Exeter construction firm Coreus named UK’s best workplace for young staff

A fast-growing construction consultancy has beaten major national brands to be named the UK's best workplace for young employees.

Coreus Group, which was founded in Exeter in 2019, took the top spot for 16 to 34-year-olds in the Sunday Times Best Places to Work awards.

The firm, which offers perks including unlimited holiday and flexible working, beat household names such as Octopus Energy and Brighton & Hove Albion FC to become the first construction consultancy to win the accolade.

The construction sector has traditionally struggled with an ageing workforce and a widening skills shortage. Leaders at Coreus say their rapid expansion from a one-person startup to a national firm employing nearly 100 people across five UK offices is a direct result of modernising workplace culture to reverse those trends.

Around 70 per cent of the consultancy's workforce is aged between 16 and 40, with apprentices making up 10% of the staff and women accounting for a third of the team.

Founder Andrew Clancy said the company was built to be a place where people "genuinely want to work," but noted his biggest pride was seeing young staff step into leadership roles far faster than the industry norm.

"A lot of traditional industries still operate around old assumptions about hierarchy and how careers should progress, but younger people simply won’t tolerate that anymore," Mr Clancy said.

The firm's management believes modern construction roles now require a much broader spectrum of skills beyond technical delivery, including sustainability, technology, and social value.

Among the young staff taking on major responsibilities is 23-year-old project manager Millie Lockyer. Having joined the company through an apprenticeship, she now oversees multi-million-pound regeneration schemes, including a £15 million project in Yeovil town centre.

"I don’t think many people expect somebody my age to be leading projects of this scale, but Coreus has always focused more on attitude and potential than age or hierarchy," Ms Lockyer said.

Managing director James Colthart added that younger generations entering the job market now expect openness, flexibility, and purpose.

"We have created a culture where people are trusted early, supported properly and given real responsibility regardless of age," he said.

Alongside its commercial growth, the business operates a charitable foundation, which has donated more than £90,000 to community and education initiatives over the past 18 months. These include funding school apprenticeship pathways and buying books for every child born in Chard, Somerset, over a five-year period.