National Apprenticeship Week: new training centre for Brum

Willmott Dixon is to open a new national training and development facility in Birmingham as part of the company’s ambition to invest in skills within the region. The contractor currently employs nearly  1,000 people and is responsible for the long-term repairs and maintenance of 60,000 properties for Birmingham City Council as well as being main contractor on phase one of Birmingham City University’s new City Centre Campus.

The Willmott Dixon ‘Centre for Skills’, set up by the company’s repairs and maintenance specialist Willmott Dixon Partnerships and provide training in a number of areas for up to 2,000 people per year, including it’s own staff who work in hundreds of Birmingham homes each week, with courses ranging from one-day programmes to four-year apprenticeships. 

Students will learn a range of subjects including technical trade skills, emerging technologies, health and safety, supervisor skills and energy efficiency, as well as employability skills such as IT and CV writing. A series of community programmes and DIY sessions will also be run at the Centre.

The initiative is being backed by the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) learning fund and Action for Employment (A4E). Willmott Dixon is also looking to work with Birmingham City Council’s employment access team and other partners such as Jobcentre Plus.

Rick Willmott, Group Chief Executive of Willmott Dixon, announced plans for the Centre for Skills at the firm’s annual ‘Investing in Birmingham’ reception. He said: “It will deliver the technical skills we require as a business and will also support our commitment to developing local skills. These will be qualifications employers want and the skills learnt are transferable within the job arena, with people outside Willmott Dixon also having the ability to undertake the same qualifications that our staff do, so a real asset to the community.