Family Business Week 2023: celebrating a decade of Novus

It’s Family Business Week! This annual celebration shines a spotlight on family businesses and the important role they play in communities and in the economy – both of which are often underestimated. The event’s theme for 2023 is ‘Future Leaders’, which highlights those shaping family business for the next generation.

As a family-owned business currently led by fourth and fifth generation family members, we’re proud to celebrate Family Business Week, but it’s more special than ever for us this year as we mark our tenth anniversary. In this blog, we’ll be taking a look back at our history and how family values have been key to our success over the past decade, as well as shining a light on our own future leaders.

National business, family values

While Novus Property Solutions was officially launched ten years ago, we’re incredibly proud of our rich 125-year history.

In 1897, brothers George and John Seddon set up a small building company near Bolton with little more than a handcart, a strong work ethic, and ambition. The company grew significantly over the years and in 2013 saw a restructure, with the John Seddon branch of the business rebranded as Novus Property Solutions.

Although Novus now operates as its own trading entity, we’re proud to still work in accordance with the strong family beliefs and values instilled by George and John under the ownership of the Seddon family.

This core set of values is known as ‘the Novus Way’, and each act as guiding principles for creating a stronger and more successful business. People are at the heart of our values, and we’re committed to continuing to build a legacy where people can live, work, and thrive.

Celebrating a decade of success

This people-centric ethos has played a vital role in Novus’ success and development. We’re incredibly grateful to our colleagues, clients, end users and the wider communities in which we work for helping to make Novus the business it is today, which is why our people are at the heart of our tenth anniversary celebrations.

As well as hosting events at our regional offices, attended by members of the Seddon family, we launched our ‘Shining Stars’ initiative in January. This monthly award recognises the fantastic work our team does and rewards those who truly embody our values.

We’re also proud to be celebrating our tenth anniversary through fundraising and a series of other charity initiatives. We’ve raised an incredible £30,000 this year so far for a variety of charities including the Lighthouse Club, which supports construction workers and their families, as well as donating to deserving projects through our Build Back Better initiative. What’s more, we’ve continued to support a variety of causes in the communities we work in, from food banks to educational support programmes.

Investing in our future leaders

While we’re celebrating our tenth anniversary this year, we’re always looking to the future too, and we’re dedicated to ensuring Novus remains a great place to work. This is vital to securing our future as a family business in an industry facing a number of challenges.

With this in mind, we’re committed to embodying our position a leading ‘21^st century’ contractor, and diversity and inclusion play a significant role in this ambition. For example, we launched our Inclusion Strategy earlier this year, and have introduced some industry-leading policies such as our Menopause Policy and Family Friendly Policy. We’re also proud to have five board-sponsored network groups, including our Women in Novus (WiN) network, to help us create a workplace free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination.

We know that taking steps like these is key to not only attracting the future leaders of the industry, but also to ensuring they stay with us. We’re proud to have a number of longstanding colleagues across the business, including several members of our senior leadership team, who have progressed from junior roles within the business with our full support and through our training and development programmes.

These initiatives have played and will continue to play an important role in securing the future leaders of our family business, and we’re looking forward to the next decade of Novus.