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Gordon Brown with the apprentices
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Prime Minister Gordon Brown met two apprentices who have launched construction careers working for affordable housing developer and regeneration specialist Lovell on an award-winning apprentice programme in east Manchester.
Trainee joiner Thomas Chadwick and qualified plasterer Curtis Buckley were among apprentices invited to meet the PM at the Sportcity stadium in Medlock Valley, east Manchester.
Thomas and Curtis have both benefited from Modern Apprenticeships delivered through the training programme set up by the Renaissance Consortium which is made up of Lovell, housing association Adactus and Investors in the Community. Renaissance is carrying out a wide-ranging housing regeneration programme for the area in partnership with the community, Manchester City Council and New East Manchester, including the refurbishment of nearly 1,500 council homes.
Twenty-one young people have worked on the Miles Platting apprentice scheme in its first two-and-a-half years. In 2009, the first eight apprentices taken on passed their NVQ Level 2 qualifications with all going on to secure full-time jobs. Among them was Curtis Buckley, from Ancoats, who is still based on the Miles Platting scheme and is now working for plastering firm Mark Lowndes. He 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.” The other apprentice who met the PM, Thomas Chadwick, from Miles Platting, is a current trainee on the Miles Platting programme and is working towards NVQ Level 2 joinery qualifications.
The success of the Miles Platting apprentice scheme saw it receive two national Homes and Communities Agency Academy Awards last year. The training programme was joint winner of the Skills for Better Places category of the national awards and beat all the other award winners to take the overall Co-operative Award for Excellence.
Lovell craft training advisor Paul Woby says: “Curtis and Thomas are great examples of the way that apprenticeships can change lives and open doors. Providing job and training opportunities, in addition to delivering physical improvements, is a vital part of the positive changes which the Miles Platting regeneration programme is bringing to the area.”
