Persimmon Homes, the UK’s leading housebuilder has appointed a senior HR specialist to help drive the business’s military recruitment programme forward.
Gareth Barnes joins Persimmon from the Career Transition Partnership, (CTP), a joint partnership between the Ministry of Defence and Right Management. Prior to this, Gareth was a personnel officer with the NHS. He started his career with the Royal Air Force, spending 22 years in service as an air traffic controller and flight operations manager.
Gareth will be responsible for Persimmon’s Combat to Construction programme, which aims to employ hundreds of ex-military personnel each year. The company launched the initiative last autumn and now has two training centres in Darlington and London. The programme trains service leavers to be bricklayers and joiners and recently celebrated its 100th appointment.
Speaking of his appointment, Gareth said: “Combat to Construction is an excellent programme. My new role will be to capitalise on its successful launch and to keep attracting high caliber ex-military recruits into the scheme.
“Service leavers have an excellent reputation as loyal and hardworking and many have transferrable skills into the construction industry. Combat to Construction has already been recognised by the MOD for its early success and my ambition is to take the initiative to its next level of expansion.”
Persimmon’s Group HR director, Richard Latham says the whole business is extremely proud of Combat to Construction.
“As a business we are working hard to increase the number of new homes we build in communities across the UK. It’s well documented that the UK needs more homes
to be built and with thousands of people leaving the forces each year, the partnership is working extremely well for Persimmon. The recruits from Combat to Construction are an integral part of our long-term employment programme.”
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