A leading housebuilder has shown its commitment to the future of the housing industry in South Wales by recruiting six new apprenticeships.
The six young people taken on in South Wales are among 48 recruited across the UK, as Redrow Homes significantly increases its intake of trainees, helping to ensure a successful future for the construction sector.
Redrow training manager, Richard Beadsmoore said: “We strongly believe that in order for the industry to go from strength to strength we must commit resources to encouraging young people to take up skilled careers in all aspects of construction, including bricklaying, plumbing and carpentry.
“Much skilled labour has been lost during the economic downturn so it is absolutely essential that we bring in new life blood. These apprentices will hopefully repay our faith and investment in them with their loyalty and dedication either through a career with Redrow or with one of our sub-contractors.”
The new South Wales apprentices are based at Redrow’s sites in Cardiff, Ebbw Vale, Swansea, Ystrad Mynach, near Caerphilly, and Carmarthen.
One apprentice who is grasping the opportunity provided by Redrow is Cardiff teenager Rhys Jenkins.
The 18-year-old, from Riverside, has just embarked on a three-year bricklaying apprenticeship with Redrow and will split his time between studying at Barry College, where he is working towards his Construction Industry Training Board certificate in carpentry, and working on site on Redrow’s redevelopment of Ninian Park.
He said: “The apprenticeship is a great opportunity to get ‘on the job’ experience and gain a recognised qualification. I had been applying for various apprenticeships for a couple of years but with so few businesses recruiting apprentices it was a struggle. I feel very lucky to be taken on by Redrow and hopefully this is the start of my career in the industry.”
Redrow’s other new apprentices are carpenter Nathan Parry, 17, based at Cae Ffwrnais in Ebbw Vale, plumber Chris Gethin, 27, based at Cwm Calon in Ystrad Mynach and bricklayer Stefan Davies, 17, carpenter Nicolas Davies, 18, and plumber Luke Burrows, 16, who all split their time between Awel-y-Mor, in Birchgrove near Swansea and Redrow’s new site in Crosshands, Carmarthen.
The 48 new apprentices taken on this year across Redrow’s UK-wide operation is more than double those recruited in 2008 and 2009 combined.
The Redrow apprenticeship programme combines ‘on-the-job’ paid work experience and an academic qualification; usually an NVQ completed over three-years.
Apprentices are placed with an experienced and trusted sub-contractor, where they can learn the skills required to do their chosen job whilst working on Redrow developments. They are also given access to learning required to obtain their qualifications, usually via a day-release college course.
See Also: Property News (6701), Redrow (148), Cardiff (17), Ebbw Vale (3), Swansea (19), Ystrad Mynach (6), Carmarthen (1)
Date Published: 16 November 2010
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