Large Employer Skills Champion of the Year 2025

Recognising outstanding commitment by a large engineering or manufacturing employer to sustainable business improvement through learning and development.     

Winner: Kilnbridge

Kilnbridge has overhauled talent development to address the industry’s skills crisis. Moving away from reliance on self-employed engineers, it launched a graduate programme with ICE, apprenticeships, and outreach reaching thousands of students yearly. Learning and mentorship are embedded across all four in-house businesses, creating clear career paths. This strategy grew PAYE staff by 3% in six months and hit record apprentice numbers. Kilnbridge’s holistic approach sets a new benchmark for sustainable workforce growth in construction and civil engineering.