AG are proud to celebrate national recognition at the Personnel Today Awards 2025, where its partners And Evolve Ltd were named winners of the Best Workplace Culture Award – Small Employer and finalists for the Learning and Development Award – Small Employer.

This recognition highlights the positive impact of the culture and leadership programme delivered in partnership between AG and And Evolve Ltd, with a strong focus on embedding values, developing leaders and strengthening workplace culture.

AG Paving and Building Products is a third generation, family run paving, walling and brick manufacturer employing over two-hundred people across the UK and Ireland. As the business has grown through acquisitions, AG also took the opportunity to redefine its vision. The focus shifted from being a preferred supplier of sustainable building products to leading the creation of the most sustainable products on the market, supporting the construction industry on its journey to a net zero future.

As the business evolved, it became clear that there was a need to bring people together around a shared culture and identity. While AG’s core values of Customer Care, Innovation, Integrity, Sustainability and Wellbeing were already in place, they were not always fully embedded in everyday behaviours or decision-making.

In mid-2023, AG partnered with And Evolve Ltd on a four-phase culture programme designed to reconnect people with purpose and values.

The first phase involved eleven off-site workshops with employees from every site, role and level of the business. These sessions gave colleagues the opportunity to share what the values meant to them and what they looked like in practice. This feedback was then used to create clear value statements and visual illustrations, helping bring the values to life in a way that felt relevant and meaningful to employees.

Phase Two focused on embedding the values across the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, development and progression. AG’s employee engagement survey was also redesigned to better measure how each value is experienced across the organisation.

Leadership development was the focus of Phase Three, with a four-month Leadership Pathway Programme delivered to managers and leaders across the business. The programme helped build confidence, strengthen team relationships and support leaders in creating high-performing, values-led teams.

The final phase saw the launch of AG’s new engagement survey, Rock Solid Voices, Measuring What Matters, supported by action planning sessions to turn insight into meaningful change.

Since completing this work, AG’s values are now part of everyday conversations across the organisation. New initiatives such as monthly Rock Solid Values meetings, enhanced long service awards, employee recognition programmes and regular company-wide communications are helping to keep the values front of mind.

Stephen Acheson, CEO of AG, commented,

“Our values are now a platform for us to have regular meetings to recognise and celebrate when people go above and beyond, to discuss the values, and highlight areas where we need to improve.

Twelve months ago, it was rare to hear people talk about our values, now every day I hear it and hear examples of people using them when making decisions. One of the first things that hit you when you walk through our offices and factories. The value you get from such a project is really truly immense!”

Banner Image – Pictured L-R: Amy Billings, Leadership & Engagement Manager at &Evolve, Laura Ferris, HR Administrator at AG, Brenda O’Mullan, Head of HR at AG, Cathy Read, HR Business Partner at AG,  and Amrit Sandhar, CEO of &Evolve.