Member Article

Procure Plus building longer-term apprentice opportunities in Stockport

North West procurement consortium, Procure Plus, and Stockport Homes are bridging the region’s construction skills gap with an apprenticeship scheme delivered via new build development projects.

Local apprentices can now achieve greater stability throughout their training by working on a series of consecutive short term contracts which are secured using Procure Plus’ New Build Brokerage Model.

Kate Parker, community investment and training manager, at Procure Plus, said: “Combining the available workloads of local contractors through this scheme means that apprentices are no longer employed on short term contracts which can destabilise their training and weaken their skillsets.

The New Build Brokerage Model prevents apprentices being delayed in their progression as a result of few long-term contracts in the region and includes guidance into permanent employment once qualified.

The two organisations trialled the initiative from 2013 and matched four Stockport apprentices to appropriate jobs based on their existing skills and experience with support from contractors, Bullock Construction, The Casey Group Ltd and B4Box.

Stockport-based tradesmen and former apprentices Patrick Owen, Michael Atherton, Lee Rowles, and Chris Boland are the first to benefit from the scheme after working with Bullock on Stockport Homes’ Peacefields site in Marple, and The Casey Group on new build projects at Essex Road.

Kate Parker added: “Our flexible means of working has set a new, improved blueprint for training apprentices and addresses the region’s construction skills gap while fulfilling our members’ commitment to investment in the community.”

Lindsay Grey, development officer at Stockport Homes, added: “Working with Procure Plus has allowed us to bring Bullock and The Casey Group together and offer a comprehensive training programme across multiple new build sites, which tackles the issues related to short term contracts and allows us to ensure our local apprentices are provided with the best start to their career possible.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .