The Peter Willmott Foundation
Nearly 50 years ago, our former Chairman Peter Willmott envisioned Willmott Dixon as more than just a construction company.
Ahead of the times, Peter believed we had a responsibility to make society better, beyond just delivering buildings for our customers. He believed that we have a responsibility to positively impact society, a philosophy that has become a core part of our identity.
Peter expressed this clearly in the 1978 report and accounts, stating: “It is easy for the company to concentrate solely on its proclaimed activity, with little or no reference to the environment and society of which it forms a part. At Willmotts we have, for a long time, recognised our responsibility to help wherever the advice or services of our employees can be of use. To this end, we provide aid, not only in financial terms, but also in the service of our employees to many organisations.”
Peter sadly passed away in January 2024, but his vision and the principle of ‘purpose beyond profit’ are deeply embedded in our company culture and reflected in the way we work.
In honour of Peter Willmott’s lasting legacy and his commitment to purpose-driven business, the Willmott Dixon Foundation has been renamed the Peter Willmott Foundation.
Over the years, the Foundation has donated more than £1.3 million to good causes, with 80,000 hours of our people's time also volunteered to support thousands of people and hundreds of community projects.
The Peter Willmott Foundation has two distinct priorities:
The first is supporting communities to thrive via the Building Lives theme of our Now or Never strategy.
Run by our social value specialists, site teams and supply chain partners, programmes are co-created with our customers to meet the needs of local communities. Many of our people support these programmes and examples of some of the award-winning work we have done can be found here.
Key programmes include:
- Building Lives Academies: we give participants the opportunity to learn construction skills and gain hands-on work experience. Our people support with CV writing, job hunting and interview practice to help people to find work, in particular, the long term unemployed or those facing barriers to employment.
- Work experience: We work with educators to deliver classroom teaching and training, raising the profile of construction careers. We create work experience opportunities for schools and colleges in our communities, and we support T level students to gain experience in our industry.
- Social Procurement: We have a sustainable approach to procurement, with around 80% of project budget spent within 40 miles. We also ensure that the partners we work with share our values and whose business practices align with our sustainability and social value goals.
The second is putting purpose at the heart of our business by supporting charities or other organisations financially or with your expertise and tackling societal challenges close to our people's heart. These are identified by our people who strive to make an impact in areas that matter to us most.
Key programmes include:
- The Willmott Dixon Trainee Challenge: Since 2013, the Foundation has annually asked a group of management trainees to devise and deliver a community project that has a positive social or environmental impact.
- Prison-based drylining academies: The Foundation leads our engagement with prisons to help make a positive impact on people and communities. Four schemes are in operation at HMP Lincoln, HMP Elmley, HMP Belmarsh and HMP Cardiff helping prisoners gain the skills and to help them to find employment on release. These academies were pioneered by our people and personally supported by Peter’s son, Rick Willmott, our executive chairman.
- Volunteering and Charity fundraising: We support a range of causes that range from national cancer charities to small local independent special needs schools. Our people have painted walls, created nature spaces, provided specialist advice and support, provided training and been sponsored to walk, hike, cycle, jump to fundraise for these causes.
Our Foundation's 2023 performance:
What we've invested:
What we've achieved:
Using this approach, we have:
- Been awarded the King's Award for Promoting Opportunity (2023) for our work to enhance the life opportunities of others (celebrated by our Interiors team, below).
- Been awarded the Queen's Award for Sustainable Development (2024 and 2019) for our role in preserving the environment and enhancing society's wellbeing.
- Been awarded the Queen's Awards for Enterprise (2018), where we were only one of six companies to achieve this accolade in the category ‘Promoting Opportunity’ through social mobility.
- The Sunday Times Best Companies special award for ‘Giving Back’ in 2019 (between 2018-2020 we were named as a top 5 employer)
- Between 2011-2020 the Foundation made it possible to enhance the life chances of 10,000 young people - a target we hit 19 months early.
- Moved from ad-hoc delivery to programmes of activities that are more efficient to deliver whilst having greater impact.
Watch our video about the Foundation here:
“Our purpose goes beyond profit. Creating value for our communities is something we passionately believe in, and we strive to constantly find new ways to improve social mobility in communities local to our projects and contracts. As a privately-owned company, being a positive force to deliver social cohesion and provide life-long opportunities for people is important for Willmott Dixon, especially for myself as the fifth generation to lead the company. I am proud of the difference we make through the fantastic efforts of our people.”
Rick Willmott, executive chairman.
Social Value
Read more about our approach to social value here.
Ten year anniversary
In 2011, we established the Willmott Dixon Foundation. Our poster charts our achievements over the past decade.