World Mental Health Day is observed on October 10th each year to raise awareness about mental health issues and promote global action.

“Changing the Narrative on Suicide” is this year’s theme for World Suicide Prevention Day and is something we can all contribute to. It can be as simple as starting a conversation in the canteen about suicide or sharing resources in your local sports centre or youth club. No matter how big or small the action, we can all provide hope to those who are struggling.

Today we have appointed Brian Long as its new Group Health, Safety & Wellbeing Director. He will join in September and sit on the Group’s Executive Committee, reporting to Chief Executive Officer, Eoghan O’Lionaird. .

‘Creating Hope Through Action’ is the theme of this year’s World Suicide Prevention Day (10 Sep) – and it’s something we can all get behind.  It can be as simple as starting a conversation in the canteen about suicide or sharing information in your local sports centre or youth club.  No matter how big or small the action, we can all provide hope to those who are struggling.

Our people have voted for a new company charity partner for the next three years:  PAPYRUS, the national charity dedicated to the prevention of suicide and the promotion of positive mental health and emotional wellbeing in young people. The charity specifically works with people aged 35 and under, as suicide is the biggest killer of people in this age group in the UK.

On 10th February, we paused activity at all our construction sites to stream to our teams an interview between Dame Judith Hackitt and our Construction Managing Director, Mark Tant, on the importance of the Building Safety Act and supporting a culture of responsibility.

John Dunne spoke to Construction News on the steps Wates has taken to tackle the stigma of mental health in the workplace.

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Kelly Osborne, Head of Health and Wellbeing at Wates Group, writes in Employee Benefits this week about what more employers can do to support staff with stress.

To mark World Suicide Prevention Day on 10 September, we’re encouraging everyone across the business to seize the opportunity to have a conversation about some of the myths around suicide.

20 MAY 2021

Being resilient doesn’t mean you won’t have curve balls thrown at you in life but it’s about being equipped with the tools to manage that pressure and adversity in both your professional and personal lives.

Wates is marking Mental Health Awareness Week with the announcement of a business-wide programme of personal resilience training.

At Wates we recognise Mental Health Awareness Week because it’s our opportunity to really shine the light on mental health, get people talking about it, and give them the space to have some open and honest conversations.

“At Wates, the wellbeing of every single colleague is our top priority and that means we have to tackle the causes as well as the symptoms.” Paul Chandler, Executive MD, Wates Construction

Wates is using World Suicide Prevention Day as a call to action, to encourage colleagues to help create ‘suicide safer communities’, where  they can talk openly and less secretively about suicide.

The importance of talking about suicide and how companies like Wates are supporting  organisations such as the suicide prevention charity Papyrus, which aims to prevent suicide among young people.

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Paul Chandler, Group Managing Director of Wates Construction, shares a personal story why the Royal London Hospital project means more to him than any other project.

Update from the Wates Group on site operations (27 March).

Wates is pausing activity on all construction, engineering, fit-out, housebuilding and planned maintenance projects for 48 hours from the close of business today (Tuesday 24 March)