We entered the awards because we are extremely proud of our long standing commitment to being a great place to work.
Our approach to employment is one that takes real, long term commitment. A ‘grow our own’ approach means we give opportunities to people at the beginning of their careers and invest heavily in their training and development which requires significant investments in terms of time and financial investments, well above the typical levels in our industry. In our first year as a BCorp, which our approach to employment is a core component of, one of our proudest successes has been the promotion of two new Directors to the Board, who each joined the Practice as trainees. This is as a direct result of our ‘grow our own’ strategy and only made possible through taking, and committing to, a long term view of recruitment and development.
We are already building on that success and in the last year have we have supported more people completing or working towards their qualifications and we have implemented a Leadership Development Centre. We’ve also established a new open business planning system so that every one of our team can review and track the progress of our strategy as well as their own plans for their performance, development and wellbeing.
You don’t have to look far in our offices to find people who have been with the business for five, ten, fifteen or twenty years and that’s because our approach means people want to stay with us. Our team tells us that they are proud to say that they work here and always happy to recommend LSI Architects as a great place to work.
We are absolutely thrilled to be on the shortlist for an award because we will be in the company of some truly inspirational organisations. We want to be one of the best employers in the construction industry, and it’s by investing heavily in the development of our people, and their wellbeing, that we will achieve this. Being shortlisted for awards like this one is not why we do what we do but it is an indication that we are on the right path and we were very excited indeed when the email came through to see we had made the shortlist!
We are particularly pleased to be recognised by Investors In People with a place on such a fantastic shortlist this year because we sadly recently lost a former leader of our business, David Ridel.
David spent nearly 20 years of his career as a Partner here and played a pivotal role in shaping LSI Architects into the successful business it is today. It was David’s desire to see the practice become the best employer it could be, with a progressive and inclusive culture, and he who instigated our decision to obtain Investors In People accreditation for the first time in 2005 and which we have maintained ever since.
Regardless of whether we go home with an award, we shall be raising a glass to him on our table on the night and would like to dedicate the honour of being a finalist to his memory.
It would be a real honour to win an Investors In People 2025 Award.
Receiving an award like this would be a tremendous endorsement of our approach to employment, which is one that takes real, long term commitment, alongside significant financial investment and time. We would be extremely proud to see that commitment recognised with an Investors In People award.
Our aim to be one of the best employers in the construction industry is in place because supporting our employees to be happy, healthy as well as highly skilled and motivated is what we believe is going to make us a better architectural practice. We don’t do what we do to win awards, we do it because we think it is the right thing to do, but an award would be a fantastic way to communicate to all those we engage with and beyond what we do and how we do it.
The Practice has held an accreditation with Investors In People since 2006, first achieving the Gold level in 2015 and we have now retained that level across two assessments in 2021 and 2024.
Being Gold level accredited is a wonderful accolade for LSI and one we are very proud of but the main reason we participate is because it gives us the opportunity to stand back and reassess our processes; consider how they all fit together and see where things can be improved. Also, having IIP specialists talk to members of the team about how they see things gives a truly objective view – a fresh pair of eyes.
Investors In People is an excellent way for us benchmark ourselves and has consistently provided us with feedback and insights that has allowed us to improve. We are so pleased that in our last assessment we had shown clear improvement in a number of areas and this wouldn’t be possible without the guidance of Investors In People and opportunities to engage with other likeminded businesses in communities like this one.
Moving forward, we have plans in place to continue improving to provide our teams all the support they need so that they can be at their best, both individually and as a collective, and have set a clear target to achieve Platinum accreditation when we are next assessed in 2027.
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