Osborne Support National Economy Through Shared Local Apprenticeship Schemes

Osborne is currently carrying out the expansion works of two primary schools for the London Borough of Ealing. Both the Horsenden and Mandeville schools are currently on site and due for completion in summer 2015.

These expansion works are being delivered through the iESE (Improvement and Efficiency in the South East) Framework.  With an inherent focus on educational development, iESE has partnered with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to help deliver a shared apprenticeship scheme, through the use of regional, not-for-profit training companies. This will help to provide real opportunities for long term careers, and has been affirmed by Vince Cable, Secretary Of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, who explained: “Apprenticeships are at the heart of our goal to support a stronger economy.”

Osborne’s Ealing site teams are currently working in collaboration with one of these training companies, Evolve, helping to identify short and long term placement opportunities for 16-20 year olds which will boost the local construction industry.

On the Horsenden and Mandeville school site, in Ealing, Osborne already has apprentices working in flooring, groundworks, and quantity surveying, who have been involved for 22 weeks.

As part of the apprenticeship initiative, Osborne and Evolve have just held an Interview Assessment Day in Ealing, in conjunction with local job agencies, which offered young people the chance to speak to us about construction placements. 

Osborne spoke directly to the attendees to explain how a construction site is run and what the different roles incur.  Evolve then interviewed the prospective candidates and were delighted to find four suitable people on the day: a plasterer, two bricklayers and a plumber.

David Fison, Chief Executive for Osborne, said: “Osborne are proud to support getting young people into the building world through apprenticeships. We believe that apprenticeships can have a huge impact on young people and provide a wide range of opportunities for them in the workplace, as well as benefitting local communities and promoting the construction industry.”

Antoinette Wright, Project Manager at Evolve, said of Osborne; “I would like to express our appreciation of the fantastic support we have been shown on three of Osborne’s sites. The site teams have been really helpful and encourage and I believe we are set to make a difference to many young people in the community through these apprenticeship schemes.”