Kier sets apprentices on the right career path (From Watford Observer)

Kier sets apprentices on the right career path

9:20am Friday 19th March 2010 in

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Kier is building a promising future for two young friends from harrow who had drifted in and out of jobs and training courses since leaving school.

Rowan Streete, 25, and 26-year-old Dwayne Carbon, who grew up together on the Rayners Lane Estate in South Harrow, have been taken on as apprentices at Kier’s £42m new-build project in Porlock Avenue, where a new Whitmore High School is now taking shape.

Since leaving school, they have each tried to get a foothold on the career ladder but, despite taking up various college courses and trying a succession of jobs, they found themselves drifting – until Kier and Harrow Council stepped in.

Under a framework contract with Harrow, the Rickmansworth office of Kier is carrying out capital works schemes across the borough, mainly in the education and leisure sectors.

Among its various projects, it has completed seven new sixth form centres and is currently engaged on building the new Whitmore High under the government’s Building Schools for the Future programme. It is also modernising and improving a swimming and leisure complex at Hatch End.

In an agreement between Kier and Harrow Council to provide training and employment for local young people, Rowan and Dwayne have begun three-year apprenticeships covering plumbing, heating and ventilation. Kier is sharing the cost of their training with Bailey Building Services, its specialist mechanical and electrical partner on the Whitmore School contract.

Harrow Council outreach worker Stephen Ford helped Kier identify and select the pair as suitable local candidates, and Kier framework manager Richard Weller arranged for them to join Bailey’s apprenticeship programme, recognised as an industry leader in providing first-rate skills training in all aspects of building services, including plumbing, heating and ventilation.