When I go to site, I love it, and I just feel like I’m in a little sweet shop or something,” says National Highways Civil Engineer Abigail Filby on this week’s Highways Voices – “It is so fun, and you learn so much, and there’s so much experience on site.”

Abigail and colleague Mitchell Mackenzie, who’s a Project Controls Apprentice, join Adrian Tatum on the podcast to discuss attracting people into the industry and how, as Mitchell puts it, “When I was watching Bob the Builder, I never realised how much goes in and how many different roles there are in this industry.”

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The pair have been leaders in National Highways’ social value delivery, presenting on the subject at the organisation’s Engagement Council meeting in Leeds back in March.

“We organised a whole conference, a whole day around that [social value], and we split the day into five main sections, we had breakout rooms, we had a director Q&A panel, we had a CEO Q&A panel, we had like a networking area as well,” explains Abigail, “and then we also had an area where we could get other supply chain companies in to talk about how they’re involved as well,” while Mitchell adds that “The thing about social value, especially within national highways is it’s the key thing that graduate apprentices actually get involved in.”

The pair also talk to Adrian about what more needs to be done to produce more recruits to the industry, their passion for it, and how we could engage better with the travelling public.

On the podcast, you’ll also hear news from our partners including exciting road safety technology and a new guide to industry terminology, and you’ll also year why Stocksigns win our Accolade this week.