The 14th annual week-long celebration of apprenticeships aims to showcase the impact apprenticeships can have on communities, local businesses and regional economies and how they all benefit from the impact of apprenticeships.
The theme for the week this year is ‘Build the Future’.
At Pobl, we’ll be marking the occasion by sharing stories each day from apprentices who are currently employed on our development sites across Wales. Employment opportunities such as apprenticeships are an important part of the community benefits that our new developments offer to local communities.
This is a great example of how housing organisations and contractors can work together to create training and employment opportunities that will not just benefit local young people, but also the future of the sector, and demonstrates our commitment to making a real difference in the communities where we work.
Jack Bevan
Jack Bevan has been working as an apprentice Site Manager for Jones Brothers (Henllan) Ltd. at our Maes Y Gwenyn development in Cross Hands for almost nine months.
Hailing from Bridgend, Jack’s days start early with a 6am alarm to ensure he is on site for 7am to begin his duties. He told us more about his work:
“I have a range of tasks that I am responsible for completing in a typical week. I carry out daily sign-ins and inductions, which of course includes taking everyone’s temperature on arrival, as part of our covid-19 safety measures. Next, I complete all the paperwork ready for the day ahead and take care of any permits and forms that need filling out. I also receive deliveries and conduct checks across the site. As I’m doing all of this, I’m writing everything down in my diary.”
Alongside his work for Jones Brothers, Jack is studying for a HNC in Construction Technology, and has found that the hands-on experience has been invaluable to his studies:
“I’ve learnt a lot. It’s been a big learning experience, and I have done a lot of the working out for myself. It’s great to work on this site, as I get to see best practice in action: I’m seeing what the standard should be, not just what it has to be.”
This apprenticeship has allowed Jack to retrain into a new career, after previously training to be a carpenter, but finding that he did not enjoy it. However, his carpentry skills have not gone to waste:
“The homes we’re building here are being made from timber frames, so my previous experience as a carpenter has actually been very useful!”
Jack’s future career plans are to progress to become a Site Manager, then an Assistant Project Manager, and one day a Project Manager. He told us that Jones Brothers have been very supportive to him in helping him to achieve his goals:
“Any time I’ve needed a space to do some work in, they’ve found one for me, they even let me work from the Director’s office! They have also helped by providing me with a company laptop to do my college work on, which was absolutely great.”
Jack thoroughly recommends apprenticeships as a route into construction:
“There’s two main benefits to doing an apprenticeship: one, you’re getting paid whilst you learn. And two, the connections and friendships you make with people in the industry are invaluable.”
“We are proud to see our apprentices gain the knowledge and experience required to help them succeed on their career path with Jones Brothers (Henllan) Ltd.” Andrew Giles, Quality Compliance Manager
