Completing the Apprenticeship |
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An award-winning training programme in Miles Platting, east
Renaissance - housing association Adactus, affordable housing developer and regeneration specialist Lovell and Investors in the Community – is carrying out a wide-ranging regeneration programme for the area in partnership with the community, Manchester City Council and New East Manchester. Eight apprentices taken on through the programme this year passed their NVQ Level 2 qualifications in construction trades. Having finished their training, seven have secured full-time work with Lovell, Adactus and construction subcontractors Aqua Interiors, plumbing firm P H Jones and Mark Lowndes Plasterers who are helping deliver the regeneration scheme while the eighth trainee is now working in the insurance sector. In addition, a further three trainees have completed non-construction based qualifications and secured full-time employment in their chosen field within Adactus. Eighteen-year-old Curtis Buckley, from Ancoats, is now employed by plastering firm Mark Lowndes having completed his NVQ 2 qualification. Curtis says: “Getting the apprenticeship has made a real difference to my life. I’d just left school when I started as an apprentice in Miles Platting and two years on, I am a qualified plasterer. Apprenticeships and jobs are hard to come by these days so I’m really pleased.” Lovell craft training advisor Paul Woby says: “The Miles Platting regeneration has always been about providing job and training opportunities as well as delivering physical improvements to the neighbourhood. To see these apprentices develop their skills and now move into full-time employment is very rewarding and an example of the way the regeneration is helping bring about positive changes.”
Eddie Smith, chief executive of New East Manchester, comments: "These young people now have skills that will set them up for life. This scheme has enabled local people to access training and has given them the opportunity to enter a profession and gain full-time employment. We're very grateful to the Renaissance Consortium for creating such a thorough training programme and I'm proud of what the youngsters have achieved in such a short time and wish them well in their future careers. Creating training and employment opportunities is a vital part of our work in making east Natalie Tordoff, head of regeneration and worklessness for the Adactus Housing Group says: “The Renaissance Consortium Apprenticeship scheme has proved to be a tremendous success with 21 young people being employed on the refurbishment scheme in Miles Platting in the first two-and-a-half years, many of whom are from the local area. The major outcome of this programme will hopefully be the lasting legacy left by recruiting local young people to contribute to the regeneration of their neighbourhood.” There are currently ten trainees working on the Miles Platting apprentice programme. The programme won two national Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Academy Awards earlier this year. The scheme was joint winner of the Skills for Better Places category of the national awards organised by the HCA, the government’s national housing and regeneration organisation. In addition, the Miles Platting apprentice programme beat all the other award winners – including housing associations, regeneration organisations and developers – to take the overall Co-operative Award for Excellence. The Miles Platting apprentice training programme has been supported by the New East Manchester Economic Programmes team, Construction Industry Solutions, Work Solutions and The Manchester College. |
The eight trainees successfully completed two-year Modern Apprenticeships through the Renaissance Consortium training programme.