Designer Contracts, the UK’s largest flooring contractor, is spearheading a new industry initiative aimed at reversing the crisis level shortage of skilled fitters. On January 17, 2022, the company took on its first cohort of 10, 16 to 18-year-old apprentices under a new block release training scheme launched as a
Peter Kelsey, the man who founded and led Designer Contracts to become the UK’s largest flooring contractor, has been honoured with an Outstanding Achievement in the Flooring Industry award. Announced at the Contract Flooring Journal’s 2021 awards ceremony, held at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire on Friday (September 3), Peter was
Designer Contracts, the UK’s largest flooring contractor, has developed a digital solution to speedier customer service. The company has designed its own app, named Athena, to enable faster response times to customers and to help deliver key performance indicators. For use by staff internally, Athena was trialled at one of
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Designer Contracts, the UK’s largest flooring contractor, is spearheading a new industry initiative aimed at reversing the crisis level shortage of skilled fitters. On January 17, 2022, the company took on its first cohort of 10, 16 to 18-year-old apprentices under a new block release training scheme launched as a joint venture between FITA (Flooring Industry Training Association) and Webs Training Ltd. The apprentices, based around the UK, will attend the FITA training centre in Loughborough for practical training for one week in every eight. In between – over the course of the three-year apprenticeship scheme – they will train with one of Designer Contracts’ employed or sub-contract fitters FITA is also creating a bespoke Designer Contracts’ training standard so the company can assess and further develop its trained, employed fitters. The move follows a growing labour gap and skills crisis over the past two to three years which has seen the emergence of a ‘bidding war’ for the shrinking pool of available fitters. Said Louise Walters, commercial director for Designer Contracts: “The decision to take on 10 apprentices – with plans for a further 10 in 2023 – represents a significant moment for us as a company as well as the new industry training initiative. “Apprenticeships and further training are one way in which we can tackle the chronic skills shortage. As a company we have also been recruiting and directly employing more fitters rather than relying solely on contractors. Over the past two years we have taken on more than 25 fitters, many of them in the past 12 months – and going forward our plan is to directly employ even more. “We still have around 300 contract fitters on our books but as many in the industry will know, accessing this pool of trades people has become increasingly difficult over the past three years. “The CFA has been leading this drive for more training and, through FITA, started delivery of apprenticeships in Loughborough in May 2021 with its first intake of 20 apprentices “We are delighted to be supporting this industry initiative with the largest single intake of apprentices by any one company in the country. It represents a real investment in and commitment to the future of the industry and, as a CFA director and committee member, we are fully behind this scheme.”
Peter Kelsey, the man who founded and led Designer Contracts to become the UK’s largest flooring contractor, has been honoured with an Outstanding Achievement in the Flooring Industry award. Announced at the Contract Flooring Journal’s 2021 awards ceremony, held at Coombe Abbey in Warwickshire on Friday (September 3), Peter was described as a “giant of the UK flooring industry”. An audience of top industry executives heard that Peter had “ensured his company has survived the pandemic and thrived as well. He supports charities and he supports his own employees with mental health programmes during and after the pandemic. He is, everyone would recognise, a very decent man.” After first starting the business from his garage at home, Designer Contracts became an independent company 17 years ago and now employs more than 350 staff across 15 regions with an annual turnover in excess of £40m. Peter himself has some 45 years’ experience in the floorcoverings industry. The early part of his career was in multiple furnishing retailing, from store management to marketing director. In 1992 he started a contracts division for an international retail group. In 2004 the retail group went into administration and Peter bought the flooring division which had built into a £10m business. Designer Contracts has since quadrupled in size. As well as flooring, the company provides curtains and blinds, furniture and lighting, and operates a showhome interior design services division. It works with all the UK’s key new homes developers as well as supplying the social housing and care home sectors, educational establishments and public sector buildings. A personal commitment to sustainability has seen the company named ‘Take Back Partner of the Year’ four times in the Carpet Recycling UK (CRUK) annual awards. And Peter’s many charitable contributions – particularly to Ashgate Hospice in Chesterfield and the national children’s help line, ChildLine – have cemented his reputation as a philanthropic entrepreneur. Said Peter: “The award came as a total surprise – it was a secret that I simply wasn’t in on when I was asked by colleagues to attend the event! I’m incredibly proud of what the company has achieved but without the fantastic team that is Designer Contracts, we wouldn’t be where we are today – it really has been down to the hard work and dedication of a lot of people over many years.”
Designer Contracts, the UK’s largest flooring contractor, has developed a digital solution to speedier customer service. The company has designed its own app, named Athena, to enable faster response times to customers and to help deliver key performance indicators. For use by staff internally, Athena was trialled at one of the company’s regional offices and has now been rolled out across Designer Contract’s remaining 14 regions. Said md, Peter Kelsey: “As we move further into a digital age, we felt the Athena app would be an easy and instant solution for our team to provide an enhanced customer experience. “It was designed in-house so that we could build it to our exact specification and requirements and we’re looking forward to offering our clients quicker query response times.” Designer Contracts, which was recently named as a finalist in the 2020 Lloyds Bank Business Awards, operates across 15 UK regional facilities. As well as flooring, the company provides curtains and blinds, furniture and lighting, and operates a showhome interior design services division.
