Balfour Beatty has developed ten new apprenticeship standards – the first time an employer has been able to link the needs of the industry to raising the standard of skills in our sector. These innovative standards have been approved through the Government Trailblazer initiative. We are delighted that the wider industry has supported this work as part of a consortium.
Skills Minister Nick Boles said:“I congratulate Balfour Beatty and members of the Construction Trailblazer on their involvement in designing the new apprenticeship standards, which we have published today. I am proud to say that through working with leading employers such as Balfour Beatty, we have now reached our target of creating two million apprentices since 2010. However two million is just the start. I want more employers to follow suit and start making apprentices a key part of their growth strategy.”
Sue Flavin, Head of the Balfour Beatty Academy, who led the work to agree the new standards, said: “This is a great achievement for Balfour Beatty as the leading infrastructure company working with the Government to develop these new standards. We recognise the UK infrastructure industry needs to be able to compete in increasingly tough global markets and the only way we can do that is by up skilling our workforce, and to ensure we replace valuable skills which will be lost when employees seek to retire from the industry by the recruitment of apprentices.
“As a member of the 5 percent club we are committed to getting more apprentices and graduates into the workplace. These new apprenticeship standards mark a step change for apprentices joining our sector. Working closely with my colleague, Tony Ellender, Balfour Beatty’s Emerging Talent Development Manager, we have ensured that the professional Institutions support these standards along with our clients, and other industry employers.”
“Other construction companies, large and small, have joined the Balfour Beatty led consortium to develop these standards and to recruit new apprentices from across the UK”
“Our aim is to launch these Trailblazer Standards by September 2015 so new recruits could benefit from an apprenticeship and employment before the end of next year.”
The next steps are for Balfour Beatty to work with the consortium of construction organisations, potential training providers, professional institutions, and clients to agree the assessment and delivery criteria for the new apprenticeships standards as part of the Government’s Trailblazer scheme roll out.”
The ten new awards are listed below:
Highway Electrical Maintenance & Installation Operative Level 2
Highway Electrician Skilled Operative Level 3
Highway Maintenance Skilled Operative Level 2
Highway Maintenance Supervisor Level 3
Level 4 Construction Technician
Level 6 standards as follows:
Building Services Engineering Site Management
Civil Engineering Site Management
Construction Design Management
Construction Management
Construction Quantity Surveyor
The Government’s announcement on the new Trailblazer standards can be accessed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/vince-cable-celebrates-two-million-apprenticeships
The standards can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/apprenticeship-standards
