2025 Workplace Culture Award national winner: Barr Group Ltd

National winner: Barr Build

The new Workplace Culture Award celebrates businesses that demonstrate an exceptional commitment to fostering a positive, inclusive, safe, and productive environment for their people. Winning the award in its first year, Barr Group Ltd in Oxfordshire, with 18 years of trading and a team of just under 50, stands as a prime example of a business that champions a people-first approach.

Having undergone a significant cultural transformation over the last four years, the business consulted its team, partners, community and industry to understand their

needs, with “people” emerging as a common thread. Initiatives such as a company-wide charity and community programme was established, company policies were reworked with a focus on equality and diversity, ethics and social responsibility, and communication within the company was transformed using live-video updates and image-based WhatsApp notifications.

Since the internal transformation, the team reports feeling happier at work, proud to be part of the business and working together to make a difference in their community. Addressing the construction industry’s gender imbalance is also an ongoing effort; female quantity surveyors and joinery managers now lead the charge for ‘women in construction’ for the business.

Barr Group also prioritises the development and wellbeing of its team, ensuring support through all stages of their careers by offering initiatives such as an apprenticeship scheme overseen by an in-house training coordinator, pathways to skilled positions, and monthly online sessions focusing on topics like work-life balance and depression.

Judges praised this workplace culture, which showcases strong examples of how to optimise work environments for a diverse workforce.