Member Article

North East training company provides path for construction apprentices

A North East apprentice training provider held an open day last week designed to highlight the shortage of apprentices in the construction industry.

Northern Construction Training, the charitable arm of Northern Construction Group, offered employers and interested learners the opportunity to find out more about and support their training opportunities and the need for more apprentices in construction.

The event, at Northern’s training centre at Benfield Business Park, Newcastle, was attended by Chris Chivers, vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB) and director of Greylough Ltd, who bemoaned the so-called ‘lost generation’ and stated the need for 182,000 new jobs in construction by 2018.

The event showcased Northern’s work with 16-18 year old bricklaying and joinery apprentices in the completion of their NVQ Level 2, and discussed the importance of investing in and developing young people.

Not-for-profit Northern Construction Training trains 80 apprentices on their CITB (Construction Industry Training Board) accredited training programme, rotating them between employers and their training centre, where the apprentices are constantly monitored, by both internal and external assessors.

Chris Chivers, vice president of the Chartered Institute of Building

Employers involved in the scheme with Northern include distinguished construction firms like Wates Construction, Interserve, Koru, Your Homes Newcastle and Keepmoat Group.

Jamie Paterson, owner and managing director of Northern Construction Group, said: “We are in a unique position at Northern to provide the construction industry with the right candidates, who, upon completion of our programme, possess the requisite skill set and work ethic to integrate within any construction team and add value to projects as well as contributing to the local community.

“We are unique in the regard that our directors are still involved in industry, and still running major projects. We are a major provider of construction apprentices in the North East and we have a very high success rate in identifying employment opportunities for our apprentices.

“Not only are we working with local employers and government to provide training and career prospects for these apprentices, we are doing so using best practice techniques as recognised here today by Chris on behalf of the CIOB.”

Indeed, Northern Construction Training have been shortlisted for Building Magazine’s Training Initiative of the Year award to be announced in April. Jamie has also been shortlisted for Young Achiever of the Year by Construction Excellence North East.

Northern attribute this, in part, to their comprehensive training scheme, and the immersion in industry from commencement.

Pete Tighe, commercial director of Northern Construction Training and regional committee member of the CIOB, likened the scheme to learning to drive. He said: “Even when a person has passed their driving test, they aren’t a great driver. They have learned the basics. It is the experience and aptitude they gain from being out on the road post-test that counts.

“It is the same with apprentices. It is that experience gained in industry, from the start of our scheme, that engenders the drive and capability in apprentices and satisfies employers.”

The open day - preceding the CIOB North East Annual Dinner held at Gosforth Park Marriott Hotel on Friday night - was also attended by several large construction companies, including Wates and Frank Haslam Milan (part of Keepmoat Group), as well as BE Group, an independent business services group who facilitated £60,000 funding for Northern last August.

Wates endorse Northern’s philosophy on apprentice development, with all projects over £1 million having to involve a social enterprise such as Northern, something Chris Chivers described as “commendable, but one voice in a wilderness”.

Despite the recent economic upturn in the UK, the construction industry is bedevilled by staff shortages, in particular apprentices.

Only 7,280 16-24 year olds completed a construction apprenticeship last year, while apprenticeship starts are down 33% to 14,000 since 2010.

Jamie Paterson asserted that “as a not-for-profit organisation we (Northern Construction Training) are always keen to bang the drum about what we are doing for young people and raise awareness of the imminent skills shortfall.”

Chancellor George Osborne’s 2014 Budget, released last week, sought to address the problem.

A raft of new measures were announced, including an extra £170 million for 100,000 new grants to employers on the Apprenticeship Grants for Employers (AGE) scheme over the next two years, and a 2% increase in the national minimum wage for apprentices.

Chris Chivers, though, says more needs to be done. He said: “There needs to be a structured model in place for apprentices, for example an initiative that there should be one apprentice for every £100,000 spent on a construction project. They could then be moved around through the supply chain, and have a specific person responsible for apprentice monitoring, thus the apprentices gain competence in the industry.

“UK construction, and the UK economy as a whole, desperately needs new apprentices to come through. When the recession hit, older people thought it was the right time to retire. The consequence of this is we can’t get enough brickworkers now. However, this opens up opportunities for apprenticeship training scheme providers like Northern to capitalise on.”

Northern’s 15,000 sq ft training centre, adjacent to its offices, comprises a joinery and bricklaying centre, where apprentices build door panels, tables, and construct walls amongst other things, and embrace ‘real world’ learning, not just the vocational side; working to deadlines, understanding the importance of punctuality, respecting colleagues and employers, and developing a work ethic.

It is a hive of activity, a cacophony of sounds - hammers, saws, drills, chatter - and smells, with the whole experience instilling a real desire to work in the apprentices.

Chris Chivers concluded: “It’s really gratifying to see this kind of set up, and how, as an industry, we can all work together to ensure the ‘lost generation’ is no more.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .