Chris Harrison, operations director for developer Dandara’s Southern division, tells us about the success of a shared apprenticeship scheme in partnership with CoTrain.
How has it been so far?
While working with CoTrain in previous roles in my career, the support in place for both myself, as a ‘host’ providing a training placement, and for my apprentices had exceeded my expectations. I knew how CoTrain worked and that’s why I chose to partner with them again when I joined Dandara. Sam Morris was our first management apprentice in 2018. Ensuring that Sam has the correct day-to-day support and working together with CoTrain to track his progress in the workplace and through college, has meant that Sam has become an asset very quickly and he has already shown a lot of potential. It is great watching him become a young professional.
You’ve recently taken on two more apprentices – Adam in the office and James out on site. What is your vision for apprentices in your business?
My vision is that our young trainees will become a valuable resource for the organisation and ultimately become our future managers. Ideally the apprentices will be retained by Dandara at the end of their apprenticeship placements, and then employed by us directly, so that we can then sponsor that individual through higher education. We are always keen to promote from within and having apprentices to look after, in turn, will develop the leadership and supervisory skills of my existing people. We want to help them progress through their own careers at Dandara.
In fact, as Sam has progressed in his training, he provided excellent support to Adam and James as soon as they joined us as year-one apprentices.
How does this shared apprenticeship scheme make a difference with recruitment?
As a business, Dandara has always invested in the next generation and typically directly employs the apprentices, bringing them into our offices, in preconstruction, or placing them out on site. These individuals would often be recruited via a local college. Now, CoTrain ‘taps into’ various talent pools locally and works with me to understand who is the correct ‘fit’ for our business and our culture. They take care of the all candidate screening on our behalf, prior to presenting a shortlist; and arrange the subsequent interviews for us. This meant our candidates were well prepared, their expectations had been managed and they arrived fully informed of the role and the learning process; making the most of my time on the day.
Does a shared apprenticeship scheme help you manage the early employment of apprentices?
Yes. Using a shared scheme gives us flexibility. We’re able to use the initial two years of training to assess suitability of that apprentice in the longer term, with the ‘risk’ of early employment, HR support, progress monitoring and reporting, all managed by CoTrain.
If either the apprentice or Dandara do not wish to continue with the training placement at any point during the apprenticeship, CoTrain will support that individual in finding a new placement so they can continue their training; and supports us in finding a new apprentice. Although, fortunately we have had a great experience so far and have continued to recruit more trainees that in turn will be mentored by Sam.
How useful is it to have CoTrain help to support you and your apprentices throughout the placement?
Although my team manage Sam at a higher level, CoTrain allocates an apprentice manager who keeps me up to date with Sam’s progress and wellbeing both in college and in work, meaning the demands on my own time are minimal. Any concerns are flagged and of course, positive feedback on how well Sam is doing is shared, which helps me to give him encouragement. With help from CoTrain, we can support our apprentices, providing a structure to their learning which means that this does not become burdensome on the line-managers looking after the trainees day-to-day.
What work are your apprentices taking on now?
I’ve always believed that young people should not be forced into making decisions about their career trajectory too soon, without experiencing the variety of opportunities available to them. Within our sector the careers offered are so broad and vast, which is often not realised or understood by young people when exploring their options.
So far, we have given our apprentices the opportunity to work on placement rotation within the earlier pre-constructions stages of land acquisition, planning, design, engineering, commercial and procurement, providing on-site experience to develop their exposure to the production and sales aspects as well. This will enable all of the apprentices to develop a greater self-awareness of their own strengths and areas for development, how they can contribute to the development process as a whole and to assess where they are best placed; as they may choose to specialise later on as they progresses into higher education.
As such, Dandara apprentices will select the right role for them to progress further, where they find their natural aptitudes and enjoyment of the job. When they undoubtedly becomes managers themselves in the future, they will all be in an excellent position to fully understand all requirements and how to best serve our customers.
What are your plans for Dandara in the South?
Our business strategy for the new region is ambitious, but we have already secured sufficient outlets to exceed our forecasts for the next few years. We have recently relocated to a modern office in order to accommodate our growing workforce, so this is an exciting time for young people to join our business in a great working environment.
Early investment with our new apprentices not only aids retention but also helps to ensure that we are future proofing our resources and can best plan for our expanding business.
Chris Harrison joined Dandara as operations director in 2018 and worked alongside managing director Ian Beal to set up a new regional office in Southampton. In previous roles as director for Willmott Dixon and Miller Construction, he played an active role in championing entry-level management apprenticeships. Keen to build upon those successes and with the business quickly growing, Chris identified not-for-profit CoTrain as a solution for Dandara. Since then, CoTrain have provided extensive support in recruiting and managing construction management trainees in this new office.
Dandara Southern has found success through CoTrain’s shared apprenticeship scheme. Within 14 months of opening their new regional office in Southampton, construction management apprentices now make up 15% of their workforce.
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