynolds said: “The construction industry has tolerated prejudice and subconscious prejudice for too long. We can only be successful if we can fall back on a really diverse pool of talents and competencies. “

According to the latest published figures, 38% of Mace’s graduate development program graduates are women, while another 30% of apprentices and interns are ethnic minorities.

For its trainees, too, the company looks beyond traditional subjects such as civil engineering or quantity measurement and is instead looking for graduates outside of the building industry.

The spokesperson added, “We believe that expanding our network will help us reach more talented young people who are equally capable of demonstrating that they have the drive and transferable skills to take on big projects and run programs around the world. “

Mace has embarked on a five-year recruiting drive that will see the group’s payroll grow from its current 6,000 to 8,000 by 2026.

About half that number will come from the consulting business, and its boss Jason Millett said the company has grown from 2,700 at the beginning of the year to around 3,200 employees worldwide.

Recruits during this period include Dave Weatherburn, who joined us from AWE in a new role as Business Director, Nuclear Technology, and Bryony Martin, who joined from Aecom as Director for Central UK and Sector Head of Industry and Manufacturing.

But Millett admitted it was difficult to find people: “Recruiting is a particular challenge. I would be lying if I said it didn’t take a lot of effort. We have to pull a lot of levers to attract talent. “

He added, “We can’t just take talent from one another. The industry is not winning. We have to make it more attractive. “

Mace is also considering hiring more people from outside the industry or whose degrees are unrelated to the construction. “We’re not just looking at traditional degrees, we’re looking at a wide range of backgrounds,” said Millett.

Last week, Chancellor Rishi Sunak pledged an additional 3.8 billion