Member Article

Trio of new apprentices appointed at engineering firm

Leeds based Adept Civil and Structural Consulting Engineers has appointed three new apprentices in the tenth year of the firm’s apprenticeship scheme. Matthew McGarvey, Luke Whitaker and Lucy Abbott, who are all 17 years old, join just as Adept’s first ever apprentices complete university degrees in Civil Engineering and prepare to embark on the next stage of their careers at the firm. Erol Erturan, Managing Director at Adept, says: “We have been recruiting apprentices into our 34-strong team since 2007 and believe supporting local young people to move into the engineering and STEM sectors is vital to the industry, whilst also helping to close the skills gap. We typically take on 16-18 year old apprentices, and always find that apprenticeships prove to be hugely valuable to both our business and the apprentices alike. “Through the scheme we are able to bring young, enthusiastic talent into the team, who already have a good understanding of digital technology, which means they are able to grasp the very latest digital engineering systems very quickly. Teaching them skills in Building Information Modelling (BIM) is very rewarding and enjoyable, and the students are integrated into our team from day one. They typically really thrive in a working environment, and we are able to build relationships which we hope will last after the apprenticeship, and into full time employment. “To date we have taken on ten apprentices, nine of whom are still employed at various levels throughout the business and two of them are now university graduates, which is a superb endorsement for our scheme. All the others are continuing through further education and other professional development routes, with Adept’s support, which is something we are very proud of.” Matthew is currently studying at Leeds College of Building and spends four days a week at Adept and one day at the College. After completing his Level 5 BTEC in Construction and the Built Environment over the next 18 months, he hopes to continue working at Adept whilst studying part-time at University to achieve a degree in Engineering and become a fully qualified structural engineer. Luke is currently studying a BTEC Level 3 in Civil Engineering at Leeds College of Builidng, which will take two years. Spending four days a week with Adept where he will work on calculations and plans for various projects, he plans on continuing to work for Adept whilst completing Levels 4 & 5 of his BTEC qualifications. Lucy is undertaking a 12 month Level 2 Business Administration Apprenticeship with Key Training. She currently supports Adept’s administration team, managing timesheets, project information planning and carrying out a wide range of administrative and reception duties. She plans to complete Levels 2 and then progress onto Level 3. Matthew says: “It’s a great opportunity for me to be in an environment with so many experienced engineers, who are working on a range of high profile structural and civil engineering projects across the UK. I’m gaining lots of valuable experience, whilst also achieving the right industry qualifications, and I hope to prove to Adept that I can be a valuable member of their team for many years to come.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Mortimer .