Costain Group PLC

Costain helps to improve people’s lives by creating connected, sustainable infrastructure that enables people and the planet thrive. Our ambition is to become a net zero business by 2035.

Established: 1865

No. of employees: 4,500

Career zones: Engineering, Construction & Property, Consultancy

Location: East Midlands, East of England, Greater London, Midlands, Nationwide, North, North East, North West, South East, South West, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, Scotland

Website: https://www.costain.com

About

Costain helps to improve people’s lives by creating connected, sustainable infrastructure that enables people and the planet thrive. We shape, create and deliver pioneering solutions that transform the performance of the infrastructure ecosystem across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets.

We are organised around our customers anticipating and solving their challenges and helping to improve performance. By bringing together our unique mix of construction, consulting and digital experts we engineer and deliver sustainable, efficient and practical solutions.

Our ambition is to become a net zero business by 2035, while enhancing biodiversity and natural capital, and we have plans in place to deliver this. We are committed to procure responsibly and to be an inclusive and accessible business for all, enabling us to be our best while focusing on the outcomes that we deliver for people and planet.

At Costain, we have a vibrant, challenging and growing business – an environment that provides tremendous opportunities for everybody. We're looking for curious, collaborative and courageous people who'll help transform the performance of the infrastructure ecosystem across the UK.

To find out more about Costain, follow the link here: About us | Costain

Apprenticeships

What is an apprenticeship?

An apprenticeship is a combination of employment and formally recognised training that is available to anyone entitled to work in the UK. As an apprentice you would study towards nationally recognised qualifications, whilst working on your project.

Apprentices complete a programme of training which may last from 12– 60 months, depending on the level of study being undertaken. You will then be required to undertake an End Point Assessment (EPA) which is a fundamental part of the apprenticeship award. EPA may take up to an additional six months after completion of formal training and will take the form of a final exam/assessment.

Why choose an apprenticeship with Costain?

Our apprentice programmes offer you the opportunity to continue working towards a recognised qualification, whilst working alongside highly skilled people who can help you develop and grow into the discipline of your choice.

You’ll work on some of the UK’s biggest infrastructure projects across a variety of industry sectors
A structured development programme, including academic study and on the job experience, leading to a certificated recognised apprenticeship
As an apprentice within Costain you will operate as a fully integrated member of the team, whose input and contribution will be valued alongside your colleagues.
Support to achieve professional membership of a relevant institution
A range of training providers at locations across the UK
Competitive salary with two pay reviews per year
You will be working with people that want you to succeed. We have a dedicated early careers team and local site support for apprentices.

To find out more about Apprenticeships here at Costain, follow the link here:Apprenticeships | Costain

To take a look in to the life of an Apprentice here at Costain, follow the link here: Lacey Hollingsworth, apprentice civil engineer | Costain

Diversity and Inclusion

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Costain is an inclusive and family friendly employer: we are committed to tackling systemic barriers to create a psychologically safe workplace, where everyone has equal opportunities to reach their full potential.

We know that by being more diverse, we will be more innovative, have a greater understanding of our clients’ needs and will deliver smarter, more inclusive solutions.Our goal is to have a workforce that is representative of society and our 2021 Inclusion Strategy sets out the actions we need to take to achieve our goal.At Costain, we currently have six inclusion networks:

Disability and Wellbeing Network
LGBT+ & Allies Network
Parenting and Carers Network
Religion, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage Network
Services and Service Families Network
Women’s Network

All employees are encouraged to join any of the inclusion networks as members of the represented group or as active allies. Our members and allies have an essential role to play in creating our inclusive and intersectional culture.

Empowering Costain women

We were delighted to be named in The Times Top 50 Employers for women lists in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. Being a part of the list for four consecutive years is recognition of the progress we have made to address gender equality in the workplace.Costain is a signatory to the Women in Rail’s EDI Charter, the Inspiring Women in Construction Pledge and the Menopause Workplace Pledge. In 2022 we launched our Menopause Plan, to provide our employees with access to a dedicated menopause GP and ongoing support.The Costain Women's Network celebrates, supports and connects women, whilst advising on the attraction, progression and retention of women in the business.

Addressing Costain’s race disparities

As part of out commitment to the Business in the Community (BITC) 2020 Race at Work Charter, Costain has published its Ethnicity Pay Gaps in 2022 , which we will continue to in order to measure our progress.

In 2020, Costain was one of the first fifty signatories to the Change the Race Ratio. Our pledge commits us to creating an inclusive culture in which talent from all diversities can thrive. This includes increasing racial and ethnic diversity among board members and senior leaders.

The Costain REACH Network promotes, values and celebrates diversity by connecting employees of difference cultures and backgrounds.

Including all of the LGBT+ spectrum

Costain is a Stonewall Diversity Champion and regularly submits to the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index (WEI). In 2022 we were awarded Silver Employer status.

The Costain LGBT+ and Allies Network aims to support colleagues who identify as LGBT+, educate allies on LGBT+ inclusion matters and connect out colleagues across the organisation.

Supporting our parents and carers

We promote dynamic working for all, recognising the support this gives to parents and carers, as well as empowering employees to manage their wellbeing.

Our family leave procedures and policies are inclusive and apply to all partnerships. In addition to statutory parental leave, we offer enhanced company maternity, paternity and shared parental leave.

Costain is a member of Working Families and is regularly assessed against their Top Employers Benchmark.

Our Parenting and Carers Network offers support to anyone that may be facing the challenges of being a parent or carer, or both. They actively raise the profile of flexible and dynamic working, so that people can be allowed the space for taking care of their loved ones.

Connecting our services and service families

Costain is a supportive employer of reservists, veterans, service leavers and their families. In 2021, we re-signed the Armed Forces Covenant showing our commitment to supporting the employment of service spouses and partners, and we have recently achieved a Gold Award with the Employer Recognition Scheme.

Costain works closely with BuildForce, to recruit ex-service personnel, and provides flexibility in granting leave for partners or forces members before deployments and offering additional paid leave for military training.

The Services and Service Families’ Network purpose is to create an inclusive and supportive community for those connected to the military or emergency services and prevent any member from ever feeling isolated.

Find out more here: Equality, diversity and inclusion | Costain

Sustainability

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

We want to create connected, sustainable infrastructure which helps people and our planet to thrive. As an industry, we’re facing ESG opportunities and challenges and we need to be equipped and accountable for delivering our ESG goals.

Our three ambitions are:

Environment: Safeguard our planet’s future.
Social: Create a positive legacy for our people and communities.
Governance: Deliver strong, sustainable financial and ethical performance for our stakeholders.

Underpinning these ambitions are nine ESG priorities. Our ESG programme builds momentum year-on-year to help embed and deliver sustainable business principles.

We report on our progress annually, click here to access our latest ESG reports.

Climate Change Action

Addressing climate change is the biggest challenge of the 21st century and businesses, society and government all have a significant part to play.

We have set an ambition to lead UK infrastructure into a zero carbon future by 2035 at the latest, supporting the Government in meeting their 2050 target. Read more in our Climate Change Action Plan.

Social value

Social value isn’t a new concept to us. In fact, we have been delivering it on our contracts for decades and offer an advisory service with our team of experts. We don't just build infrastructure; we build communities, drive sustainability, and create lasting positive change. That’s why we’ve committed to improving one million lives by 2030. Discover more in our Social Value Plan.

Graduate

Graduate programme

The programme covers a variety of diverse disciplines, from traditional roots into civil engineering, quantity surveying, electrical and mechanical engineering through to data developers, finance, consultancy, digital innovation, environmental advisors and project controls/management.

We are constantly reviewing our offering to meet the changing needs of the business and of society in a bid to deliver on our purpose of improving people’s lives.

Why choose Costain?

Costain provides a career in a well-recognised and respected organisation who push the boundaries of technology and complex program delivery in a variety of sectors. As a member of our graduate programme, you will:

Work alongside high calibre colleagues
Have opportunities in a diverse range of sectors, locations and business areas
Take part in continued technical training tailored to your discipline, participate in a number of development activities to grow your business and personal skills to accelerate your people and client facing skills
Take part in community projects to support our corporate, social and environmental (CSR) goals and contribute to the growth of others
Be able to access a company-approved further-learning scheme so BEng graduates can bridge the gap to MEng learning whilst saving a year’s tuition fees
Begin your journey to professional chartership in the discipline of your choice
Competitive salary with two pay reviews per year.

What we offer

We aim to kick start your career through a two-year development programme, enhanced by behavioural and technical skills training in specific skill sets, designed to fast track you to chartered status with a wide number of professional institutions within five years.

The programme includes:

A variety of specifically designed development programmes, designed to supplement your development at crucial times, allowing you to concentrate time on your own development, build all-important relationships with your cohort and to network with senior Costain staff helping you to create a network of contact across the divisions/sectors and sites for the future
A number of modular training courses, as well as regular technical and safety-critical courses in line with your role and the sector or project in which you work
An opportunity to work on live business tasks sponsored by Costain’s senior leadership team, engaging you with our research, innovation and corporate responsibility agenda while enabling you to develop competencies above and beyond those you are expected to demonstrate during the day job
Fully trained professional development mentors and regular professional development days where you can learn from graduates from your disciple or discipline leads
Beyond programme support to ensure that you are fully embedded within the business and continue to be supported in the first year of your substantive role
Dedicated central Early Careers team and local site support for apprentices
We want to provide work experience that supplements our graduates’ development and meets their aspirations. After a settling in period, we can offer the flexibility to rotate around Costain’s sectors and projects. We also offer internal secondments so you can explore new areas of the business and external secondments so you can work with our partners or supply chain to build your capabilities in areas such as engineering design.

What we’re looking for

We are looking for skilled, energetic, flexible and motivated students and graduates who are committed to helping us become the leader in our current markets and in those yet to be discovered.

We are seeking graduates with a good result (typically a 2:1) in a relevant degree subject (please note this varies in line with the job in question).

Application process

Our graduate vacancies open in the 4th quarter of each year and we aim to close early in the first quarter of the following year.

Applications will be sifted for suitability and then passed to line managers who will short list those candidates they would like to invite to interview and or assessment centre.

Successful applicants who are invited to attend an interview/assessment centre will be advised of the outcome and a start date agreed with the hiring project and the candidate.

We aim to onboard our annual cohort in August/September but this can vary depending on the needs of the project in question.

At offer stage we will ask you for a copy of your passport (or alternative identification) and any right to work documentation you may have, for verification purposes before confirming the actual offer and the start date.

The formal graduate development programme will begin with a Launchpad event held during September to October. Subsequent development modules and technical training will be scheduled across the following two years running alongside your day job.

Meet some of our Graduates here: Katherine Lockley, Graduate project manager | Costain / Sam Derbyshire, Finance graduate | Costain