As one of the main contractors on the HS2 infrastructure project, Costain has a large proportion of its workforce embedded within the project and working closely with a number of other partners to deliver a very significant transport development for the UK.

The company values highly the sense of connection and ‘family’ that people within Costain experience – much of their work around culture focuses on building an organisation that is inclusive, welcoming and caring – but values that are lived daily, rather than spoken about.

The HS2 project teams are far less connected to the main company, and there was a genuine worry that people would lose that strong connection, and no longer see Costain as either their home or a long-term career option. From the get-go the company has been placing emphasis on connection – working with us to skill up managers and provide them with the content and engagement techniques needed to keep people included.

To strengthen this work, and to create a significant ‘moment in time’ we also developed and ran a one-day event for the entire Costain HS2 team – with the aim of creating a sense of connection and giving people time to talk, share stories and think about how the values are being lived.

Months of planning led to the delivery of a full day of events for more than 360 people from across the UK – in one venue.

It started with stories, and encouraged people to share their tales of success, pride and growth within the company – using a set of interactive tools and dialogue sessions to move these stories into conversations about the values and behaviours that the company thrives on.

The day was also aimed to be fun and memorable, and this was achieved through the powerful stories shared and the team activities that created a buzz of excitement and action from everyone in the room.

Alongside the storytelling, conversations and activities, the Costain team were able to weave in content about the company – it’s ambition around growing and keeping the best people, and what this meant for them. It was a powerful blend, and very much left the attendees feeling valued and included.

The work was part of a wider programme to build culture champs and support Costain as it embedded refreshed values and approaches in an already highly effective organisation.

“The feedback I have received from a whole raft of people has been fantastic. People have said it was great to connect, showed the scale of the Company and the team but also they commented on how diverse a group we were compared to years gone by. Truly proud to work for Costain.”

–Trudy Langton-Freeman, People Director, HS2 London Tunnels