Members of Robertson’s community development team, alongside the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), invited staff and clients of the Hub to discuss routes into the sector and offered work placements at its nearby housing projects in Alexandria and Renton as an incentive.

Gillian Pettigrew, community development co-ordinator at Robertson, said: “We were approached by the DWP to come in and meet with their clients after they saw our team at a similar event back in January 2016.

“The fact that we have one of our expert teams working on a housing project in Renton, which once complete will provide 72 new homes and 14 refurbished homes for local people made us the ideal fit for the talk.

“At Robertson, we believe that it is our duty to care for the communities in which we operate and that means training local talent to develop new skills and hopefully go onto a career in construction.”

Following the talk at the Hub, Gillian and her team reported that they will be welcoming two DWP clients onto their Renton site as part of an eight week long work placement.

These people will gain hands on experience working with an expert team on their doorstep.

Already, Robertson has welcomed over 20 local people on similar work placements at the Renton based project, which is due to complete in June 2016.

The firm has procured products and services from a number of local SMEs and has engaged with over 2,300 students from local schools and colleges.

Robertson’s community development team plans to take the talk on a tour of its major developments. The next stop is Perth.