Engineer sees growing number of adults taking apprenticeships

John Smith, managing director of West Yorkshire-based Smith Brothers, says over half of the company’s apprentices are adults.

“We tend to run quite an active training regime at Smith Brothers and we have a good number of apprentices,” he said. “We do tend to train a lot of adult apprentices. We’ve probably got 50 per cent adult apprentices.”

Smith Brothers is a high voltage electrical engineering contractor providing connections for industry. The business was founded in the 90s by John Smith and his brother Richard, both who still head up the company today.

John Smith estimates that around 40-50 apprentices have passed through the business over the years. Currently, the firm has three adult apprentices and two under-18s.

He said: “A lot of the adults that come to work for us feel that they’ve missed the boat in their earlier life and when they are presented with the opportunity to get a trade they’re usually very keen to take that up. It’s a chance that not all people get when they get into their 30s.”

Smith Brothers has just moved to a new premises at Lowfields Business Park in Elland. The company purchased the 10,000 sq ft property for £700,000.

“We’ve managed to find a premises that will accommodate for what we want now and also for future growth,” Mr Smith told The Yorkshire Post.

Smith Brothers has seen rapid growth in recent times. Turnover has trebled in the last 12 months to £27m and the company, which currently employs 64 people, is looking at potentially doubling its staff numbers.

The firm specialises in high power projects up to 132,000 volts.

It has clients nationwide in sectors ranging from commercial and industrial, to offshore and renewables.

“We’ve got a pretty widespread client base,” Mr Smith said. “That’s part of the reason why we’re quite successful.”

He added: “The renewables market has been very good for us but this last year we have seen a bit of a downturn in it. However, there are new opportunities in renewables.”

One of the places where Smith Brothers sees opportunities in renewables is in Ireland. The company has opened an office in Dublin to capitalise on deregulation in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Mr Smith said: “There’s also a very buoyant renewables market in Ireland. We’ve already negotiated somewhere around about £10m worth of work in Ireland so we feel it’s got some real potential.

“I think once we get settled down in Ireland it will be a major source of revenue for us.”

Oil and gas is another sector that Smith Brothers operates in and a slowdown in that industry has affected work on that front.

Mr Smith said: “The oil and gas industry has been very quiet for us this year. However, we are seeing a few flickers of activity in that area so perhaps next year we may do a little bit more but we’re not banking on the oil and gas industry providing us with any major growth next year.”

Following the move, the firm is eyeing consolidation this year.