Today’s apprentices, tomorrow’s industry

ConstructionSkills is working with many of our leading construction companies to encourage them to take on apprentices and to engage their supply chains in training them.

The organisation’s Strategic Account team has met with ten companies so far – and five have already agreed to commit to taking on as many apprentices in 2009 as they did last year. 
Laing O’Rourke plc, the UK’s largest privately-owned construction solutions company, has announced a significant overhaul of its apprenticeship programme to assist the economic recovery in UK construction.

In partnership with ConstructionSkills, Laing O’Rourke’s ambitious new programme – Apprenticeship Plus – will see current apprentice intake levels rise by 200 later this year.
A further 800 will follow through engagement with commercial partners across Laing O’Rourke’s supply chain.

Chairman and Chief Executive Ray O’Rourke described the initiative as a ‘step-change for this industry’. He said: “We see the current economic backdrop as a time to identify opportunities – and there is no better time and opportunity than now to invest in the future.”                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ConstructionSkills’ Chief Executive, Mark Farrar, welcomed Laing O’Rourke’s initiative. He said: “In our role as a leading Sector Skills Council, we are looking strategically at the long-term future of apprenticeships to ensure they support the industry’s future skills needs. This joint venture with Laing O’Rourke is one of the first tangible outcomes of this work.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
Paddy O’Rourke, Laing O’Rourke’s Director of Education, said it was “vitally important” to keep the company’s focus on developing talent for the future. “We have been collaborating with the team at ConstructionSkills for some time, and all of us are driving forward to ensure we deliver on our commitments to the talent of tomorrow. There is no wiser investment.”

Construction companies Kier, Connaught and Nuttalls have also agreed to equal their 2008 apprenticeship figures.

And all ten companies approached by ConstructionSkills to date have agreed to in principal to take on displaced apprentices, subject to location and trade.

ConstructionSkills is also encouraging the top 30 companies to ensure their supply chains are training apprentices, by insisting on this as a contractual obligation in procurement packages. So far Willmott Dixon and Laing O’Rourke have agreed to this. 

For more information on ConstructionSkills Apprenticeships please visit www.cskills.org/apprenticeships or call your local ConstructionSkills office on 0344 994 4411