A 20-year-old from Enfield who is learning his trade as a site manager has been named one of Bellway’s apprentices of the year.
Raik Beyoglu, who was first based at the housebuilder’s QEII development in Welwyn Garden City, was recognised for his commitment and dedication to the role.
He was one of just five people from around 180 apprentices across the company to be highly commended in Bellway’s annual Apprentice of the Year Awards.
Raik spends four days a week on site and one day studying towards an NVQ in Construction Site Management with the National House Building Council (NHBC).
Part of his role as an apprentice involves shadowing multi award-winning site manager Mark Todd, who has received a Pride in the Job award from the NHBC for the past five years.
Raik said: “I was very pleased to receive this commendation. A lot of hard work has gone into my time at Bellway nd I am glad that it has been recognised.
“It is a very rewarding feeling to find out that I received nominations from people outside my immediate bubble of work colleagues.
“After finishing my A-Levels, I started working for Bellway indirectly, through labouring with an agency. This is how I met my future colleagues at Bellway, who took me under their wing and helped me get employed through the apprenticeship scheme.
“I sort of fell into the industry, but I soon realised it was meant to be and I hope to be doing this for a long time.
“Every day on site is different, as there is always that little bit of extra progress. I leave work feeling accomplished at the end of each day, which is what I love the most about what I do.”
Rob Sapsford, construction director for Bellway North London said: “Apprenticeships offer young people a fantastic opportunity to have a real job and get hands-on experience, while also gaining the qualifications that employers need.
“We offer apprenticeships in a wide variety of disciplines, including bricklaying, plumbing and heating, business administration and team leadership.
“Raik has a bright future ahead of him in the construction industry and it is pleasing to see that his hard work and dedication has been recognised by his colleagues.”
Ashleigh Fenwick, group learning and development manager for Bellway, said: “We are incredibly proud of all our apprentices and trainees throughout the company, as we encourage and enable our newest recruits into a career within the construction industry.
“We currently have around 180 apprentices working at Bellway across all sectors of the business, from bricklayers to quantity surveyors, and our apprentice of the year awards celebrates each and every one of our future talents.
“This year, perhaps more so than ever, we wanted to say thank you and well done to our apprentices who had been faced with unrivalled challenges in light of the coronavirus pandemic. We received a record number of nominations and it was very difficult to choose our winners thanks to the excellent pool of talent at Bellway.
“We’d like to extend our congratulations once more to each of the winners at this year’s awards event and look forward to another 12 months of building excellence among the next generation of the housebuilding workforce.”
As a member of the 5% Club, a movement of employers working to create ‘earn and learn’ skills and training opportunities, Bellway is committed to driving the recruitment of apprenticeships across the UK.
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