The University of Leeds and National Highways Limited KTP 24_25 R4

National Highways is building a toolkit of practical initiatives to make its workforce—and the entire highways supply chain—more diverse and inclusive, with the goal of improving both employee wellbeing and organisational performance. This matters because the UK’s road network is planned, built, and maintained by a sector that has long struggled with diversity. A lack of inclusion can lead to higher staff turnover, lower morale, and missed opportunities for innovation. The project aims to move beyond one-off training sessions or policy documents, instead embedding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) into everyday operations and decision-making. If the toolkit works, it could shift how thousands of people experience their working lives—from construction crews to traffic officers to office-based engineers. A more inclusive culture tends to retain talent, reduce stress-related absence, and bring a wider range of perspectives to problem-solving. Because National Highways manages motorways and major A-roads, changes in its workforce could ripple through the entire supply chain of contractors and subcontractors that deliver road projects across England. The project does not claim to solve every EDI challenge, but it aims to create a replicable model for systemic change in a large, safety-critical infrastructure organisation.