Taylor Wimpey strengthens collaboration with WCG

Taylor Wimpey has been working with Moreton Morrell College to develop its apprentice bricklayers –with the first cohort of apprentices passing their end point assessments with flying colours.

The training scheme saw all eight apprentices qualify, within 18 months rather than the usual two year programme with many gaining Distinctions, and now a further 13 have been enrolled onto the Level 2 Bricklaying qualification.

As part of the collaboration, Taylor Wimpey created a training facility at Moreton Morrell College to enable bricklayers to practise their building skills.

The success of the programme has led to an expansion of the existing facility to support the training of further apprentices, with plans to create a fullscale house on the college site to support the apprenticeship programme.

It sees practical training combined with theory to help apprentices gain a greater understanding of the jobs a qualified bricklayer is expected to carry out on a Taylor Wimpey site.

Michelle Reid, Divisional Apprenticeship Manager at Taylor Wimpey, said: “Taylor Wimpey and WCG have worked together extremely well over the last 18 months to two years.

“The partnership between the two is working extremely well and I look forward to more apprentices coming through the Taylor Wimpey training centre to allow us to fill the skills gap the construction industry is experiencing in the future.

John Billings, Head of Work-Based Learning for Construction at Moreton Morrell College, said: “We were incredibly impressed with the first cohort of apprentices we trained from Taylor Wimpey and the future of the bricklaying profession is in safe hands.

“We’re proud to be working in partnership with Taylor Wimpey to help develop the next generation of skilled people to deliver their developments.”

To find out more about brickwork courses at WCG visit www.wcg.ac.uk/study