Keith Osborne

Kingdom's Bill Banks and the Fife Works trainees

Building site experience for 12 trainees in Fife

Career Advice & News, News /

Having obtained their skills certificates from the Fife Works Construction Academy, a dozen trainees are now celebrating their success and taking up work experience positions on building sites across the region. The Fife Works project, organised by Kingdom Housing Association in partnership with Campion Homes, offers participants a four-week academy programme for knowledge and qualifications in tasks such as manual handling, asbestos awareness, abrasive wheels and working at heights, with the trainees also undertaking the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) training test. In the 2016/17 period, the scheme has helped 366 people into employment. Joanne Aitken, senior employability officer with Fife Works, says: “The participants have all demonstrated exceptional levels of enthusiasm and commitment and confirmed the team would continue to work with them all to […]

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Kay Baker and Colin Waring

Showdown for Bellway sales couple

Career Advice & News, News /

A couple who both work for Bellway Homes are currently engaged in a (friendly) showdown, as they are performing neck-and-neck in a sales ‘race’ at new homes sites in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Colin Waring and Kay Baker work at different sites for the national housebuilder, with Kay at Tickford Mews in Newport Pagnell and her husband based at Saxon Meadows in Bicester, both in Bellway’s Northern Home Counties division. Kay says: “It’s a good healthy rivalry. The sites we both work at have been running parallel to each other as the sales cabins opened at the same time, and the show homes opened at the same time. We both want to win.” Colin adds: “Kay takes it a bit more seriously than

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Trainees with certificates

Lovell takes a stand for construction at Welsh festival next weekend

Career Advice & News, News /

Award-winning housebuilder Lovell Homes will be attending the Ely and Caerau Festival this Saturday 8 July to tell its young audience about the opportunities available at one of the largest regeneration schemes in Wales, The Mill, which is bringing 800 new homes to the former Arjo Wiggins paper mill site to west of Cardiff. Lovell is providing 358 private sale properties for the site, working with Tirion Group which is building 442 homes for rent, to be managed by Cadwyn Housing Association. The housebuilder is looking to find 10 recruits at training and apprenticeship level for this year and 50 across the lifetime of the project. The partners will be handing out details of job opportunities at the festival – which takes

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Josh Layhe, apprentice to CPR Joinery

Duchy Homes contributes to new joinery apprentice in Yorkshire

Career Advice & News, News /

Duchy Homes is working with a local subcontractor and contributing 50% towards the cost of employing a new apprentice to Doncaster-based CPR Joinery – with hopes that the arrangement will help the contractor take on an additional new apprentice at a later date. The subcontractor works on all the housebuilder’s developments, many of which have won NHBC Pride in the Job accolades in recent years, and its latest apprenticeship recruit is Josh Layhe, a local 17-year-old who has joined a two-year scheme from McAuley School and currently works on sites in Scawthorpe and Penistone four days every week, with the fifth day spent on an apprenticeship joinery course at Doncaster College. Josh says: “I am really enjoying my apprenticeship and am thankful for the

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Chris Matthews,David Wilson Homes

What does a site manager do?

Career Advice & News, News /

Chris Matthews is an award-winning site manager at the prestigious Leithfield Park development by David Wilson Homes in Milford, Surrey. He tells us what his his role as a site manager entails day-to-day, and what sets the award-winning Leithfield Park development from the competition… He says…. “As site manager, I’m in charge of the day-to-day running of Leithfield Park, so that involves a range of daily activities; from liaising with all the subcontractors, to dealing with customers and neighbours, managing materials and overseeing build programmes. There is such a wide range of activity on a new homes site like this and as the development progresses it means that no two days – or in fact, any month – are the same. “Typically on

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