Apprentice gets opportunity on council site

Jeakins Weir, the Corby-based construction company, is currently converting disused garages in Great Glen belonging to Harborough District Council into four, two-bed semi-detached houses.

One of the team working at the building site on St Cuthberts Avenue is 17-year old Gareth Lewis-Parker from Raunds in Northamptonshire. Gareth is undertaking a bricklaying apprenticeship at Moulton College in Higham Ferrers through Gladstone Construction Civil Engineering. Gareth has completed six months of a two year NVQ2 bricklaying course.

Gladstone Construction is a long-time subcontractor to Jeakins Weir. Jeakins Weir’s site manager at St Cuthberts Avenue, Tom Coady, is a former apprentice bricklayer and, like Gareth, studied at Moulton College. Taking time out from work Tom was able to talk to Gareth about making the most of his apprenticeship and a career in site management.

Jeakins Weir won the Great Glen garage conversion contract with Harborough District Council using the East Midlands Property Alliance (empa) intermediate framework.

A Harborough District Council spokesman said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for Gareth to enhance his skills on an exciting building project. By using the empa Framework, which aims to make public sector procurement more successful, the council can support apprenticeships through its contracts, which it might otherwise be unable to do.”

For further media information, please contact Sophie Lindsay at Jeakins Weir in Corby on 01536 454400, or via e-mail at sophie.lindsay@jeakinsweir.co.uk

Photographic caption: Apprentice Gareth Lewis-Parker (left) and Jeakins Weir Site Manager Tom Coady (right) pictured at St Cuthberts Avenue, Great Glen.

About Jeakins Weir Ltd:

Jeakins Weir is a Corby-based construction company operating throughout the Midlands. Its operations cover three main areas: Main Contracting, Responsive Repairs and Maintenance (for council owned properties and housing associations) and Property Development. The business was formed in 1973 and is still privately owned. Today Jeakins Weir employs 200 people across the business and has an annual turnover in excess of £24 million. Over the past 43 years Jeakins Weir has constructed, renovated and extended many hundreds of schools, hospitals, leisure facilities, offices, and other public buildings in the region. It also has long term responsive repair contracts with housing associations and councils around the country. For further information visit: http://jeakinsweir.co.uk/