An award-winning North Wales builder has just appointed its first Construction Ambassador to develop links with schools and communities.
Mathew Allport, a 25-year-old trainee site manager with Rhyl-based Anwyl Construction, has just completed a course designed to enable him to represent the building industry and the firm.
The course run by the Construction Industry Training Board has trained him to liaise with schools, colleges and local community groups to give them an insight into employment opportunities and engagement with the building industry.
Mathew, from Prestatyn, and now living in St Asaph, joined Anwyl Construction eight years ago as a trainee joiner and is excited at the new role.
He said: “The training means I can go to schools, colleges and other organisations and tell them what the construction industry is all about and the employment opportunities it provides.
“I will be representing Anwyl Construction at careers conventions and seminars, giving presentations and answering questions about working in the industry, organising site visits and activity days and arranging mentoring opportunities.
“It’s also about safety because we need to make young people aware that building sites can be dangerous places and we need to discourage them from playing there.”
Mathew qualified as a joiner after a three-year apprenticeship and is currently on a day release course at Llandrillo College studying for a BSc Honours in Construction Science.
He said: “Once I get my qualifications next year and with more experience under my belt I hope to be a site manager.
“I am an assistant site manager and running a job in Dolgellau and I’ve invited the building trainees over from Llandrillo to see how we work so I have been liaising with them and giving them an insight into what we expect on site.
“Anwyls are very professional in the way they work, they provide very clear career pathways and you learn a lot with them.
“They’re great in terms of supporting me and I would like to become a project manager and continue to work towards a Masters degree.”
Emrys Roberts, Construction Careers Adviser with the CITB, said: “The course at St Asaph was designed to equip Construction Ambassadors to go to schools and meetings to represent the industry and to tell people about the career opportunities it offers.
“They could be talking to a group of sixth formers or a Women’s Institute but they should be able to engage with that audience and help them understand the contribution the construction industry makes to society.
“We have worked extensively with Anwyl Construction over the years both in terms of apprenticeships and employment opportunities and with site visits and community engagement and I’m sure Mathew will be an excellent ambassador for them.”
Anwyl Construction Director Tom Anwyl said: “Mathew has made the most of the opportunities we’ve offered him since he joined us as an apprentice and he is a bright and articulate young man which is why we believe he will make a very good Construction Ambassador for us.
“We want to attract other young people like him to apply to work for us because we view apprentices as the lifeblood of the building industry and we take particular pride in developing them to become the site managers and contracts managers of the future – 20 per cent of our workforce, over 30 people, actually began with us as apprentices.
“We have a good relationship with the CITB and consciously take care to invest in our staff going forward and that helps us to operate better and more consistently and gives benefit to our staff and our clients.”
