When the NASC brought the Kickstart scheme to our attention, we never imagined that just 18 months later we would have boosted our team with young talent that is not only working hard, but has also fitted into the Millcroft culture of taking pride in everything we do.
With three of our Kickstarters now permanently employed on a full-time basis, and a further three completing their Kickstart training with us, these six young people continue a 50-year heritage of creating opportunity and developing careers with training and mentoring here at Millcroft. It’s clear from our Kickstarters’ progress, moreover, that the scheme is working out for them as well as for the company.
Trainee scaffolder, Tyler, is now on site at our Space House project and is doing really well as an integral part of the team. In preparation for his site role, he completed three months’ training in our yard at Greenwich, and he has also successfully passed his COTS manual handling and scaffold safety training. He will be doing his harness and lanyard training next, while continuing on-the-job training under the mentorship of our advanced scaffolders on site. We are keen to give him every opportunity to experience a wide variety of scaffolding work and moved him onto Space House - a challenging installation involving a circular tower - from Buckingham Palace. His current training on site will stand him in good stead for becoming an apprentice with us in a few months’ time.
Will was one of our first cohort of apprentices and he also now has a permanent trainee role with Millcroft in our QS department. He is being mentored by our Head of Commercial, Craig Bewick, and has already been involved in a number of major projects.
Meanwhile, trainee estimator, Ahmet, is now attending site with our head of pre-commencement, Andy Minter, and our contracts managers. With the guidance of senior colleagues, he is making a valuable contribution at site meetings, and putting estimates together that are helping us to win work.
Our more recent Kickstart recruits are also doing well, with the company opting to top-up their 25-hour/week Kickstart contract to full-time hours and pay so that they can really benefit from the experience and build a long-term career with us.
Lewis is now labouring on site at our Victoria Island project, following his initial training in the yard, and is working hard to learn and make a meaningful contribution to the project. James has completed his COTS training and has been on site for the past six weeks, experiencing both our Space House and Buckingham Palace projects. Finally, George is not yet on site because he needs to complete his touchscreen assessment before gaining his trainee scaffolder card. However, he is hard working and full of enthusiasm and we’re confident the daily practice he does in our on-site training centre will help him achieve the 90% average score we’ve set him as a target before he completes his test.
The Kickstart scheme was a temporary initiative designed to create opportunities for young people following the hiatus of the pandemic. For Millcroft, the legacy of the Kickstart scheme will last much longer, bringing skills into our team, creating careers for these hardworking young people and continuing our proud tradition of training and personnel development.
