Specialist recruitment agency, GR8, has announced its support for the 2024 Guernsey Property and Construction Awards.
The Awards, which are now in their tenth year, showcase best practice, excellence and innovation and highlight the importance of Guernsey’s business community.
The construction industry is facing pressure to build more homes to meet the needs of the local population but there is still a shortage of workers. GR8 Recruitment is assisting the sector by providing a large bank of construction workers from overseas who are ready to start on site. Guernsey’s strict immigration rules mean that recruitment agencies and businesses need to go through a rigorous process if they are taking on temporary staff from outside the Common Travel Area, and that can take up to three months.
Lee Madden (pictured), Managing Director of GR8, said: “We have been working in various sectors in Guernsey for three years, and have recently focused on helping the construction sector find permanent and temporary staff. One of the draw backs of employing people from overseas has been the long waiting period to get people on site as all the necessary checks, permissions and paperwork take time to complete. We have worked hard to get ahead and we have a large group of workers with the paperwork done who are ready to start within a few weeks rather than the usual three months. Sponsoring the Guernsey Property and Construction Awards is another way that we are reaching out and cementing our relationship with the sector.”
After last year’s sold-out awards dinner, the organisers are working on an even bigger event with a total of 13 award categories that will be judged by an independent panel. It’s due to take place on 5th October at the St Pierre Park Hotel. Nominations for the Awards open on Monday 6th May for projects completed between 1st August 2023 and 31st July 2024.
Event Organiser, Karen Solway, commented: “I’m thrilled that GR8 has come onboard as our Gold Sponsor to support this event. As a business that recruits across a number of sectors in Guernsey, it’s fantastic that GR8 is putting so much into the construction industry.
“The Guernsey Property and Construction Awards creates a real buzz about the great work that the industry does. The event was an enormous success last year and we are looking forward to celebrating with the industry later this year.”
Lee added: “We pride ourselves in being able to support the industries we work with by identifying the right people for the roles our clients need. I’m confident that we can help solve the problems caused by the tight employment market in Guernsey and I hope that the Awards help to galvanise support for this essential sector in the economy.”
More information about the awards can be found here.
