In February 2022, we chatted to Brychan Lock, an apprentice who had just started working on our Stow Hill site in Newport city centre. We returned to find out what the last 11 months have been like.
Brychan got the role through Y Prentis, an organisation who help find placements for apprentices on construction sites across south-east Wales. During our site visit Nicola Murray, assistant programme manager from Y Prentis, told us how well he is doing.
The 19-year-old is training to be a carpenter and said he has been learning how to install flooring, as well as doing the first fix in the flats. He is about to start working on the stud walls.
The site he is on used to be a former Argos store and as a child Brychan used to shop there with his parents. Now he is helping to convert it into three new commercial units and 36 flats on the upper floors. He said: “I used to go in Argos when I was little. It is weird working here now.”
Photo: Craig Morgan, from SGR , Brychan, and Nicola Murray, from Y Prentis
Nicola said: “There is the traditional route for apprenticeships, where youngsters go to college on a full-time course for the trade they want to do and then they must find a contractor to employ them and commit to their apprenticeship term. This will be at least three years.
“We are a different option. We employ them and get funding from the Welsh Government and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to do that, so we can help fill the trades gap the industry currently has.
“If one our apprentices is on site and the project completes before their apprenticeship is achieved, with the support of local Housing Associations, we will find them a new contractor so they can continue their on-site qualification within a reasonable distance of where they live. This allows them to be environmentally friendly, by not having to drive as well as contributing to their own community”
“Brychan has become a different person since he started here. He should be proud of what he’s put into his local community thanks to Newport City Homes. When I talk to him on site, he’s like one of the sub-contractors that I have been speaking to for years. He's embraced his apprenticeship and is a perfect example of what apprentices can contribute to the industry when given the support.”
Mark Griffiths, construction contracts manager with SGR who are building the homes at the site, said: “He’s doing fantastic work on the site. And off site he tells me he is spending a lot of his money on new tools which shows how committed he is to a career in carpentry.”