The company, which is carrying out a £1.68 million scheme to create 14 new homes for Clwyd Alyn Housing Association, a member of the Pennaf Housing Group, across three sites in the town, teamed up with Communities First in Plas Madoc – a community regeneration programme – to host a group of young people from Reach for Work, a programme run by Wrexham JobCentre Plus to help unemployed young adults living locally to find jobs.
The group, who have all either expressed an interest in pursuing construction careers or previously worked in the industry, were given a tour of the company’s site at Hampden Way in Plas Madoc, where Lovell recently completed work on seven of the new homes. They were also given the chance to quiz members of the company’s site team to find out more about how new homes are built and what a career in the house building industry entails.
“We’ve built up an excellent relationship with Communities First in Plas Madoc while working at Hampden Way and when they asked if we would be able to host a site visit for members of the Reach for Work programme, we were only too happy to help,” explains Lovell area manager Mike Turner. “Wherever we work, we’re always keen to support any local training initiatives which encourage young people to think about careers in our industry. We hope that they found the visit useful and informative.”
“We are very pleased that Lovell was able to provide such a useful opportunity for job-seekers in Plas Madoc,” says Communities First in Plas Madoc development officer Andrew Harradine. “The chance for local people to get onto the site and gain first-hand experience of the construction industry has been an important step in moving them closer to the jobs market. It is always good to work with a company that has one eye on the future and takes an active role in encouraging people into its line of work. In this instance Lovell was able to compliment the existing partnership between Communities First and Reach for Work, which continues to support people from Plas Madoc improve their employment prospects.”
“It is excellent news that as well as providing much-needed, high-quality affordable homes for local people, there has been the opportunity to give local people who are interested in construction trades first-hand experience of work on site,” says Deiniol Evans, director of development and technical services for Pennaf.
The Wrexham scheme is one of the first to be awarded to Lovell by the Syniad Consortium – which comprises Pennaf Housing Group, Wales & West Housing Association and Linc-Cymru Group –under its £150 million development framework. The framework covers 16 local authority areas.
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