New apprenticeship training centre opens in Yorkshire to create next generation of housebuilders

Training 50 apprentices all year round to qualify in 18 months, the facility equipped with classrooms, welfare and catering facilities aims to provide apprentices with a realistic working environment and initially focus on bricklaying.

Steve Wood, chief executive of NHBC, said: “Bricklaying is at the heart of housebuilding and a hugely important skill. An ageing workforce means we must find ways to encourage more people to come into housebuilding, with bricklaying being an excellent pathway into a rewarding and well-paid career.

"I am proud NHBC is committed to supporting the next generation of housebuilders. It’s fantastic to see them at the NHBC Training Hub where apprentices are equipped with the skills they need to build high-quality new homes, with this helping to close the skills gap and address the UK’s housing shortage.

"NHBC’s apprenticeships are for everyone and we’re delighted to see people from all backgrounds coming through, including school leavers, career changers and women wanting to work in house building. It’s never too late to learn a new skill.”

Since becoming a registered apprenticeship provider in 2020, around 400 people have progressed through NHBC’s bricklaying and construction site supervisor programmes.

The courses have been designed with input from across the industry with the aim of meeting the needs of employers and employees alike.

Alice Clay, 18, from Patrington, Hull, was the first female to gain her level two bricklaying apprenticeship with a distinction at an NHBC Training Hub.

Miss Clay, who is employed by Keepmoat, said: “I’m the first female apprentice bricklayer to pass at an NHBC Apprenticeship Training Hub. I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I left school.

"I was going to do a course at college, but I hated sitting down at school all day. I knew I wanted a practical job, so the NHBC apprenticeship training programme was perfect.

"There’s a lot to learn but the NHBC Apprenticeship Training Hub means I can learn each part and apply it immediately back on site. I initially started with five weeks at the training hub and then I was ready to go on site and put into practice the knowledge and skills I’d learnt.

"I’d then come back to the hub, learn more and be focused and confident to go back onto site again which was great.”

She added: “I’ve got a job lined up as a self-employed bricklayer as part of a gang and eventually, I’d like to work my way up into a management role.”

The NHBC Apprenticeship Training Hub based in Wawne Road is its fourth training facility and joins other hubs based in Tamworth, Newcastle and Cambridge.

Lee Parkinson, chief executive of Efficiency North, said: “As an organisation, we are continually striving to provide better opportunities for the North of England, and the partnership we have established with the NHBC Training Hub is pivotal to our offering.”