The success of the apprenticeship scheme run by Liverpool-based social housing and regeneration organisation, Riverside, and building contractor, Evolve, has inspired the two companies to launch a whole new scheme to help encourage young people to choose careers in construction.
The scheme is taking on four young trainees to work on practical, building apprenticeships, while another apprentice will study the administrative side of the building industry. Riverside’s project officer, Phil McNabb, said that they received hundreds of applications for the roles and, in order to try to help as many people as possible, they were inspired to start up another initiative.
He explained, “We were inundated with so many high quality applications, we wanted to look to see if we could help those candidates who had been unsuccessful this time gain the skills, experience and qualifications for future applications.”
So the two organisations launched the Talent Pool Project (TPP) to benefit many of the top unsuccessful apprenticeship candidates.
More than forty of the applicants were chosen to take part in the first phase of the TPP, where they were able to gain their Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) license, covering all the basics needed to work on a professional site. Twenty of that group then progresses to the second phase, to carry out theoretical and classroom-based training. Eight of those trainees gained their NVQ Level 1 in Construction and moved on to the third phase, which involved them working on an empty property, putting their newly-gained skills to work.
McNabb explained, “The [fourth and] final stage of the programme aims to secure either apprenticeships or paid employment for the trainees. Hopefully this can be done through Riverside’s own procurement contracts as there are two sites being developed on the Langley estate, one on the former Cardinal’s Hat site and the other on the Hellvellyn site.”