Banks Group takes first ten recruits onto new graduate training programme

North East property and renewable energy firm The Banks Group is making a major investment in its future by bringing ten new recruits on to its new graduate training programme.

The scheme has been designed to offer the new recruits the chance to take on real workplace responsibilities with the support of an experienced team around them and to learn, develop and deliver across a range of disciplines required to support Banks planned and operational property developments and renewable energy generation and storage projects.

The new graduates, who will work across Banks’ Durham, Leeds and Hamilton offices, have taken on a range of different roles, including planner, project manager, development surveyor, engineer, graphics technician, geologist and sustainable development coordinator.

Each one will undertake a comprehensive 18-month training programme with the family business which will offer them support in building the key vocational, technical and professional skills required for their respective roles as well as opportunities to gain hands-on experience on live projects and evolving development plans.

Ellie Glover graduated from Northumbria University with a degree in Environmental Geography and has joined Banks as a graduate planner.

She says: “I’d really enjoyed learning about planning during my degree, and this led me to apply for the graduate planner role with Banks which fit with my ambition of working in a role that wasn’t solely desk-based with a strong local company.

“Over the next 18 months, I hope to learn the core skills needed for this role and much more about the business itself, while also delving more deeply into the world of planning and expanding my current knowledge.

“I believe we have to integrate sustainable development into everything we do, so it’s especially important to me that I learn more about the key aspects of sustainable planning, and as a recent graduate, I think I can bring a different viewpoint to the project teams that I’ll be working with.”

Richard Dunkley, director at The Banks Group, adds: “We are embarking on an exciting chapter in the business’s evolution and are looking to create long-term growth across every part of our operations.

“This will involve managing existing operational assets, progressing projects that are currently in the planning and development phase, and taking forward ideas and concepts that are still in their infancy.

“Having the right blend of talented people from multiple disciplines working effectively across a range a complex and interesting challenges who also understand and can influence how our business operates is essential to our future sustainable success.

“We’ve recruited some very impressive young people who have the potential to make a significant difference to the ways in which we work while building successful careers for themselves and we’re looking forward to seeing how they begin to realise their undoubted potential.”